72 THE.APIAllY; OK, 



of making it stick firing — to say nothing of thfi uncomfortableness 

 of performing the operation before a fire on a hot day in July, — we 

 began to consider if a little carpentering might not do the work 

 better and more pleasantly, and adopted the following plan : — 

 We split or cut the comb bars of the Woodbury super in 

 half lengthways, and taking the unstamped edge between the two 

 strips, join them together again by small screws at the side, 

 confining the wax plate tightly in the centre, with no possibility of 

 its falling down. Where frames are used, of course, the bar could 

 not be cut in' two (except with the " compound bar and frame," 

 where the bar being loose, it might be as easily managed). The 

 plan we adopt with an ordinary frame is to saw out an opening 

 about an inch, or an inch and a half from either end where the 

 sides are morticed in ; this opening we make with a keyhole saw. 

 Through it the wax plate is easily put, and with a heated iron 

 passed over the upper side of the bar, is made sufficiently firm. 

 If the wax plates are too large, a portion may easily be cut off; an 

 opening of full 11 inches long can be made without materially 

 weakening the bar and frame. 



The wax plates must not extend to the bottom of the frame ; a 

 space of at least one inch should be left for expansion, because the 

 bees in working the plate stretch it down lower. We also use a few 

 pins firmly pressed into the frames, and long enough to reach the 

 edge of the plate, for by fixing three or four pins on either side, 

 both at the sides and at the bottom, the plate may be held in an 

 exactly central position within the frame. As before mentioned, 

 when these directions are carried out, there is no fear of being 

 troubled with crooked combs on bars. 



The secretion of wax, and the method of its adaptation by the 

 bees, is thus admirably described by Evans : — 



Tims filtered through yon flatterer's folded mail 

 Clings the cooled wax, and hardens to a scale. 

 Swift at the well-known call, the ready train 

 (For not a buzz boon Nature breathes in vain,) 

 Spring to each falling flake, and bear along 

 Their glossy burdens to the builder throng. 

 These, with sharp sickle, or with sharper tooth, 

 Pare each excrescence, and each angle smooth, 

 Till now, in iinish'd pride, two radiant rows 

 Of snow-white cells one mutual base disclose ; 



