THOUSAND ANSWERS 



51 



top ones) in sections of comb honey." Kindly explain this method, 

 as I have never seen it in the papers. I have the Daisy founda- 

 tion-fastener, and would like to try bottom and top starters. 

 Would you make them meet in the center? Or how much space 

 between the starters? When they are fastened only at the top, 

 they twist and do not hang true. 



A. The matter is very simple, and your Daisy fastener is just 



Fig. 11. — A frame containing mostly drone-brood, the result of a narrow starter 



of foundation. 



the thing to fasten a bottom as well as a top starter. It wouldn't 

 do at all to let the two starters meet in the center, for in that 

 case the bottom-starter would be certain to fall down and make 

 a mess. When you buy foundation for sections, you are likely to 

 get it in sheets 15^x3^ inches. This is just right to make four 

 starters of each kind. The top-starters are 3J4 inches deep, and 

 the bottom ones 5^. For a section that is four inches deep inside, 

 you will see that would leave a space of }i inch between the start- 

 ers. In reality the space will generally be more than that, for 

 the hot plate melts a little of the edges of the starters. First 

 fasten the bottom-starter, turn the section over immediately, and 

 put in the other starter. If your bees are like mine, the first 

 thing they will do on being given the sections will be to fasten 

 the upper and lower starters together. 



Even for the home market, I should prefer the bottom-starter. 

 It makes a nicer looking section. Unless a single starter comes 

 down so far that it is likely to sag, some of the sections, espe- 

 cially when honey is coming in slowly, will not be built down to 

 the bo'itcm. Although the bottom-starter is original with me, I 

 don't believe I'm sufficiently prejudiced in its favor to stand the 

 extra trouble unless there were a sufficient gain to pay for it. 



