1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



397 



tilled before he will let it go. Again, friend 

 Root wants to know how that distillery, which 

 looks so beautiful to him, came in his adjoining 

 county. I think I can tell him. A little over 

 thirty years ago we were in the throes of a civil 

 war. I'ncle Samuel needed funds, and the 

 whisky interests, known as "■ Gambrinus," told 

 him he would furnish the funds if Uncle Sam- 

 uel would give him a mortgage on his boys. 

 Uncle Samuel agreed, and, as a result, we see 

 the government receiving 90 cents on every gal- 

 lon of whisky turned out of these distilleries, 

 and §:3.-) from every saloon-keeper in the land, 

 Gambrinus ruining from 60,000 to 100.000 of the 

 boys of the country each year as his part of the 

 contract. Thus our government, this Christian 

 government, nationalized the drink business, 

 and inaugurated a system of partnership with 

 the accursed liquor-traffic, and handed down to 

 us as legitimate the 250,000 licensed saloons and 

 distilleries which exist to-day. All of these are 

 right square in the way of God's kingdom ad- 

 vancing as it should in che woi'ld. Therefore, 

 whoever would preach Christ Jesus (see page 

 809 of Gleanings for 1892) must necessarily 

 preach against this greatest opposer of his 

 kingdom, and use all of his powers in opposi- 

 tion to this stronghold of Satan. 

 Borodino, N. Y., Apr. 1. G. M. Doolittle. 



NEW AKTIFICIAL COMB. 



PROGRESS THAT HAS BEEN MADE IN GERMANY. 



The invention of comb foundation marked an 

 era in bee-keeping. Aside from any other con- 

 sideration, the bees were thereby saved the 

 time of making comb, and the honey used to 

 secrete the wax. Then efforts were made to do 

 something toward saving what was still left for 

 the bees to do. Wax was given to them in small 

 shavings, to induce them to work it into comb; 

 but although some success was reported, the 

 scheme was in general abandoned. Something 

 was dom- in the way of high side walls in foun- 

 dation, but still much wax must be added by 

 the bees before the cells were of normal depth. 

 Then there were reports from time to time that 

 we were to have actual comb made. Arrange- 

 ments were just about completed, and the thing 

 was just about to be accomplished. But the 

 full accomplishment seemed always just a lit- 

 tle further in the future, and seemed to be a 

 veritable " will-o'-the-wisp," so that most gave 

 up looking for it. 



Now. however, comes co the front in the land 

 of Dzierzon, Pastor Warnstorf, and says he can 

 mak(! comb with cells full depth. He not only 

 says he can do it, but he does it: not only a lit- 

 tle solitary specimen, but pound after pound of 

 it, and so beautifully made that it will readily 

 pass for that made by the bees. 



One way of making foundation is to dip sheets 

 of wax and then run the sheets through a pair 

 of rolls. Another way is to have a press with 

 an upper and an under plate fitting accurately 

 together, each plate being an exact imprint of 

 the foundation to be made. Melted wax is 

 poured upon the under plate, the upper plate 

 pres.sed down upon it, and the accommodating 

 wax assumes the proper form. 



Novy, what is to hinder having the molds in 

 one of these foundation-jjresses make cells half 

 an inch deep ? All that is necessary is to have 

 the interstices of the mold, which form the side 

 walls of the foundation, of sulticient depth. 

 That is a matter easy of accomplishment; but 

 the trouble is. that, when the side-walls pass a 

 certain point as to depth, when the two plates 

 or molds are separated there is no way of get- 

 ting the deep side walls away from the press 



without breaking; at least, there was noway 

 discovered till Pastor Warnstorf struck it, and 

 therein consists his invention. 



Suppose a mold made with interstices so deep 

 that it will allow side walls 1% inches deep. 

 This will really be a series of hexagonal prisms, 

 each one ending in a pyramid with three faces. 

 Now let a comb be made with cells 1% inches 

 deep, and suppose that, in some way, wehav<i it 

 detached from the mold. We don't care to have 

 cells more than half an inch deep, so we will 

 slice off V)h inches of the comb, cai'efully pre- 

 serving without injury what we slice off. This 

 will give us a comb with side walls l;?g' inches 

 deep, but with no bottom to the cells. Now, 

 suppose we have the power to change this from 

 wax to brass, or, what is the same thing, make 

 an exact imitation of brass, having a solid mar- 

 gin to it. 



Without going minutely into details, I think 

 it will not be very difficult now to understand 

 the mode of operation. Although comb with 

 cells on both sides can be made, it is much easier 

 to have cells on only one side, and on some ac- 

 counts it is considered better. So the lower 

 mold is only the ordinary kind, as for making 

 foundation. The upper mold, with its 1%-inch 

 prisms, first passes through the brass grating 

 spoken of; then the wax, being poured upon the 

 lower mold, the i^ress does its work and the 

 upper plate is again raised, and the brass grat- 

 ing pushes down the comb. Instead of trying 

 to pull the comb off, as in previous attempts, it 

 is pushed oft' and comes away uninjured. 



So far the size of the combs does not exceed 6 

 or 8 inches square; but when pieces are put to- 

 gether in a frame, the bees readily fasten them 

 together. Two combs can be put together back 

 to back, thus making the ordinary comb with 

 cells on each side. Or, if room enough is left, 

 the bees will build out cells on the foundation 

 side, the same as on any foundation. Neither 

 of these ways, however, is considered so good 

 as to put two combs together, back to back, but 

 with just room enough for bees to pass com- 

 fortably between them. 



It is claimed that these combs are better than 

 the natural combs made by the bees, especially 

 during the main harvest. The bees will store 

 honey in them readily, but no brood will ever 

 be found in them, no matter where placed in 

 the hive. The unilateral comb is considered 

 better than that with cells on both sides, be- 

 cause, if the bees are allowed to draw out cells 

 on the second side, brood may be put in it, and 

 also because, if cells are on only one side there 

 will be no need to reverse the combs in the ex- 

 tractor. By proper management the bees can 

 be induced to prolong the cells to any desirable 

 depth. The artificial comb is kindly received 

 by the bees at any time, whilst foundation is at 

 times torn down by them. 



Thus I have given the advantages of the new 

 comb, as claimed by its friends. It is only fair 

 to say, that the new comer does not find all 

 clear sailing, with no opposition. Indeed, its 

 opponents seem rather more numerous than its 

 friends; at least, more of them seem to speak 

 out. Wide interest is, however, awakened, and 

 no doubt it will be thoroughly tested during the 

 coming season. C. C. Miller. 



Marengo, III., March 37. 



[It seems to us that Pastor Warnstorf's comb 

 is a good deal of the '• will-o"-the-wisp"' yet. 

 The pieces are small, and cells on one* side only. 

 Mr. E. B. Weed, of Detroit, accomplished as 

 much, and yet we know that it ended only in 

 failure. This attempt on the part of the Ger- 

 mans is, however, interesting, and we would 

 not try to stand in the way of i)rogress. If it 

 has merit it will come out on top; if not, it will 



