MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

64 DR. miller'sall the combs are very crooked, you may consider it as a boxhive.Q. How do you get straight combs built? Last year I usedfull sheets of foundation. The frames were wired with four horizontalwires. Almost every one "buckled" between the wires, andthey are a bad lot of combs.A. I wonder if you didn't depend entirely on the wires. Thefoundation should be fastened securely to the top-bar, either bymeans of the kerf and wedge, or, what some think better in avery dry climate, waxing the foundation to the top-bar; that is,running melted wax along the edge of the foundation on the topbar.But you will probably have less sagging of foundation ifyou use foundation splints that are described fully in this book,as well as in the book, "Fifty Years Among the Bees."Combs, Weight of.—Q. How much will ten frames of emptycombs weigh, new and old, size 175^x9j^, top-bar one inch? Howmuch wax will ten combs produce, if rendered?A. They vary very much with age. A weighing just madeshows ten old ones weighing 13j^ pounds. I have no new ones toweigh, but they would be much lighter. Ten average combs willyield from l}i to 2yi pounds of wax.Concrete (See Cement.)Corn Flower.—Q. Do bees gather nectar from corn flowers?A. Yes, if by corn-flower you mean the flower Centaurea Cyanus.If you mean the tassels of Indian corn, I think they getonlypollen.Cotton.—Q. There is a large amount of cotton near Phoenix.Does cotton in Arizona yield much honey?A. Cotton is a good honey plant in the southern states, andlikely, also, with you.Cottonwood.—Q. Is Cottonwood lumber good for beehives?Is basswood?A. Both are bad for lumber for hives.(J.Do bees gather much honey from the blossom of the Cottonwoodtree?A. I think not; if your cottonwood is like the Cottonwood ofIllinois.Covers.—Q. What kind of a cover do you use?A. j\ flat cover with a dead air-space covered with zinc ortin. The upper and the lower parts are each of three-eighths inchstuff, with the grain running in opposite directions, separated bystrips or cleats three-eighths inch thick.