1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



937 



The top-bar is the regular thing, li wide 

 and i thick, with the usual kerf for founda- 

 tion and another kerf for the wedge. 



End-bars ai*e IJ, wide and | thick. The 

 extra rigidity pays well for the extra thick- 

 ness. Besides, it will not split with the 

 spacing-nails. 



The bottom-bar is in two parts, each \ in. 

 wide and \ inch thick. That allows a space 

 of ^ inch between the two parts to receive 

 the foundation. 



Foundation is cut to fill the frame entirely 

 full, and enough more in depth to allow the 

 foundation to pass up into the kerf of the 

 top-Joar and down between the two parts of 

 the bottom-bar. Five splints, iVX/g, im- 



DR. MILLER S NAIL-SPACED FRAME. 



bedded vertically in the foundation, prevent 

 sagging. It does one's eyes good to look at 

 one of these frames built entirely out on all 

 sides, with never a pop-hole along the bot- 

 tom-bar. But if such a frame of founda- 

 tion be given to the bees at a time when 

 little is doing, they amuse themselves by 

 digging the foundation away at the bottom. 



The end-spacing is the regular Medina af- 

 fair—staples driven into the end-bars imme- 

 diately under the top-bar, and the ends of 

 top-bar cut short. I know of nothing better. 



For side-spacing I use common nails be- 

 cause I can't get the nails I'd like. The 

 nails are driven in by a gauge, allowing 

 them to project \ inch. You ask, Mr. Editor, 

 how I get around the difficulty of the nails 

 punching into the wood or pushing further 

 into the side of the frame to destroy exact 

 spacing. Look at the nail I inclose (if I 

 don't forget it). That head is \ inch across, 

 and you couldn't crowd frames together 

 with enough force to make that head sink 

 into the wood of the next frame. Indeed, 

 so wide a head is unnecessary. Some that I 

 have in use are ^-^ across, which is better. 



Now compare that nailhead with a staple. 

 There is probably ten to twenty times as 

 large a surface on that nailhead as on the 

 end of the staple at the point of contact. In 

 conversation with Mr. Morley Pettit, he 

 was favoring the staple, if I understood him 

 correctly, and I asked him if the head of the 

 staple never sank into the wood of the ad- 

 joining frame. He frankly said it did. The 



nailhead does not. Just try pushing that 

 head into the softest pine you can find. 



Will not the nail be driven deeper into the 

 wood when the frames are crowded hard to- 

 gether? Hold that nail beside a staple, and 

 see which you think would be driven in with 

 greater ease. The nail is i inch thick, I be- 

 lieve, and the galvanizing doesn't give it a 

 smooth surface to drive in easily. Of about 

 5000 nails in use, I think I have known just 

 two to be driven in any deeper, and they 

 were driven away in. The wood was split, 

 I think, in one case, possibly in the other. 

 The only wonder is that the wood doesn't split 

 oftener. The ideal nail would be one with a 

 head \ inch deep, so that it would be driven 

 in automatically the right depth, in which 

 case a lighter nail could be used. I am not 

 longing for a nail of that kind as much as 

 formerly, for the nails I now use have stood 

 the crowding-together of the frames for 

 several years, and hard crowding at that. 

 But I think I'd be happier if I could get the 

 right kind of nails. 



Four nails are in each frame. Hold the 

 frame up before yoi>, and two are on the 

 side next you at the eft end; two on the op- 

 posite side at the right end. The upper 

 nails are in the top-bar a little above the 

 center; the lower ones in the end-bars, 21 

 inches from the bottom. Can you get fixed 

 distance with smaller impinging surface? 



Marengo, 111. 



[I do not know that I ever raised the 

 question that the nailheads themselves would 

 punch into the wood of the opposing frame; 

 but I did say something to the efi'ect that 

 the other end of the nail might be forced in- 

 to the wood still further, destroying the 

 exact spacing; but that argument is entirely 

 set aside by your actual experience, which 

 is always woi-th tons of theory. The staple 

 has two legs, and each of the legs is barbed. 

 As between the staple and the nail punching 

 into the wood, I do not suppose there would 

 be any diff"erence; so I think we may as 

 well brush aside for all time this objection. 



But, doctor, you have not alluded to the 

 one fatal objection of the nails and nail- 

 heads to the extracted-honey producer. 

 They, as a genei-al rule, on account of the 

 uncapping, prefer to dispense with all kinds 

 of spacing devices; and even the wooden 

 projections on the Hoff'man frames are not 

 looked on with much favor by many of that 

 class of honey-producers. Your nail would 

 catch an uncapping-knife, especially so many 

 of them, woi'se than any spacer in use. You 

 talk nail-spacing to an extracted-honey man, 

 and you might as well throw a red rag be- 

 fore a bull. 



Well, the staple is not quite so bad, be- 

 cause it has a rounded edge. Then, more- 

 over, it permits of the frame sliding into 

 position better than a nailhead, which has a 

 tendency to hook or catch on to the next 

 frame. This is not mere theory, but the re- 

 sult of observation and experience I have 

 had with the two kinds of spacing, when I 

 was experimenting with the idea of selecting 



