180 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



names of the makers of the several vari- 

 eties of foundation used, and I believe I 

 should be doing injustice to any maker 

 of foundation to suppose that he desired 

 his name withheld, for are we not bound 

 to believe that each one desires and is 

 endeavoring to make, foundation that 

 shall yield the greatest possible profit to 

 the user, and that if he fails in any 

 respect he desires to know it, that he 

 may apply the remedy? So I think I 

 cannot do otherwise than give all the 

 knowledge I possess in the matter. Not 

 that I think there is anything so far 

 that can very injuriously affect any 

 tnanufacturer, but I hope there is what 

 may prove an entering wedge to make 

 a way of escape from the domain of the- 

 ory, and an entrance to the domain of 

 fact in this matter of foundation, and 

 lead to an effort to make it to please the 

 mandibles of the bee instead of the eye 

 of the purchaser. There may be some- 

 thing to learn yet about the manipula- 

 tion of wax as well as about the peculi- 

 arities of foundation machines. 



In the experiments now under consid- 

 eration eight varieties of foundation 

 were employed, of which the sources 



ta) were cut out and sent away for the 

 measurements hereinafter explained. 



The foundation was cut to the same 

 size, 3%x3% inches, and after being 

 fastened in sections were placed in Hed- 

 don cases alternately, as already stated, 

 so that each kind appeared seven times 

 in each pair of cases. In all, eight cases 

 were thus prepared, but misfortune at- 

 tended them in other ways than indicated 

 in the foregoing; some were not well 

 filled, two contained more bee-bread 

 than I ever found, I think, in any other 

 two cases, and there was only one pair 

 that was filled to my entire satisfaction, 

 so that the material that could be fairly 

 used for comparison by weighing was 

 comparatively meagre, and consisted of 

 ■five of each sort from the two cases that 

 were well filled, four of each from two 

 other cases, and three of each from still 

 another pair. The cases were selected 

 with a view to their giving an opportu- 

 nity of selecting well filled sections of 

 each sort from the same relative posi- 

 tions in the cases, and the sections com- 

 pared were so selected. The following 

 figures give the results in pounds and 

 ounces: 



5 each sort- 

 4 " •• - 

 3 '■ " - 



-4-13.5 

 3-13.5 

 -a-14 



4-11.5 

 3-1 2.0 



2-14.5 



4-13.5 

 3-13.5 

 2-14.5 



3-15 

 2-15.5 



4-15 

 .3-15 

 2-15 



4-15.5 



4 



3-00.5 



4-14.5 

 3-15.5 

 2-15.5 



H 



4-15 



3-15.5 



2-15.5 



Total 11-9 



11-6.5 11-11.5 11-14.5 11-13 12 



11-13.5 11-14 



and other distinguishing peculiarities 

 are sufficiently indicated in the follow- 

 ing table : 



A Dadant's Thin, Sheets 12x4 in., 15 to Va 



lb.— 10 ft. to the lb. 

 B Dadant's Extra Thin, Sheets 12x4., 18 to 



Vi lb— 12 ft. to the lb. 

 C Van Deusen's Flat Bottom [procured of A. 



I. Root], Sheets 161/^x3% in., 16 to ^ lb.— 



13?^ feet to the lb. 

 D Root's Thin, Sheets 16^x3=!^ in., 12 to }4 



lb.— 10.31 ft. to the lb. 

 E Root's Extra Thin, Sheets 16i/ix3M in„,14 



to Vt lb.- 12.03 ft. to the lb. 

 F Foundation made on Given Press, Sheets 



15x3 13-16 in., 12?i to Vi lb.— 10.09 ft. to 



the lb. 

 G Foundation made on Given Press, Sheets 



15x3 13-16 in., 12 to '72 lb.— 9.37 ft. to the lb. 

 H Foundation three years old, made on Giv- 

 en Press, about 9 feet to the pound. 



Each variety of the foundation was 

 designated by a letter of the alphabet as 

 indicated, and were used for marking 

 the sections to indicate the sort of foun- 

 dation each contained, and also as labels 

 to distinguish the septa of combs made 

 from the foundation when they (the sep- 



This indicates pretty clearly what I 

 have been aiming at, as well as the 

 course with the modifications already 

 suggested, which I think should be pur- 

 sued in making further investigations in 

 this line. Of course it would be rash to 

 claim any very definite result from the 

 experiment so far, but the totals here 

 given will be found very interesting 

 matter for comparison with the weights 

 and measurements given further on, 

 which were procured with the expecta- 

 tion of evolving something that would 

 assist in the solution of the general 

 problem under consideration. 



I suppose it would not be denied by 

 any one, that so far as the amount of 

 wax contained in comb honey is con- 

 cerned, we must take the amount of 

 wax contained in natural comb when 

 used as the receptacle of honey as the 

 standard of perfection. How near does 

 comb produced from foundation pre- 

 pared for use in sections approach that 

 standard ? And do combs produced 

 from all sorts of such foundation ap- 

 proach equally near to that standard? 



