REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 271 



Shade may be obtained by the use of a second cover to the hives, made of boards 

 one foot wider and one and a half feet longer than the cover of the hive. 



Do not use propolis quilts during the honey season 



Do not allow your sections to be travel-stained by leaving them in the hives too 

 long ; remove them to a warm room. ^ 



If the outside sections are not well filled, put them back in the next super. 



Use 4-piece sections in preference to 1 -piece sections. 



Use full sheets of foundation in your sections ; the bees will go up sooner and work 

 better on full sheets. 



In the same way, in the brood chamber use full sheets of foundation ; this will be 

 found a saving of time and do away with much drone comb. 



Wire all brood frames and extracting frames. 



Always sort your sections and clean them thoroughly before sending them to 

 customers. Send them always in a clean super or in a neat crate. 



Let the bees always have a supply of water as near as possible to the apiary, for in 

 cool weather they require a great deal of water, especially when they are rearing a brood 

 or if the honey flow is light. 



Always handle your bees with the greatest care and gentleness. 



John Fixter. 



REPORT UPON FURTHER EXPERIMENTS WITH CERTAIN BRANDS 

 OF COMB FOUNDATION, BY FRANK T. SHUTT, M.A., F.I.C., 

 CHEMIST, DOMINION EXPERIMENTAL FARMS. 



This investigation, commenced in 1894, and continued from year to year since that 

 date, has for its chief object the determination of the relative usefulness in comb build- 

 ing of certain brands of "foundation." It was supposed that those brands of wax of 

 which the bees used the most, or, in other words, to which they added the least amount 

 of wax, in the building of the cell walls, would prove to have the greater value to the 

 bee-keeper. It is argued by most practical bee-keepers that, in supplying the bees with 

 wax that they can readily draw out and utilize in cell formation, a greater store of 

 honey may be expected. This, indeed, seems to be the main reason for furnishing bees 

 with artificial comb, though there are others of perhaps somewhat less importance. On 

 the other hand, however, there are some bee-keepers who think that there is but little 

 advantage in this respect, the chief benefit being a more regular structure of the cells in 

 the section. At my suggestion, Mr. R. F. Holtermann, editor of the Canadian Bee 

 Journal, has kindly furnished the following statement respecting the objects to be 

 attained in supplying the bees with comb foundation : — 



"As to the object of using comb foundation, brood foundation is used to save the 

 bees time and material, to get all worker cells, and to secure straight comb. The 

 foundation in the sections is first of all to aid in enticing bees into the supers, to save 

 them material by the giving of wax, to save time, as they can begin storing more quickly 

 in the supers ; also to get an evenly-filled section, and to have it attached to the sides 

 and bottom of section. Bees are much less likely to do this well when they build the 

 comb themselves. Again, it is desirable to have the cells of a uniform size ; by giving 

 them the foundation, this is secured." 



In connection with the question of wax utilization and deposition, Mr. Holter- 

 mann is also of the opinion that bees utilize the wax in the foundation to a greater 

 extent when the honey flow is light ; in other words, that, when gathering large quan- 

 tities of honey, bees manufacture or produce more wax than when the honey supply is 

 light. It might be urged that this argument, carried to its logical conclusion, would in 

 a large measure go to show that, in seasons of a heavy honey flow, there is little econ- 

 omy in supplying foundation. In these considerations, the fact must not be lost sight 

 of that wax is not a material gathered by the bees, but a true secretion, the result of 

 the physiological functions of certain glands in the bee, and is produced to a large 



