tice. In melting a boiler full of wax, 

 the sheets first dipped out are the 

 lightest colored and most beautiful, but 

 they are also the weakest; that dipped 

 after, and several shades darker, has 

 greater strength and tenacity. Un- 

 doubtedly others have observed the 

 same thing. 



The bee-keeper of to-day has great 

 cause for thankfulness. For this in- 

 vention of comb foundation is of as 

 great importance as the movable frame 

 hive, which in a few years revolution- 

 ized the whole system of bee-keeping. 

 All honor to Langstroth. 



Foundation is now fully appreciated, 

 and the fact is becoming apparent, that, 

 properly used, we can double our honey 

 crop, and with less labor than it took 

 in years gone by to manage the common 

 box hive. 



Depere, Wis. 



Head before the N. E. Convention. 



Perfect Comb Foundation. 



J. VAN DUESEN. 



To comprehend the subject, it is nec- 

 essary to define what constitutes perfect 

 comb foundation. It is a sheet of pure 

 wax put in such shape as will enable 

 the bees to utilize the greatest amount 

 of wax in the construction of their cells, 

 in the least time — of sufficient strength 

 when used in brood frames to retain a 

 perfect shaped cell, and be handled 

 safely in extracting or moving— to 

 which you can introduce a colony of 

 bees, whenever it is necessary to hive 

 them, without danger of its breaking 

 down, and when used in surplus honey 

 to be acceptable to the consumer. The 

 above are essential points in good foun- 

 dation. There is a very general method 

 of manufacturing by melting the wax, 

 without using heat enough to color the 

 same, giving it sufficient time to settle 

 and free itself of impurities, and sheet- 

 ing on flat sheets of iron, or cylinders 

 of iron or wood, of a proper width for 

 your rollers, which vary from 3% to 

 18 inches, and, after passing through 

 the rollers to dry, cut to size required, 

 paper and box for market. This will 

 answer for ordinary foundation, from 3 

 to 5 feet to the lb.; but when you get to 

 the lighter foundation, 10 to 18 feet to 

 the lb., it requhes special facilities and 

 special help. Others use a press mak- 

 ing a single sheet for each impression, 

 as in printing, the weight varying with 

 the weight of each sheet. Order is an 

 immutable law of our Creator, else this 

 system of worlds revolving in mid-air 

 would be clashing. 



The tiniest insect that crawls is en- 



dowed with the instinct necessary for 

 its own preservation and reproduction. 

 The honey bee is endowed not only with 

 instinct but order. We find it not only 

 building its cells but arranging them in 

 perfect order, 5 cells to the inch, andthat 

 its cells may be of uniform thickness, 

 they are made hexagonal, each square 

 inch containing 25 cells, and each hive, 

 as we furnish the frames, contains 8 

 combs, say 1 foot square, making 57,(500 

 cells. A swarm of bees is put in a hive 

 say with eight frames ; they commence 

 by building 1 cell at a time, here and 

 there, in each of the 8 frames, and they 

 will take from 2 to 6 weeks to fill these 

 frames, according to circumstances, or 

 as honey is flush or scarce ; so that it used 

 to be an old adage that " a swarm of 

 bees in May, was worth a ton of hay ;" 

 " in June, a" silver spoon ;" in July, not 

 worth a fly." These 57,600 cells we will 

 suppose to be % filled with brood and 

 the balance with honey, so we may esti- 

 mate a colony to contain between 20,000 

 and 30,000 bees, as to size of brood comb 

 used. To build 57,600 cells in the brood 

 department alone is no small task, but 

 when we add as many more for surplus 

 honey, it might seem discouraging to 

 any but the busy bee, they being for- 

 merly required to work without the aid 

 of foundation, and if a swarm could 

 not be hived before July they could not 

 secure stores sufficient to carry them 

 through the winter, consequently, in 

 most cases, were of no value. 



They usually commence building their 

 cells near the center of top bar, and 

 circling around it ; but few find room 

 to work on the cells, while the balance 

 are idle, or stopping the crevices in the 

 hive with propolis ; when empty boxes 

 were put on they worked to the same 

 disadvantage. Man, with his accumu- 

 lated facilities, lays out the work in the 

 space to be occupied by the brood and 

 honey department of the hives and 

 boxes, and the bees being all permitted 

 to work, as their instinct inclines them 

 to do, the cells spring up as if by magic, 

 and in 24 to 48 hours they begin to de- 

 posit brood and honey. Thus the July 

 swarm, that was thought to be of no 

 value, not only sustains itself, but 

 proves a source of revenue to its pos- 

 sessor. Man has not only made the ox,, 

 the ass, the horse, and all the subtler 

 elements subservient to his will, but is 

 now utilizing the insect to add to his 

 revenues. 



I make a foundation with heavy side 

 wall, 4 feet square to the lb., and sub- 

 mit it to the test of the bees, and find 

 they do not utilize the whole of the 

 wax. I make a foundation with light 

 side wall, and find they are not satis- 



