American Bee Journal, 



DEVOTED EXCLUSIVELY TO BEE CULTURE. 



Vol. XII. 



CHICAaO, MAY, 1876. 



No. 5. 



Comb Foundation; 



Take a piece of empty honey comb and 

 cut oif all the cells, until nothing is left 

 but the division wall of wax between the 

 two opposite sets of cells, and you have a 

 comb foundation. The latest production, 

 however, consists not merely of the divid- 

 ing wall, but also a slight depth of the 

 cell-walls themselves, on each side, and 

 these cell-walls, although slight in depth, 

 may be of such thickness as to contain 

 enough wax, so that the bees may work 

 out or prolong the cells to their full 

 depth without any additional material. 



These comb foundations are given to 

 the bees in their brood chamber, enough 

 being put in a frame to fill it, in whole or 

 in part, perhaps only a narrow strip be- 

 ing used for the bees to start upon. They 

 are also used for surplus honey, enough 

 being given to fill the boxes, or merely 

 enough to give the bees a start. The ob- 

 ject is to save the time of the bees in se- 

 creting the wax, as also, the honey used 

 in its production. Another object is to 

 secure all straight, worker comb, and 

 still another to hasten the commencement 

 of work in boxes when the bees are loth 

 to enter them. 



Thus much by way of answer to those 

 who are asking, " What is comb foundation 

 and what is it for?" 



Much interest attaches to this matter, 

 and we invite the fullest information from 

 all. If you know anything in favor of 

 the use of artificial comb foundation, tell 

 us all you know about it. If you know 

 anything against it, tell it. If you don't 

 know anything about it, but have some 

 question to ask, ask it. There are a hun- 

 dred questions of interest that will sug- 

 gest themselves, and we hope those of our 

 readers, who have had experience in the 

 matter, will give us the full benefit of that 

 experience. 



The interesting article of Mr. Bingham 

 in the present number, certainly does not 

 speak very favorably of the use of comb 

 foundation. Is his position correct? 

 We wait for all the light we can get. 



Mr. Perrine claims to have entire con- 

 trol of the manufacture, having bought 

 the patent, and Mr. A. J. King announces 

 that in spite of Mr. Perrine's claims, he 

 will make and sell machines for the pro- 

 duction of comb foundation, so that each 

 one may make his own. The price at 

 which these machines will be furnished 

 is not given; and whether the right to 

 manufacture the machines is open to the 

 public, we cannot quite make out, but 

 suppose not, as mention is made of hav- 

 ing patented four years ago, " a machine 

 (not the product of the machine) for mak- 

 ing the base of the edges of worker 

 combs." 



To those who desire to increase the 

 number of combs in the brood chamber, 

 there can be no question but that comb 

 foundations will be very advantageous, 

 providing the cost is not too great. At 

 what price it will be profitable to use 

 them, depends somewhat upon circum- 

 stances. As factors in the problem, will 

 come in the number of pounds of honey 

 needed for the production of a pound 

 of wax, the price that can be ob- 

 tained for honey, and the value of the 

 time of the bees needed to secrete and 

 work the wax. The number of pounds of 

 honey needed to make a pound of wax 

 has been variously estimated at from 15 

 to 25. Whatever the number of pounds, 

 the higher the price of honey, the more 

 valuable will the wax be, and the higher 

 the price that can be afforded for a pound 

 of foundation. The value of the bees' 

 time in secreting the wax will vary. If a 

 great rush of honey takes place, as there 

 sometimes happens in bass-wood harvest, 

 when for a short time, there is more honey 



