34 MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTEALASIA 



is diflficult to tighten once it gets slack. Too many holes 

 weaken the end-bar, and also provide places for the wax- 

 moth to hide her eggs. 



No. 3 is even worse, it pulls the bottom-bar "out of 

 true" — indicated by the dotted line — and the wires 

 continually catch the knives when uncapping and scraping 

 burr comb from top and bottom-bars. 



No. 4 is an improvement on the two previous styles. 

 It consists of two very fine strips of wood called splints, 

 which before using are first tied up in bundles and 

 immersed in boiling beeswax. This is necessary to entice 

 the bees to build comb over the wood. Foundation is 

 placed in the frames after wiring, but splints are pressed 

 into the wax after the foundation is secured to the top- 

 bar. 



PRELIMINARY WORK. 



USB OF FOUNDATION. 



Foundation is a necessity on every modern bee-farm. 

 Combs cannot be built regularly in a frame hive unless 

 the bees have a "starter" or something to indicate where 

 combs are required. Foundation supplies the requisite 

 guide to the wax-workers. It is simply a sheet of wax 

 passed through two embossed rollers. This process 

 forms the midrib, (See Foundation Manufacture, page 

 213). It does not form the cell wall, as the bees 

 draw out and add a little more wax to the foundation 

 in making the walls. Bee-keepers in a large way of 

 business make foundation during spare time. However, 

 there is no time or equipment to make the foundation 

 just now, so an order is placed with the manufacturer. 



It is made in varying thicknesses, the lightest grade 

 is ' ' thin surplus. ' ' This grade covers 10 to 12 square feet 

 per lb., "medium brood" (Fig. 21) measures about 7 

 square feet per lb., "light brood" covers 8 square feet 



