64 



Texas Department of Agriculture, 



With a frame rack, provided with slanting boards, that space the 

 foundation sheets in the exact place in the frames when these are 

 placed on the rack, each sheet may be securely fastened with a spoon- 

 ful of hot wax that is allowed to run along the foundation and the 

 top bar. 



An old five-gallon honey can, with part of its top removed, may 

 serve as a fire pot, in which charcoals are preferably used. A com- 

 mon ten cent stew pot, and tin spoons, costing ten cents a dozen, of 

 which the handles are bent so they will hang over the edge of the 

 wax pot, may be carried with the frame rack from one apiary to an- 

 other. Instead of the spoons, with their lip end beaten together 

 slightly to direct the flow of the wax better, some beekeepers use what 

 is known as a wax-tube, a hollow metal tube with a wooden handle, 

 which fills with melted wax as it is inserted in the pot, and which 

 flows out at the pointed lower end when the tube is guided along the 

 foundation. 



Another way of fastening 

 the foundation is by means 

 of various presses used by 

 some beekeepers, in which the 

 edge of the foundation is 

 fastened to the top bar of 

 the frames by pressure. This 

 method is not very popular. 

 Besides, it is necessary to use 

 about % of an inch of the 

 width of the sheet of founda- 

 tion used for each frame to 

 fasten it with, which is prac- 

 tically that much loss of 

 foundation, which is more ex- 

 pensive than melted beeswax, 

 as scraps, or off grades, of wax are generally employed for the latter. 

 After the frames are filled with foundation, the supers containing 

 them are stacked up near the apiary where needed, on flat platforms, 

 and each stack covered at the top so that bees, or mice, can not gain 

 an entrance. Otherwise, the foundation may be destroyed in a whole- 

 sale way, especially by the bees during a dearth of honey, as they 

 will tear down the foundation and carry home the wax. 



Wilder fastener. 



WHEN TO PUT ON SUPERS. 



The beekeeper should devote much time to the study of his local- 

 ity, the source of the honey flows, and when these are to be expected. 

 This must be known, so that the supers may be put on the hive at 

 the proper time. To put them on long before they are needed, gives 

 too much room for the best welfare of the colonies ; besides, the bees 

 destroy the foundation in them by gnawing it down. But, to leave the 

 supers off until they are actually needed, often results in the colonies 

 becoming crowded and this tends to bring on the desire to swarm. 



According to the old rule, the proper time to give supers was when 

 the bees were adding bits of white wax to the upper part of the 



