AUGUST 15, 1912 



517 



ing combs I have noticed some very marked 

 examples that seem to contradict that state- 

 ment. I have had my partner, Mr. A. H. 

 Wilcox, take a picture of one by transmit- 

 ted light, wliich shows, although somewhat 

 imperfectly, the very noticeable difference 

 mentioned above. 



At the lower left-hand corner, where the 

 wire is fastened, is a three-cornered patch 

 of the original foundation. Next is a small- 

 er patch of partly drawn and tliinned-base 

 foundation. The rest of the picture shows 

 varying degrees of drawn comb, all of 

 which has the base reduced to a veiy thin 

 transparent condition. At the upper right- 

 hand corner tlie cells are deep and slanting, 

 so that the camera could not look directly 

 into them, as was the case in the rest of the 

 picture. 



The foundation used in this case was 

 home made, running about 6^/2 sheets to 

 the pound. 



Ogden, Utah, March 11. 



[Your last sentence explains why your 

 l)ees thinned down the bases of the founda- 

 tion. Six and a half sheets to the jDound 

 virtually makes what we call "heavy brood" 

 foundation. When the base is thick, as it is 

 in such sheets, bees will, as a rule, thin it 

 down ; but when ordinary super or extra- 

 thin super foundation is used, the base is so 



near the thinness that we find in natural 

 comb that they generally leave it without 

 alteration. Mr. E. B. Weed, the inventor 

 of the Weed pi'ocess foundation and the 

 macliineiy for making it, conducted nu- 

 merous experiments years ago, the result of 

 which showed that, when the base of foun- 

 dation is almost as thin as the base of nat- 

 ural comb, they will not alter it; but, no 

 matter how tliick the walls of heavy foun- 

 dation are, they will thin them down to the 

 natural tliickness — 3-1000 of an inch. — Ed.] 



BEEKEEPING FOR WOMEN 



BY AVALVE C. ROBBINS 



Sister Beals, of Lewiston, Me., has brok- 

 en the ice. I too have three nice colonies of 

 bees. I buy my inside fixings by the hun- 

 dred in flat, and so have the same enjoy- 

 ment of pounding the nails (not fingers, 

 for all women do not pound their fingers). 



I had been looking for some time for a 

 business whereby I could be at home and 

 attend to my wifely duties and still feel as 

 though I were earning some money. So 

 my husband finally invested about $33.00 

 for me, and I find beekeeping just the 

 thing. I will succeed or "bust." 



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The lower left-liaiid corner shows the original foundation. The lighter portions show how the bees thinned 



down the base. 



