34 



THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



lu order to secure straight combs, 

 in movable frames, divers means have 

 been devised. First was tlie bevel, on 

 the under side of the top bar. This 

 invention was claimed by several par- 

 ties, and was the cause of several law- 

 suits between the different inventors. 

 And yet, this invention was never en- 

 tirely successful; as the bees would 

 not always follow the bevel, and would 

 also often join their combs together, or 

 cross them, a little farther down in the 

 frames. 



The next step was to glue pieces of 

 comb, or strips of beeswax, to the 

 underside of the top bar. This im- 

 provement was subject to the same 

 inconveniences as the first, though in 

 a less degree; and there was still a 

 great inconvenience, the removal of 

 which was indispensable to successful 

 beekeeping: it was the over production 

 of drones. In many instances one-fourth 

 of the combs of a hive were drone 

 combs. This over-production of drones 

 was injurious in many ways. It les- 

 sened the amount of workers raised, for 

 three workers could have been i-aised 

 where two drones were hatched, at the 

 same cost; and, besides, there was an 

 increase in the consumption of honey; 

 since these big loafers were all hungry 

 and unproductive. In many instances 

 the drones of a hive eat the surplus, 

 which the beekeeper sliould harvest. 



But the main inconvenience was the 

 necessity, for the bees of a swarm, to 

 build all of their comb ; thus, often 

 spending the best part of a short honey 

 season, without storing much honey, 

 and going into winter quarters with 

 scant supplies. Practical beekeepers, 

 knowing the cost of honey comb, very 

 often tried to supply their swarms 

 with empty combs from dead colonies; 

 but these were never sufficient to sup- 

 ply the demand. 



Mehring, a learned German apiarist, 

 was the tirst to try an artificial help 

 to the bees in the matter of honey 

 comb. He manufactured a})ress, which 

 gave, to sheets of wax, a rude appear- 

 ance resembling the cells of a honey 

 comb. Unluckily this attempt was not 

 fully successful. The slightly shaped 

 cells were not deep enough, and the 

 bees often transformed his intended 

 worker cells, into drone cells. 



Another distinguished apiarist, who 

 published an apiarian magazine in 

 Switzerland, Mr. Peter Jacob, improved 

 the Mehring press, so that, for a few 

 years before his death (1878), he man- 

 ufactured and sold over 10,000 sheets 

 of foundation a year. 



This amount, which seems very small 

 now, was, however, quite large, con- 

 sidering the time and the product. 



Until 1875, the manufacture of comb 

 foundation was entirely ignored in 

 America. Mr. S. Wagner had indeed 

 taken a patent concerning it, but he 

 had never attempted to put it in 

 use. 



Mr. F. Weiss, of N. Y., then com- 

 menced manufacturing on a press. 

 Whether his press was home made, or 

 imported from Europe, we are unable 

 to say. But the cells it made were 

 already too deep for the bees to change 

 them into drone cells, and they were 

 quite successful. 



Mr. A. I. Root then thought of put- 

 ting this invention into more practical 

 use, and his tirst success and we may 

 say the first really successful machine 

 was the mill manufactured for liim 

 by Mr. Washburn, and wliicli appeared 

 about IMarch, 1876. 



This machine opened a new ei-a in 

 the matter of artificial comb founda- 

 tion, and, if we owe Mehring thanks, 

 for the first step, we owe A. I. ]{oot 

 thanks for the first practico.l machine, 

 and especially for the spread of this 

 practical invention. Others have since 

 improved the rolls, and greatly sur- 

 passed his, among them we would cite 

 J. Vandervort and Mr. F. Dunham. 

 The American rolls are now popular 

 both in America and Europe, and the 

 old Gern,an presses have been almost 

 entirely discarded; the mills oflering 

 much greater advantages, on account 

 of the uniformity and smoothness of 

 the sheets, their great pressure also 

 rendering the wax more malleable and 

 more easily worked by the bees. 



Tlie result of all these improvements 

 is so great that the machines of all 

 kinds are numbered l)y the thousands, 

 and the production of foundation has 

 so enlarged, that the firm, ol which the 

 writer is a member, has increased its 

 manufacture a hundredfold in fee 

 years. 



The comb foundation, as now made, 

 obviates all the inconveniences aliove 

 mentioned. No more crooked combs; 

 no more drone combs ; no loss of lime. 

 A natural swarm finds tiiree-fourihs of 

 the labor done; in five days they have 

 a hive full, where it took four weeks 

 before. Tliey do not raise any drones, 

 exccptan occasional strip full, in some 

 ovei'looked corner; and every comb 

 isas stniight as a board. 



The result is not far. In a few years 

 more, honey instead of being what it 

 used to be, what it is yet for the ma- 



