1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



891 



EXTRA LIGHT-WEIGHT FOUNDATION FOR THE 

 BROOD-NEST. 



Light and Heavy Weights on Wires; Vertical vs. 

 Horizontal Wiring; Valuable Experiments. 



BY ]. M, RANKIN. 



The manufacture and use of comb founda- 

 tion dates back only a few years, and yet it is 

 an exceptional thing to find a man who does 

 not believe that this manufactured article is a 

 money-maker. He has but to try it once for 

 himself, and its advantages are so apparent 

 that it needs no comparison to show him that 

 it has been an advantage for him to use it. 

 There has, however, been much discus- 

 sion as to what weight to use. The wax 

 from which the foundation is made is the 

 expensive part of the article, and so the 

 lighter the weight the more foundation can be 

 made from the same amount of wax with lit- 

 tle more expense. The lighter the weight, of 

 course the thinner must be the foundation. 

 Is The object of this experiment was to deter- 

 mine how light this foundation could be made 

 and still serve the original purpose, namely, 

 to furnish a base strong enough to answer all 

 purposes. 



The foundations used were furnished by The 

 A. I. Root Co., and were about as near perfec- 

 tion as it is possible to make a foundation. 

 The weights used ranged from a grade a little 

 heavier than that commonly known as me- 

 dium brood down nearly to thin surplus or six 

 Langstroth sheets, which would be 5 49 sq. ft. 

 to 13 Langstroth sheets, or 11.89 sq. ft. to the 

 pound. 



The foundations were all used in full sheets, 

 but with different methods of wiring, namely, 

 vertical and horizontal. Five vertical wires in 

 a Langstroth frame, bringing them 3.5 inches 

 apart, were used. In the frames wired hori- 

 zontally, four wires were used, and were just 

 drawn tight but bearing very little strain. 



The fittings of the hives used in this 

 experiment are shown in the following table. 

 The foundations are numbered 6, 7, 8, etc., 

 according to the number of L. sheets in a 

 pound. 



It may be understood, unless otherwise 

 stated, that in each hive one-half of the foun- 

 dation of each kind was wired horizontally and 

 one-half vertically. 



Hives B, C, G, and J were used as extract- 



ing-supers. Swarms were hived on all the 

 rest. 



Detailed records are as follows : Hive A, 24 

 hours after the swarm was hived the bees were 

 working freely on the No. 13 foundation, and 

 but sparingly on the number 6. In 48 hours 

 all but the outside frame of No. 13 foundation 

 was drawn, and contained nectar and a few 

 eggs, while the two outside frames of No. 6 

 foundation were nearly untouched. 



In four days after hiving, no difference 

 could be seen in the appearance of those combs 

 built on No. 6 and No. 13 foundations, except- 

 ing that the combs of No. 13 were wavy where 

 the vertical wires were used. That is, the 

 foundations had expanded, and the bottom of 

 the comb projected over the bottom-bar to the 

 right between two wires and over to the left 

 between the next two. The No. 6 foundation 

 remained straight and even on the vertical as 

 well as on the horizontal wires. 



Hive B was put over a strong colony at the 

 beginning of the clover flow. The bees began 

 working in it immediately. The No. 6 foun- 

 dation was placed at the side of the hive. 

 The No. 11 next, and the No. 10 on the other 

 side. In 48 hours it was impossible to tell 

 from the looks of the combs which was the 

 heavy and which was the light foundation. 

 In this hive was the only case where a foun- 

 dation as light as No. 1 1 was not wavy on ver- 

 tical wires. 



Hive C was also an extracting-super. Bees 

 began-work on No. 12 foundation -first. The 

 colony did not fill all the combs with honey, 

 and at the end of the season the two frames 

 fitted with No. 7 and one fitted with No. 12 

 foundation contained no honey, and were only 

 partly drawn. 



Hive D, swarm was hived on these combs 

 late in the season, July 20. No. 7 foundation 

 was on one side of the hive and No. 13 on the 

 other side. Bees began work on No. 13. At 

 the close of the season the outsides of the out- 

 side frames of No. 7 were still empty and but 

 slightly drawn. The vertical wired combs of 

 No. 13 foundation were very wavy, but the 

 other two could not be distinguished from the 

 combs built from the No. 7 foundation. 



Hive E. Swarm hived early in the season ; 

 foundation 8 on one side the hive and founda- 

 tion 12 on the other. Bees began work in the 

 middle of the hive, and showed no preference 

 for either weight. The vertical wired sheets 

 of No. 12 were wavy, but those wired horizon- 

 tally could not be distinguished from the No. 

 8 foundation. 



Hive F. Heavy swarm hived June 29 show- 

 ed no preference. Vertical wired frames of 

 No. 13 foundation were wavy, but those wired 

 horizontally could not be distinguished from 

 the No. 10. 



Three days after hiving, hive G was put on 

 as an extracting-super. The bees there show- 

 ed no preference, and at the close of the sea- 

 son there was an empty frame on each side of 

 the surplus case. One was a frame of No. 8 

 foundation, and one was No. 13 foundation. 

 Both were partly drawn. 



Colonies which had been infected with foul 

 brood were shaken into hives H and I the 



