adulterated. It cannot now be, except by 

 bee-keepers themselves ! Shall that ever 

 be? 



Hopinfj that tliis session may be entirely 

 harmonious, and that it may be as protitable 

 as it is pleasant, I append an article you 

 asked me for, two years ago, rather than to 

 enlarge on some other topics I had expected 

 to mention. P. H. Elwood. 



President Root then took the chair. Mr. 

 Dooiittle read the following paper on 

 COMB foundation: 



I am well aware that in presenting the 

 facts, as given below, 1 shall be censured by 

 those having con)b foundation to sell, and 

 perhaps by a few of our practical apiarists; 

 but, as they are facts, just as 1 found them 

 to be from practical experiments in my own 

 apiary, 1 give them, being willing to bear 

 the censure of a few, if I may be of any 

 benefit to the many. 



My first experiinents were conducted in 

 1875, with foundation purchased of John 

 Long, of New York city. The foundation 

 arrived nearly at the close of the season, 

 and as the weatiier was cool at the time, 

 the result was quite satisfactory; we have 

 some very nice specimens filled in boxes, 

 with but little sagging. Although the 

 foundation was not properly thinned, I had 

 great hopes for the next year, as 1 thought 

 with warm weather, the bees would proper- 

 ly thin the base of the cells. 



The next season, 1876. I purchased a small 

 lot of A. 1. Root, of Ohio, and used it in hot 

 weather; but was completely surprised to 

 find, that while tlie bees did not thin it out 

 any more than the previous season, it 

 sagged so as to be entirely worthless; some 

 even pulling apart after being filled with 

 honey. But Mr. Root came to the rescue, 

 by telling me that I had been experiment- 

 ing with paraffnie, instead of wax, as the 

 foundation he sent me was made of paraf- 

 fine, instead of wax. 



He then sent me some, declaring it to be 

 made of pure wax, but as the season was 

 far advanced when it was received, I liad 

 but little chance to ascertain much about it. 

 except that the bees did not thin tlmbaseof 

 the cells a particle. They simply worked 

 out the wax that was raised for the sides of 

 the cells, leaving the base untouched, and 

 although the weather was cool, it sagged 

 some. So far, my experiments had all been 

 confined to the boxes. 



As I had some very nice wax of my own, 

 I sent it to Mr. Root during the winter of 

 1876-7, to be made into foundation, 5 cells to 

 the inch, for breeding purposes. Hereto- 

 fore, most of the foundation had been made 

 4}^ cells to the inch, "which was neither 

 worker or drone size of cells. In due time 

 the foundation arrived, and my former 

 ambition to make it a success returned, as I 

 now liad foundation known to be of pure 

 wax, and made 5 cells to the inch. 



As early as pv)ssible, in the spring, I filled 

 sonre frames very nicely, taking the pre- 

 caution given in the Bee Journal to leave 

 it % of an incii from the bottom bar of 

 the frame and ^4 of an inch from the sides. 

 A center frame was taken from a medium 

 colony, and one of foundation put in place 

 of it. After waiting 17 hours, I looked to 



see how the bees had made it, when, to my 

 dismay, I found the comb torn apart, leav- 

 ing only a portion of it in the frame; the 

 greater part being in a mass, at the bottom 

 of the hive. Not at all dauntetH, I put 

 several frames in weak colonies, so as not 

 to get so great a weight of bees on them at 

 first, before the cells were drawn out. — 

 These were not torn apart, but sagged so 

 badly that the combs were all bulged, and 

 rolled under at the bottom. Next. I short- 

 ened them up, so as to come within IK 

 inches of the bottom of the frame. These 

 sagged so as to just touch the bottom bar of 

 the frame; and, upon measuring the cells, 

 we found them to be !% one way, by .5 to 

 the inch the other. 



Meantime, Mr. Root was writing us to 

 know the result of our experiments, so we 

 sent him one of these combs. He wrote us 

 back, that although the comb was the worst 

 case of sagging he had ever seen, yet even 

 as it was, it was better than natural comb' 

 would average! Didn't my hair stand on 

 end, to think what combs my brother bee- 

 keepers were using, while I had more than' 

 a thousand conibs in my yard as straight as 

 a board, with .5 cells to the inch, each way ! 

 I wrote him for a comb, built from founda- 

 tion, the best of any he had; upon receiving 

 and measuring it. I found it had sagged, so 

 that the upper half averaged 4H cells to the 

 inch, by 5 the other way. This comb was 

 in a Jjangstroth frame and was left % of an 

 inch from the bottom when put in, but had 

 sagged so as to touch the bottom bar. As 

 this was one of his best, I have a right tO' 

 make a few figures on it. 



When the foundation was put in the 

 frame, it was just 5 cells to the inch, as tiie 

 bees make theirs; having % of an inch from 

 the bottom bar— >i of an inch, the whole 

 length of the frame, is lost by this sagging 

 ])rocess! As the Langstroth frame is about 

 17 inches long, we have 12% inches of loss 

 to every frame, above what the bees would 

 lose if they built it in the frame! As there 

 are 10 frames in the Langstroth hive, we 

 lose on the whole hive 137^ square incites, 

 and as each square inch, if occupied with 

 brood, would give 50 worker bees, we lose 

 6350 bees every 21 days; or, in other words, 

 it takes just as many bees to brood these 

 combs as it would natural coinb, giving 6350 

 more bees every 21 days, or about 40,000- 

 during the season! In early spring, when 

 brooding bees are few in number, this loss 

 of bees is quite an item. 



We have also experimented with founda- 

 tion in boxes, the past season, and by leav- 

 ing it K inch short at the bottom, we had 

 them filled so as to look very well; but 

 when we come to the thinning process, we 

 have yet to see a comb that the bees ever 

 thinned the base of. 



When we had visitors, we would pur- 

 posely put honey on the table, built on 

 foundation, to see them cut it. When the 

 knife came to the base of the cells it was 

 sure to stop, and, as a general thing, the 

 cells on the under-side would mash down 

 before the base would be cut. They gener- 

 ally asked: "What kind of honey do you 

 call this?" It was laughable to see the 

 rolls of wax laid on the sides of the plates! 



I have also proved to my satisfaction that 



