EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS 119 



out thinnest or most like natural comb? The first must be answered by 

 inspection, the second by weighing sections of honey filled under the 

 same circumstances, and the third by measuring with a proper instru- 

 ment the thickness of the bases of the cells of the resulting comb. 



To secure these answers fourteen sections were filled with foundation 

 of each kind except the Given and the drawn foundation, then with 

 each lot was put a set of fourteen sections filled with Given foundation 

 and each lot of twenty-eight sections thus made up was put in a case 

 by itself, the two kinds alternating throughout, thus making the Given 

 sections occupy a position in the case corresponding exactly with that 

 of the other kinds with which they were placed. Of the drawn founda- 

 tion I had only sufiicient to fill six sections, so the six thus filled 

 were placed alternately with Given sections in a case as near the center 

 as possible and the filling of the case completed with other sections. 

 Each of the cases thus prepared was placed on a colony of bees during 

 the honey season and all the sections were worked more or less, but 

 not sufficiently so that the test by weighing could be made with any 

 satisfaction. 



By inspection, however, the preferences of the bees were readily dis- 

 covered. In this respect the case of the drawn foundation was curious 

 and is worthy of mature consideration by all who contemplate making 

 any use of this sort. It was used at once almost for storing honey and 

 it appeared then that it would be ahead of the plain foundation at the 

 time of capping in point of weight, but such did not prove to be the 

 case. At the end of the hone}^ flow, when the center sections were be- 

 ginning to be capped, a drawn foundation section right in the center 

 of the case weighed only 70 per cent as much as the Given section 

 standing next it. It seems probable that this unexpected result was 

 due either to the fact that the bees were dissatisfied with this imitation 

 of comb and used it only for the reception of honey until they could 

 provide other receptacles, or else to the fact that having only the six 

 sections capable of holding honey at once, they put so much thin honey 

 in them at the outset as to delay the process of evaporation to such an 

 extent that these sections in the end appeared at a disadvantage. If 

 this result was owing to the dissatisfaction of the bees this sort of 

 foundation must apparently be condemned, but if owing to the other 

 ground given, condemnation would not necessarily follow, for if it were 

 in regular use there would be twenty-eight sections instead of six in 

 which to distribute the incoming nectar and it might well be that this 

 greatly increased surface would enable the bees to cure the honey as 

 rapidly as necessary. This is a point that touches the use of drawn 

 comb in sections wiiich on account of this drawback probably, has 

 sometimes been condemned. Naturally more nectar is gathered when 

 the comb is ready for its reception and it occurs to me that the number 

 of sections given a colony under such circumstances should be increased 

 accordingly. 



As to the other sorts of foundation the two Root samples were worked 

 at about an equal pace with the Given — the kind called "thin" perhaps 

 a little more rapidly. The Lansing "thin" was behind the Given in 

 that respect and the Bingham and the Lansing extra thin were behind 

 in a more marked degree. 



