If whole sheets are used--or, in the case of supers, half ones--perhaps the simplest plan for fastening them is to fix a strip of wood with brads to the under side of the top frame or bar; place the wax sheet against this, then wedge another strip close to it, and thus hold the wax sheet firmly in the centre of the frame, taking care also to make the second strip of wood fast with brads. This has however the objection that it slightly diminishes the space. 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 each side, both at the sides and at the bottom, the plate may be held in an exactly central position within the frame. We are now disposed to make a great modification in the above directions, and, instead of using entire sheets of wax, we cut strips from them of about an inch in width, and place these in the bars as before, when they form an edged projection of half or three-quarters of an inch. We have found an objection to the entire sheets in the fact that they sometimes curl and break with the weight of the bees--so eagerly does a new swarm apply itself to work upon them--and thus become an obstruction instead of a help. Strips of cardboard or wood shaving, dipped in hot wax or well besmeared therewith, may be substituted for the wax strips themselves. Where no slit is made for the insertion of either, the shaving running down the lower edge of the bar may be simply rubbed with hot wax, and the same purpose will be served. § IX. COMB FOUNDATIONS. This is an American attempt to improve on our impressed wax sheets. In the proffered assistance to the bees there is here some advance, for not only are the lozenge-shaped plates at the base of each cell more clearly stamped and defined, but the sides of the cells are slightly begun--so deep are the impressions that the foundations of the walls are actually laid.