1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



309 



was met by two difficulties,- one, the loss of form to the comb, 

 the other breaking of the wire. Of the wires, I found it impose 

 ible to remove more than one in three, and, since there is but 

 i'dc kind, l believe, of wired foundation in existence in England, 

 none are likely to be much more successful than mt Belt I had 

 nut. up to this time, placed my foundation in the frames as 

 transatlantic authorities recommend, because 1 felt if this were 

 indeed the only plan, the utility of the wired foundation was 

 disproved "enavance." In short, to give an idea of the involv- 

 ed trouble, let me say that boring holes in the' top bar opposite 

 to the wires, clearing away the wax to expose about an inch of 

 these, and then drawing them through and getting ready for 

 insertion In the hive, occupied me twenty-one minutes, a period 

 which practice would not very much reduce, as the thin wires 

 arc broken by any rough usage in a moment. 



After all this labor, and waiting until the comb was nicely 

 formed, I met the most complete failure; for all the wires but 

 four broke in my attempt to draw them out, and the four « hich 

 1 removed litcraih crumpled up the comb as you would crumple 

 up paper for the waste-paper basket. With further trials, l 

 met with the same results. No wonder Mr. Betsinger, at the 

 North-Eastern Convention of bee keepers held last February, 

 said, "A year ago, at the national convention at New Fork, I 

 offered 850. 00 to any one who would present me with a square 

 foot of foundation on wires that was perfect; but no one has 

 done it. ' ' 



Without at present making more than a passing reference in 

 the unnaturalness and waste involved in the Hat-bottomed cell. 

 a matter which I wish to look at from its mathematical side an 

 other time. I am pleased to be able to say that I have had suc- 

 cess in some experiments I have been trying-, which must de- 

 liver US, if nothing more, from any necessity for wires or Hat 

 midribs. 



Glue as most of us know can be used successfully in fastening 

 combs. Taking my cue from this. I at first tried some line sew 

 ing cotton dipped in thin glue, which I placed on the face of the 

 foundation in perpendicular lines about l 1 . in. apart, and gent- 

 ly passed the linger along it to bring it into contact with the 

 incipient cell walls, and when dry placed it in the center of one of 

 my strongest stocks, a position which would certainly have 

 caused half an inch elongation in the sheet, if unassisted. The 

 bees worked it beautifully; no sagging occurred, but, contrary 

 to mv expectation, the bees were unable to attach the glued 

 cotton. They built it into the fronts of the cells near to the base 

 Of course. 



As the comb was half built pulling out the cottons tore away- 

 little of the walls of those cells through which they passed, 

 which the bees in an hour or two repaired perfectly, and we 

 were already altogether ahead of wired foundation, the labor 

 not being oiie tithe of that involved in drawing out. or rather 

 trying to draw- out the wires, leaving the troublesome lixing in- 

 to the frames out of view. The cell bases, in properly formed 

 foundations, are never perpendicular, but the weight of wax 



and 1 s is constantly tending to bring them into this position. 



hence the sagging; but the cottons acted as the bow string on 

 the bow. ami prevented the points of attachment from receding 

 from each Other. The beau ideal, it appeared to me, would be 

 reached, could we find something that the bees would remove as 

 the comb progressed. To this end, I have been, and am still. 

 experimenting with hair, raveling cotton, silk and thread fixed 

 with gum, glue, wax, shoemaker's wax, and varnish, and have 

 so tar succeeded that it is only now necessary to ascertain which 

 liber and fixing are uniformly most desirable. Any of these, it 

 seems to me, pressed into tlie comb during its manufacture, 

 must fail unless Hat bottoms are used, because as the fiber runs 

 to the right and left of the perpendicular in every cell diameter, 

 it simply without stretching assumes a straighter line as the 

 i-omb drops, without in any way sustaining it. I will report 

 further of mv experiments' ill the future. But another plan has 

 given me perfect results, and this is, 1 believe, likely to be very 

 largely adopted. I soldered live pins by their heads into a piece 

 of tine brass wire at intervals of about an inch or little more, 

 and then turned the wire at the end to a right angle, so that the 

 arrangement looked not unlike a tiny rake head with six teeth. 

 Haifa dozen of these were prepared, and when the foundation 

 had been waxed in, and the pins all cut down to half an inch ill 

 length, the turned ends of the wire went over the ton bar at re- 

 gular intervals, and the pins wen- pressed into and through the 

 foundation as it stood on the board used in waxing. The whole 

 was lifted and so linn was it that while the frame was held 

 horizontally the foundation kept its position. It was given as 

 before lo a strong stock. 



When half worked, the little rakes were removed, and the live 

 holes each left were invisible in an examination made half an 

 hour afterwards. The comb is most perfect, with no disposi- 

 tion to turn at the corners- the one fault of all foundation J 

 have ever seen, the rakes preventing any movement. 



I can only add, I shall name these wire arrangements "found- 

 ation rakes." Frank K. CHESHIRE. 



Avenue House, Acton W. 



Man j' thanks, friend J. The fdn. on wood 

 is not exactly new. We have had beautiful 

 combs built on wood ; some were built last 

 season ; and, if you recollect, I gave an ac- 

 count of the experiments about a year ago. 

 One edition of the A 15 C gives the result of 

 the experiments fully, but it was afterward 

 taken out, as the great amount of wax nec- 

 essary to make the cells on a smooth board, 

 I consider an insuperable objection. I have 

 used indented boards, but even then, the 

 brood is separated and the combs made so 

 much heavier than pure wax combs, that I 

 cannot see how it can come into general use. 

 The sample which you so kindly sent us is 

 much thicker and heavier than what we 

 used. We had no trouble with the warping. 



I mentioned last season that our boys object- 

 ed to the wcod bases, because they could not 

 cut out queen cells. We have 25 copies of 

 the British Bee Journal each month, and 

 friend Abbot has also had the result of our 

 experiments through Gleanings. Mr. 

 Cheshire's idea is certainly new, and I am 

 inclined to think will be thankfully received 

 by a great many. You will notice above 

 that we had news of the same, through 

 friend Langstroth ; the two letters came in 

 the same mail. Some of the little "rakes" 

 were made very quickly, by soldering 6, I 

 wire nails on our ordinary transferring 

 wires. One of the "rakes" is shown below, 

 and also a full set, in place, on an L. frame. 



tTIESHIUE'S INVENTION TO HOLD FDN. 



Oue of the wires you w r ill notice is put on 

 a little sloping ; Ave can do this to tighten 

 them, should the frames vary a little in size. 

 Several of them were prepared and put in 

 the hives, right in the height of basswood, 

 and while a few of them warped away from 

 the wires and sagged a little, the experiment, 

 on the whole, was a success. You can have 

 your sheets cut so as to fill the frames, and 

 have a full frame of perfect cells every time, 

 and no danger from sagging. We can fur- 

 nish the wires, as shown in the cut above, 

 all ready to put in the L. frames, for $1.00 per 

 hundred ; by mail, 15c. per hundred extra. 

 We prefer the wired frames shown in our 

 price list for our own work, because all of 

 the combs used in our apiary are liable to be 

 shipped at any moment, and we cannot have 

 combs breaking down. We also want combs 

 made so that neither the top nor the bottom 

 bar can sag with any weight of honey, and 

 want them to be, at the same time, just as 

 light as they possibly can be. For all these 

 points, nothing can equal our braced wire 

 frames. 



Now in regard to friend Cheshire's re- 

 marks : He is most assuredly mistaken if he 

 means to say that our fine tinned wire kills 

 the larvae. We have solid sheets of brood 

 right over the wires, and after the first set 

 has been hatched out, the wires are so cov- 

 ered with cocoons that they are no longer 

 visible at all. Betsinger's offer was passed 

 by because most of us were too busy to take 

 up such an offer, even if we felt so disposed. 

 We do not want anybody's S50.00. Mr. 

 Cheshire, your experiments are most valua- 

 ble, and the united world of bee-keepers 

 owes you its thanks. Most of your experi- 

 ments, I have gone over in past years, but 

 the little "rake is entirely your own inven- 

 tion ; the nearest approach to it I have ever 

 heard of was given several years ago in 

 Gleanings, where It. S. Becktellused little 

 strips of wood which were afterward pulled 

 out. 



