372 



From the London Journal of Horticulture. 



New Method for Preventing Sagging. 



FRANK R. CHESHIRE. 



I have already pointed out that the 

 grubs were killed by contact with the 

 metal threads in wired comb founda- 

 tion, and further observation has shown 

 me that the loss to the bees, if the for- 

 mer are not removed, is far in excess of 

 what I had at first supposed, since eggs 

 are almost certain to be laid pretty 

 quickly after the clearing out of the 

 dead remains, the grubs hatching there- 

 from dying generally after being fed up 

 to half size or little more. Those who 

 know how greatly profitableness is in- 

 terfered with by an undue number of 

 drones will perceive the gravity of the 

 .evil in this leak of life labor and en- 

 ergy. To get rid of the wires is imper- 

 ative, and my first efforts took the form 

 of endeavoring to remove from below 

 by pincers ; but I was met by two dif- 

 ficulties—one the loss of form to the 

 comb, the other breaking of the wire. 

 Of these I found it impossible to re- 

 move more than 1 in 3, and since I be- 

 lieve there is but one kind of wired 

 foundation in use in England* none 

 here are likely to be much more success- 

 ful in this particular than myself. I 

 had not up to this point placed my foun- 

 dation in the frames as transatlantic 

 authorities recommend, because I felt 

 that if this were indeed the only plan 

 the utility of wired foundation was dis- 

 proved en avance. In short to give an 

 idea of the involved trouble let me say 

 that boring holes in the top bar oppo- 

 site to the wires, clearing away the wax 

 to expose about an inch of these, and 

 then drawing them through and getting 

 ready for insertion in the hive, occupied 

 me 21 minutes, a period which practice 

 would not greatly reduce, as thin wires 

 are broken by any rough usage in a 

 moment. After all this labor, waiting 

 until the comb was nicely formed, I met 

 the most complete failure, for all the 

 wires but 4 broke in my attempt to 

 draw them out, and the four which I 

 removed literally crumpled up the 

 comb as you would crumple up a letter 

 for the waste-paper basket. With fur- 

 ther trials I met the same results. No 

 wonder Mr. Betsinger at the North- 

 eastern Convention of Bee-Keepers, 

 held last February, said : " A year 

 ago at the National Convention held 

 at New York I offered $50 to any 

 one who would present me with a 



*In America some put foundation on the wire after 

 the latter has been stretched in the frame; the two 

 are then pressed together. This form may admit of 

 extraction of wires with greater ease. 



square foot of foundation on wire that 

 was perfect, but no one has done it." 



Without at present making more than 

 a passing reference to the unnaturalness 

 and waste involved in the fiat-bottomed 

 cell, a matter which I wish to look at 

 from its mathematical side another 

 time, I am pleased to be able to say that 

 I have already had successes in some 

 experiments I have been trying, which 

 must deliver us, if nothing more, from 

 any necessity for wires or flat mid-ribs. 



Glue, as most of us know, can be used 

 successfully in fastening combs. Tak- 

 ing my cue from this, i at flrst tried 

 some ordinary fine sewing cotton, 

 dipped it in thin glue, placed it on the 

 face of the foundation in perpendicular 

 lines about \% inches apart and gently 

 passed the finger along it to bring it into 

 contact with the edges of the incipient 

 cell walls, and when dry placed it in the 

 center of one of my strongest colonies, 

 a position which would certainly have 

 caused half an inch elongation in the 

 sheet if unassisted. The bees worked 

 it beautifully ; no sagging occurred, but 

 contrary to my expectation, the bees 

 were unable to attack the glued cot- 

 ton. They built it into the fronts of the 

 cells near to the base of course. As the 

 comb was half built, pulling out the cot- 

 tons torn away little of the walls of 

 those cells through which they passed, 

 which the bees in an hour or two re- 

 paired perfectly, and we were already 

 altogether ahead of wired foundation, 

 the labor not being one tithe of that in- 

 volved in drawing out, or rather trying 

 to draw out, the wires, leaving the 

 troublesome fixing into the frame out of 

 view. The cell bases in properly formed 

 foundation are never perpendicular, 

 but the weight of bees and wax is al- 

 ways tending to bring them to this po- 

 sition, hence the sagging ; but the cot- 

 tons acted as a bow string upon the bow, 

 and prevented the points of attach- 

 ment from receding from each other. 

 The beau ideal, it appeared to me, would 

 be reached could we find something 

 which the bees could remove as the comb 

 progressed. To this end I have been 

 and am still experimenting with hair, 

 ravelling, cotton, silk and thread, fixed 

 by gum, glue, wax, shoemakers' wax, 

 and varnish, and have so far succeeded 

 that it is only now necessary to deter- 

 mine which fiber and fixing are uni- 

 formly most desirable. Any of these 

 it seems to me, pressed into the 

 comb during its manufacture must fail 

 without the flat bottoms are used, be- 

 cause as its fiber runs to the right and 

 left of the perpendicular in every cell 

 diameter it simply without stretching 

 assumes a straighter line as the comb 



