242 FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



measuring off V/^ inches, make 3 more kerfs, making 5 in all. 

 (Your last kerf will be more than IYl inches from the end, but 

 that's all right.) Do the same thing on the opposite side, be- 

 ginning at the opposite end. Make similar kerfs in each end- 

 bar, measuring from the top-bar for one end, and from the bot- 

 tom-bar for the other end. Of course these kerfs are to be 

 made on the inside of the end-bar, and none on the outside. 

 Now distribute these 7 pieces at equal distances from one end 

 of the frame to the other, and if you are exact about it the dis- 

 tance between each two will be 1 25-32 inches. Fasten these 7 

 sticks in by driving one nail down through the top-bar into 

 each, and two nails through the bottom-bar. Before nailing, 

 make sure that each stick faces right, as mentioned further on. 

 Nail upon one side of your frame a piece of wire cloth to cover 

 it (17%x9%). Have the nails not more than 2 inches apart all 

 around and on each stick. I use bright wire cloth, extra heavy, 

 with meshes of the usual size in screen-doors. 



You now need 40 pieces of tin, 2x1% inches to go into all 

 the saw-kerfs. Each piece of tin serves as a shelf, thus dividing 

 up the whole into 48 compartments. You will now see the ne- 

 cessity of having the sticks face each other so as to have the 

 kerfs correspond, as mentioned a minute ago. Look out for this 

 before you nail the sticks in place. 



To close these compartments, you need 8 pieces of tin, each 

 10x2 inches. That's Ys inch longer than the depth of the 

 frame, allowing the % to be bent over at right angles on the top- 

 bar. To hold these covei's in place I use heavy pins bent o\er. 

 Small screw-hooks of straight pattern might do better. Three 

 are needed in each end-bar, and 6 in each upright. Of course 

 these tin covers are put in at the top and slide down. 



You will see that each of the compartments furnishes a 

 large amount of room, 40 of them being 1 25-32xli4xiy8, and 

 the remaining 8 being larger. That gives abundance of room to 

 put in the largest kind of queen-cell. With each cell is given 

 a ball of candy the size of a pea. 



ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A QUEEN-NURSERY. 



If a ripe queen-eell is given to a nucleus or colony, there is 

 no way to be sure that a queen that is all right will issue from 



