1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



679 



large vessel (I used a large square tin uucapping-can), while 

 yet another vessel containing a quantity of water was close at 

 hand. A small corn-broom or whisk was dipped into the 

 water and swished or thrown over the surface of the combs, 

 they being held at an angle of about 45° during the opera- 

 tion. As soon as thoroughly filled they were set side by side 

 in the uncapping-cau, when it was filled with water so as to 

 completely cover the combs, the same being held in position 

 by having a board and large stone placed thereon, and allowed 

 to remain thus for 36 or 48 hours or more if desired. 



The above method has been practiced by myself in the 

 past, but a more expeditious and much more satisfactory plan 

 has been used of late, and any one having the advantage of a 

 town or city water-works system I would certainly recommend 

 its utilization for such a purpose. The mode of procedure in 

 this case is the same as just outlined up to the time of the 

 applying of the water to the surface of the combs, but in- 

 stead of whisking it into them a nozzle is attached to the 

 water-works hose, capable of throwing a fine stream or spray, 

 that will cover the surface of the comb, five or six inches in 

 diameter, every cell inside of that compass being thoroughly 

 drenched to the septum with such force as in some instances 

 to throw out the dried pellets of pollen, which are sometimes 

 seen in such combs, almost instanter ; the filling and washing 

 out of a whole comb being accomplished in a very few seconds. 



The same method In regard to the saturating of the solid 

 pollen is carried out with all combs not thoroughly cleansed 

 by the first spraying, and in 48 hours the stream or spray is 

 again brought into requisitiou, this time, however, before the 

 combs have been revolved in the extractor, as the stream, 

 when directed onto the water-soaked combs, forces anything 

 and everything contained in them to make a hasty retreat, 

 leaving all as clean and sweet as if new. 



Nothing now remains but to give the cleansed combs a 

 few turns in the extractor to get rid of the remaining water 

 they may contain. A wire-cloth screen, such as is used when 

 shipping or removing bees to " fields anew," is now laid on 

 two pieces of 2x4 scantling, and the hives containing seven 

 combs in each, and perfectly spaced, are tiered five or six 

 stories high with another screen on top so that a current of 

 air can pass through and thoroughly dry them. 

 i_ The above plan was so satisfoctory that I was almost 

 sorry when it was finished, indeed my son who assisted me in 

 the work (he being an awfully lazy fellow, like myself), re- 

 marked that he never saw me like to boss a job so well before. 

 You know I could sit down to it while he had to stand up and 

 run the extractor. 



L 1 will conclude by saying that the combs treated as stated 

 were all wired brood-combs, four years old or thereabout, but 

 I see no reason why, with care, unwired combs could not be 

 treated in like manner. For cleansing combs containing 

 small quantities of sour honey, which sometimes accumulates 

 if left too long unoccupied by the bees, as they were last sea- 

 son (I not having swarms to hive them on), the spray is a 

 capital way of making them sweet and clean, and also for 

 cleaning the basket of the extractor. — Canadian Bee Journal. 



Stratford, Ont. 



Comparison of Section Comb Foundations. 



BY HON. K. L. TAYLOR, 



iSuperintendent of the J/idiiga7i Experiment Apiary. 



Comb foundation bears about the same relation to the 

 apiarist as commercial fertilizer is to the farmer who is com- 

 pelled to use it. In each case the quality of the article has 

 much to do with the success and prosperity of the class usirjg 

 it. It is of the utmost importance, consequently, that pur- 

 chasers be informed, insofar as may be, of the character of 

 the goods offered for sale by different dealers, a condition 

 which results not only in present safety to the purchaser, but 

 also (and this is perhaps even more important) compels manu- 

 facturers continually to make every effort to keep the quality 

 of their product at the highest possible point. It is therefore 

 deemed desiraole that the experiments heretofore made with 

 conb foundation should be repeated, and this has been done 

 during the season of 1896. 



It is all the more important that these experiments should 

 be continued, because new methods are from time to time 

 being learned and practiced in the manipulation, and it is of 

 the highest interest that it be known it possible whether the 

 methods affect the product favorably or otherwise. During 

 the past year, especially, there has been a marked change in 

 methods by the adoption by our leading manufacturers of the 

 Weed invention. This Is a machine the most important fea- 

 ture of which seems to be the contrivance by which melted 

 wax is made into sheets of any length by being passed between 



cylinders. The immediate object of the present experiment 

 was to test the quality of foundation made by this new process. 

 As a basis for comparison I made some foundation on the 

 Given Press, out of wax carefully selected for its purity, color 

 and favorable texture, the effort being directed to the selec- 

 tion of wax known to be most acceptable and most readily 

 worked by the bees. The samples compared were three, one 

 from the largest manufacturer in this State, M. H. Hunt, 

 which was made by the method heretofore in vngiie ; and the 

 other two respectively from the two leading manufacturers of 

 this country, if not of the world, the A. I. Root Co. and Chas. 

 Dadant & Son, made by the new process. One case was de- 

 voted to the three kinds, that is, each ease of a size to contain 

 36 sections 9-to-the-foot was filled with sections one-half 

 of which contained one of the above three kinds and the other 

 half the Given foundation. The two kinds were placed in the 

 case alternately without separators, the presumption being 

 that those containing foundalion worked soonest and most 

 readily by the bees would at the finish contain more honey 

 than the others. 



For the benefit of those who have not pursued the reports 

 of former experiments, it should be said that it is deemed very 

 material to the success of an experiment of this nature that 

 the sections employed be about nine to-the-fooi or I X inches 

 wide, for the reason that this width approximates very nearly 

 the space which the bees like best to allow each comb. To be 

 exact, this space is somewhat less than the bees use on an 

 average, but a departure on that side is desirable, as appears 

 if the dilBculty encountered by the use of sections that are too 

 wide is considered. 



I found by actual trial, if two kinds of foundation for one 

 of which the bees have a decided preference, are disposed in a 

 case in alternate sections, having each a width of nearly 1 % 

 inches, or 7-to-the-foot, that at first the bees work out the 

 preferred foundation much more rapidly than they do the 

 other, and continue to do so until the resulting comb is of the 

 thickness which the bees prefer, and must have for use in the 

 production of brood ; and that when this point is reached, 

 their work on it is, to some extent, suspended, and an effort 

 made to bring up the thinner comb from the poorer founda- 

 tion, so that, with such sections, the preferences of the bees 

 defeat the object of the experiment which is to have them 

 deposit honey in the two classes of sections in proportion to 

 the estimation in which they hold the two kinds of foundation, 

 uninfluenced by their ideas of propriety on other points. But 

 the use of sections 9-to-the-foot meets the required condition, 

 for, unless one of the foundations is execrable indeed, the 

 comb from the better one is not likely to reach the desired 

 thickness before the available space is all occupied. 



The results of the experiment appear in detail in the fol- 

 lowing table : 



In each case the Given foundation, as generally hereto- 

 fore, shows a superiority, but in a greatly reduced degree. 



The sample from Hunt, whose foundation has heretofore, 

 In this kind of experiment, stood at or near the head, loses its 

 place, though on the whole it compares more favorably with 

 the Given than in the test of a year ago. 



The showing made by the New Process foundation is very 

 favorable indeed— a very gratifying fact, since the increased 

 facility in manfacturing gained by the new method will have 

 a strong tendency to decrease the price of the product. 



It is another matter for congratulation that tue samples 

 of foundalion used in the present experiment approach uni- 

 formity very much more nearly than ever before.— Review. 



Lapeer, Mich. 



