54 
MANUAL OF APICULTURE. 
allowed between the bottom bar and the sheet of foundation, and a 
half inch at each end for two-thirds of the way up. 
With these precautions swarms may even be hived on full sheets of 
foundation without wiring the frames: but the practice will probably 
continue of using starters, chiefly in the case of swarms, and, when full 
sheets are employed, of alternating them with combs already built out. 
Some prefer to wire the frames even though it is considerable trouble, 
for the combs require less attention while in process of construction 
and are firmer for shipping, for use in the extractor, or for any other 
manipulation. Three or four horizontal wires will suffice. No. 30 
annealed tinned wire is the preferable size and quality. The end bars 
of the frame are pierced by four holes, the first 1 inch below the 
top bar. A small tack secures the end of the wire, which is then 
passed back and forth and drawn up so as to leave no slack. The 
four horizontal wires, 2 inches apart, will be sufficient to render 
combs quite secure. After fastening the foundation to the top bar in 
the usual way the wires are 
embedded in the wax by a 
spur embedder, which is a 
small wheel with grooved 
teeth (fig. 42). Where large 
numbers of frames are to 
be wired a current of elec 
tricity from a small bat- 
tery will do the work more 
neatly and quickly than the 
spur embedder. 
The disadvantages of wiring frames are, first, its expense, caused 
chiefly by the time employed in doing it; and second, the fact that 
wherever the wire does not get embedded into the midrib of the founda- 
tion, as is sure to happen in many cases, the rearing of brood is inter- 
fered with, and also, under the methods employed by the majority in 
wintering, moisture is very likely to cause the combs to cleave from the 
wires, whereupon the bees are disposed to gnaw the combs away from 
the wires in spots and not rebuild them. 
These disadvantages, except that of expense, are overcome by incor- 
porating fine wire in the sheets of foundation when they are rolled. 
The sheets are trimmed with wooden shears, which leave the ends of 
the wires projecting. These are then glued to the bars of the frame. 
The added expense is again the main objection, except to those who 
wish to ship colonies or nuclei, or transport them from place to place 
for pasturage. 
COMB-FOUNDATION MACHINES. 
The first attempts to give bees outlines of cells as a basis for comb 
building were made in Germany. The top bars of the frames were 
coated on the underside with beeswax, and a strip of wood having 
Fig. 42.— Spur wireembedder. (From Gleanings.) 
