CLOVER. 



97 



COMB FOUNDATION. 



6l 



fruit-blossoms fall, and stays in bloom long 

 enough to allow the bees ample time to gath- 

 er a crop. The blossoms do not come all 

 together, bat in a succession, hence it would 

 not be practical to cut it just before bloom- 

 ing, as is now done with alfalfa. It would 

 seem to be a grand crop for those who raise 

 fine horses and cattle, also ])oultrymen who 

 feed cut clover. It is not likely it will ever 

 yield so large a crop as alfalfa, but in every 

 otiier respect it is proljably superior. 



PIN GLOVER, OR ALFIhlRliA. 



Pin clover, or alfilarila (Erodium cicutari- 

 um), is one of the leading honey and pollen 

 yielders of California and Arizona. It is re- 

 garded as an excellent forage-plant by stock- 

 men, quite equal in feeding value to alfalfa, 

 and probably more palatable, because much 

 less woody in character An analysis by the 

 chemist of the Arizona Experiment Station 

 shows it is quite equal to any clover for 

 feeding purposes. It is being rapidly spread 

 by the cattle in the extreme Southwest, for 

 it is easily disseminated, and requires no 

 particular cultivation. In this respect it 

 resembles sweet clover ; but animals do not 

 have to be educated to eating it ; on the con- 

 trary, they are fond of it from the start. 

 As a honey and pollen plant it ranks very 

 high, both as regards quantity and quality. 



For the consideration of alfalfa, also a 

 clover, see Alfalfa. 



COLOR OF HONEY. 



OK OF. 



See Honey, Col- 



One consists primarily of two fiat plates, or 

 dies,* operated by a press. The other is 

 made up of a pair of rolls having embossed 



CO]M[B FOUNDATION. This is 

 just what the term signifies— a base, midrib, 

 or foundation, of the honey-comb. If we 

 take a piece of comb and slice it down on 

 both sides, nearly to the bottom of the cells, 

 we get what is practically comb foundation. 



Tiie article originally consisted of noth- 

 ing Init the midrib, without any walls ; but 

 very soon after, there were added walls to 

 stiffen and strengthen the sheet and to serve 

 as tlie beginning of the cells. 



Since the introduction of foundation, 

 within the past few years, many difficult 

 points have been solved completely ; such as 

 how to insure straight combs, how to insure 

 all worker-comb or all drone-comb, as the 

 case may be, and how to furnish the bees 

 with the wax they need without being 

 compelled to secrete it by the consumption 

 of honey. 



MACHINES FOR MAKING FOUNDATION. 



There are two different and distinct 

 classes of machines for doing this work. 

 4 



TEN-INCH FOUxN'DATION-:MILL. 



surfaces, and so adjusted, one above the 

 other, that the die faces will mesh together. 

 Through these the thin sheets of wax are 

 run like clothes through a wringer. The 

 first foundation-machines put out were 

 presses with flat dies ; but it was soon dis- 

 covered that, in order to turn out founda- 

 tion in a wholesale way, it would have to be 



GIVEN FOUNDATION-PRESS. 



done by means of rolls, for then the wax 

 could be rolled out in continuous or long 

 sheets, and the cost of production material- 



*There is a machine sold in Germany that uses flat 

 dies without a press. The dies are hinged tog-ethoi 

 and open like a book. Hot melted wax is poured on 

 the lower die, when the other die isbroug-ht down on 

 to it like the closing- of a l)ook, lief ore the wax cools. 

 The resultant product is very crude compared with 

 that made off from rollers or a g-ood press. 



