THOUSAND ANSWERS 223 



be better to have them touch both top and bottom-bar, but it 

 would be more difficult to put them in. They are put in something 

 like two inches apart, the two outer ones within half an inch to 

 an inch of the end-bars. The splints are put in a dish of hot wax 

 and left there till all frothing and bubbling ceases, and then they 

 are lifted, one by one, by a pair of pincers, laid upon the founda- 

 tion, which must be properly supported upon a board, and an as- 

 sistant presses each splint into the foundation by means of the 

 edge of a little board kept constantly wet. If put in while too hot, 

 there will not be a good coating of wax on the splints. The foun- 

 dation enters the groove in the top-bar and goes down through 

 the bottom-bar, which is in two parts, the lower edge of the foun- 

 dation being squeezed between the two parts. The advantage is 

 that the comb is built down to the bottom-bar. You may like 

 better, however, a plain bottom-bar, all in one piece. If, however, 

 such a frame of foundation be given at a time when they are 

 gathering nothing, the bees will gnaw a passage over the bottom- 

 bar. 



Q. Where you use foundation splints and split bottom-bars, 

 what kind of foundation do you use — medium or light brood? 



A. Medium gives good results, but light brood might be just 

 as good with two or three more splints to the sheet. 



Q. (a) On page 393, of "Langstroth on the Honeybee," you ad- 

 vocate the use of wooden splints to support wide strips of foun- 

 dation. Do you use these splints in extracting frames as well as 

 in frames for chunk honey? 



(b) Do you use splints opposite each other on the foundation, 

 or do you use them on one side only? 



A. (a) I would use splints in extracting combs, but on no ac- 

 count in chunk honey, unless the honey were afterward to be cut 

 up on the lines of the splints and the splints taken out. 



(b) On one side only. 



Stimulation.— Q. What is the safest and best plan to pursue to 

 stimulate brood-rearing in weak colonies in the spring, and how 

 long before the honey-flow should one commence? (Wisconsm.) 



A. In your locality probably the safest and best thing is to see 

 that the bees have abundance of provisions, and let them entirely 

 alone, for more harm than good may be done by frequent feeding 

 in catchy weather. But in localities where there is nice, warm 

 weather for bees to fly, and nothing to get for a week or more, 

 then it may be a good thing to feed a pound or so every other day. 



Q. Would uncapping a little honey every day be as good for 



