MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 223be better to have them touch both top and bottom-bar, but itwould be more difficult to put them in. They are put in somethinglike two inches apart, the two outer ones within half an inch toan inch of the end-bars. The splints are put in a dish of hot waxand left there till all frothing and bubbling ceases, and then theyare lifted, one by one, by a pair of pincers, laid upon the foundation,which must be properly supported upon a board, and an assistantpresses each splint into the foundation by means of theedge of a little board kept constantly wet. If put in while too hot,there will not be a good coating of wax on the splints. The foundationenters the groove in the top-bar and goes down throughthe bottom-bar, which is in two parts, the lower edge of the foundationbeing squeezed between the two parts. The advantage isthat the comb is built down to the bottom-bar. You may likebetter, however, a plain bottom-bar, all in one piece. If, however,such a frame of foundation be given at a time when they aregathering nothing, the bees will gnaw a passage over the bottombar.Q. Where you use foundation splints and split bottom-bars,what kind of foundation do you use—medium or light brood?A. Medium gives good results, but light brood might be justas good with two or three more splints to the sheet.Q. (a) On page 393, of "Langstroth on the Honeybee," you advocatethe use of wooden splints to support wide strips of foundation.Do you use these splints in extracting frames as well asin frames for chunk honey?(b) Do you use splints opposite each other on the foundation,or do you use them on one side only?A. (a) I would use splints in extracting combs, but on no accountin chunk honey, unless the honey were afterward to be cutup on the lines of the splints and the splints taken out.(b) On one side only.Stimulation.—Q. What is the safest and best plan to pursue tostimulate brood-rearing in weak colonies in the spring, and howlong before the honey-flow should one commence? (Wisconsm.)A. In your locality probably the safest and best thing is to seethat the bees have abundance of provisions, and let them entirelyalone, for more harm than good may be done by frequent feedingin catchy weather. But in localities where there is nice, warmweather for bees to fly, and nothing to get for a week or more,then it may be a good thing to feed a pound or so every other day.Q. Would uncapping a little honey every day be as good for