the handsome workers, also produce 

 handsome drones i Our experience 

 with Italians has been such as to 

 justify us in saying they should. We 

 have generally found that queens which 

 produce the best marked workers will 

 give us the nicest drones, and those 

 that produce bad drones generally pro- 

 duce workers that, notwithstanding 

 every bee may have the three bands 

 apparently well marked, yet upon 

 examination the yellow bands of many 

 of the bees will appear to contain mi- 

 nute freckles or mottles which are over- 

 looked by the carelesss observers. The 

 queen progeny of such queens is any- 

 thing but satisfactory. 

 Culleoka, Tenn. 



For the American Bee Journal 



Comb Foundation— A Grand Success. 



BY C. K. ISHAM. 



I do not think it any exaggeration to 

 assert that pure wax comb foundation 

 is the greatest improvement of the age. 

 "When, at the National Convention of 

 1877, Capt. Hetherington said its use in 

 the brood chamber was" a success,' 1 no 

 one present but Mr. Nellis and myself 

 were willing to admit the advisability 

 of its use in boxes for surplus honey 

 (and I must confess that my confidence 

 was somewhat shaken in the face of the 

 overwhelming opposition); but when 

 Mr. Hoge announced that Li H. K. & F. 

 B. Thurber & Co., whom he represented, 

 would another season pay the highest 

 market price for honey built upon thin 

 foundation, such as manufactured by 

 Mr. Nellis and Mr. Isham," stored in a 

 certain style of box, etc., I concluded 

 that it would achieve a success equally 

 satisfactory to producer and consumer. 



For filling frames I use foundation 

 of pure yellow wax made by a 5-inch 

 machine. By lapping the edges of two 

 pieces cut to requisite length, which 

 properly fastened (by drawing a warm 

 iron along the seam) makes a sheet of 

 the requisite depth. We have put new 

 swarms into hives with every frame 

 filled with such foundation ; have used 

 frames rilled with it among empty ones, 

 also between frames of natural comb, 

 with the same unvarying success — all 

 worker comb built straight in the 

 frames, and when filled with brood and 

 honey, hardly any more perceptible 

 sagging than is often seen in the upper 

 rows of cells in combs built entirely by 

 the bees. 



For surplus honey we use thin foun- 

 dation, which when made from pure 



wax of the right quality, the bees draw 

 out to the requisite thinness, filling the 

 boxes much sooner than when natural 

 comb is used for starters. The capping 

 is smooth and more evenly built, caus- 

 ing it to present a finer appearance, a 

 very desirable thing in these times of 

 overstocked markets. 



It enables us to place our clover and 

 linden honey in competition with that 

 of large producers, although they may 

 be favored with the balmy breeze of the 

 Sunny South, or the golden clime of 

 California — often exceeding us in quan- 

 tity, but never in quality ! The amber- 

 colored honey gathered from the flow- 

 ers that during the summer months of 

 June and July whiten the green pastures 

 of the North, succeeded by the light- 

 colored, aromatic nectar, gathered from 

 her numerous linden forests, put to 

 flight any attempt to surpass in quality 

 the productions of our apiaries. This 

 one object, to obtain all the honey we 

 possibly can from these two varieties of 

 flowers, whose yield of nectar is often 

 limited to a few' clays, will alone, in our 

 estimation, make comb foundation a 

 valuable acquisition to the apiary ! 



Peoria, Wyoming Co., N. Y. 



[If "fine appearance" and "firmly built 

 comb" for safe transportation, were, all that 

 should be considered in determining this 

 question, then there could be but one opin- 

 ion about the desirability of using comb 

 foundation in surplus honey. But is not its 

 production for the "festive board" of con- 

 sumers of the most importance ? We have 

 bought and sold considerable comb honey 

 during the past year— some of which was 

 built upon the ordinary comb foundation, 

 and, of course, some was of natural comb ; 

 but no consumer, having purchased any of 

 the former, would take another box of it; 

 and to our knowledge, some refused to pur- 

 chase any more honey on account of what 

 they were pleased to call the " wax sheet in 

 the centre." 



To us, therefore, it seems that the only 

 question worthy of serious consideration 

 and final decision, is, whether we shall con- 

 sult the wishes of consumers, so that the 

 demand may steadily increase, or whether 

 the ease and safety of transportation alone 

 shall control the issue. If the former (and 

 therein lies our only hope for success), then 

 the ordinary comb foundation must not be 

 used in surplus honey. It is an undeniable 

 fact, that the bees will not always thin out 

 foundation, especially when the nectar is 

 flowing freely !— En.] 



