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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 1 



General 

 Correspondence 



THE USE AND ABUSE OF COMB FOUN- 

 DATION. 



A Plea for Comb Honey with only a Min- 

 imum of Foundation. 



BY F. GREINER. 



After many years of producing comb hon- 

 ey, of reading how others are doing it, and 

 how the grading is being done, givmg due 

 consideration to all — producer, dealer, and 

 consumer — and also studying the grading- 

 rules, I have come to the conclusion that we 

 have been catering altogether too much to 

 the demands of the dealer or the man who 

 has it to sell. I observe that, if comb honey 

 is to pass as "fancy," the comb must be at- 

 tached to all four sides of each section, and 

 sealed to the wood. The better this is ac- 

 complished, the greater is the value of the 

 product. 



However, it is a fact that the consumerrare- 

 ly demands such honey. I have placed gilt- 

 edged comb honey in the hands of very ex- 

 acting people at a fancy price — honey which 

 was attached to the tops of the sections with 

 only two little legs at the sides, none under 

 the bottom, and yet the people who bought 

 this honey were perfectly satisfied with it, 

 although some of our producers of "fancy " 

 comb honey would pronounce it only "very 

 poor stuff." The producers of comb honey 

 who are catering to the wishes and demands 

 of the sellers only, are filling the sections 

 full of comb foundation, running the sheets 

 on with melted wax, sometimes on three 

 sides of each section. Some are making use 

 of split sections, which enable the user to 

 get his foundation attached to three sides; 

 but in order to prevent "buckling" they find 

 it necessary to make use of brood founda- 

 tion. When a consumer gets such honey he 

 must dig it off from each side of the midrib; 

 and how that can suit him, any producer can 

 easily imagine. If these sections with the 

 honey dug off and foundation still intact 

 could be saved and gathered up for a repeat- 

 ed and perhaps indefinite use it would mean 

 a great saving; but, of course, this is out of 

 the question, and thus the only reasonable 

 excuse for the method falls to the ground. 



The consumer, for the purpose of eating, 

 would call such a product "very poor stuff " 

 indeed as compared with what our forefa- 

 thers produced in soap-boxes and the like ; and 

 the wonder is that those who put this most 

 inferior article on the market have the cheek 

 to speak about their practice in public. It 

 would seem to me that their love for money 

 has befogged their brains, for they want to 

 reap where others have sown. Comb honey 

 has as yet a good reputation, and only on the 

 strength of 'his these people are obtaining a 

 good price for their poor output, although 

 the seller may pat them on their backs and 



compliment them for their great (?) achieve- 

 ments, and buy their product before it is off 

 the hive. 



Comb honey, if it is expected to withstand 

 shipping over our railroads, must of neces- 

 sity be reasonably well-built out, and eac!". 

 comb must be attached to the sides of the 

 section. This much I admit; but it is not 

 necessary to meddle with the inside of the 

 flakes to any extent. If we had a practicable 

 method of obtaining naturally built new comb 

 in sufficient quantities to start all our little 

 boxes with we might get along without any 

 section foundation. 



Years ago our forefathers raised tons of 

 comb honey without it, and we could do so 

 again; but we of to-day find it handy now to 

 use the artificial midrib. Indeed, we regard 

 its use indispensable — at least when used as 

 a small starter, and of the lightest-weight 

 section foundation. All things considered, 

 it is just as well to use the artificial starter, 

 for even the natural new comb has its draw- 

 back. It has to be dipped into melted resin 

 to fix it in place, and this leaves a hard sub- 

 stance at the place of detachment, which 

 does not look nor is as well as a small founda- 

 tion starter fastened in by the hot plate of a 

 foundation-fastener. 



MORE MONEY IN FULL SHEETS, BUT PRODUCT 

 NOT AS GOOD. 



I am sure I might have made a great deal 

 more money had I used full sheets of comb 

 foundation in my sections for the past 25 

 years or more. But as I did not wish to in- 

 jure the reputation of comb honey I have re- 

 frained from doing so; for even the very 

 lightest comb foundation leaves a hard dis- 

 tinguishable midrib. Many a purchaser may 

 not even suspect that an artificial center is 

 used in the section honey he has bought; but 

 that does not alter the fact that the founda- 

 tion does leave a hard tough substance, dif- 

 ferent from real virgin comb; and consumers 

 who know about it can not possibly be satis- 

 fied with it. We are not, and a few others 

 of whom I know. 



A number of years ago I had been allured 

 into using half-sheets in all my sections. 

 That same year I happened to purchase 20 or 

 25 cases of comb honey of a neighboring bee- 

 keeper who had used only very small start- 

 ers. Mrs. G. quickly observed this, and she 

 suggested that I had better reserve for our 

 own use a few cases of this honey we bought, 

 selling all of our own product, which I did to 

 our satisfaction when it came to eating the 

 honey. 



Really good comb honey can not be pro- 

 duced with full sheets or half-sheets of comb 

 foundation, no matter what the dealers may 

 have to say. It is very true that, on aa 

 average, the combs are not attached quite as 

 solidly, nor sealed clear to the wood as uni- 

 formly, with small starters as with full sheets, 

 but particularly so when split sections are 

 used; but from the commercial standpoint 

 there is no need of sections being filled brim- 

 ful. Section honey ships very well if the 

 boxes are reasonably well filled; the sealing 

 clear to the wood is not only not necessary, 



