VOL. LX— NO. 2 



HAMILTON, ILL., FEBRUARY, 1920 



MONTHLY, $1.00 A YFAR 



SECURING COMBS OF WORKER CELLS 



An Explanation of the Failure of Getting Well-Drawn Combs With Requisites 

 for a Maximum of Worker Cells from Foundation 



By M. G. Dadant 



ONE question much agitated at 

 present is that of large vs. 

 small hives, and one of the de- 

 mands for the large hive comes from 

 the fact that it will ensure, for the 

 most prolific queen, ample breeding 

 room. 



But are we even using the hives we 

 have at present, as the regular Lang- 

 stroth ten-frame hive, to the advan- 

 tage we might? We are not. At 

 least there are many beekeepers 

 whose colonies are restricted to pos- 

 sibly three-fourths their size by the 

 large amount of drone comb in the 

 hives. 



In the early days, when foundation 

 was first introduced, its appeal lay 

 in the fact that it would insure 

 straight combs; a secondary consid- 

 eration was that it would eliminate 

 drone comb by the use of full sheets, 

 and a third, that it would save much 

 ■work to the bees in the production of 

 wax if used in full sheets. 



The first of these considerations 

 was promptly adopted, the third is 

 fast replacing the starter with the 

 full sheet of foundation. But the sec- 

 ond consideration, that of minimum 



The Gates imbedder should replace the usual 

 spur. 



drone comb, has not received the at- 

 tention it should have. 



A questionnaire to several promi- 

 nent beekeepers brings the reply that 

 they secure perfect, or nearly perfect, 

 combs from full sheets of foundation, 

 and one, Mr. N. E. France, states that 

 if this is not secured the fault lies 

 with the beekeeper, and not with his 

 materials, even as in the earlier days, 

 before comb-foundation was used, 

 the successful apiarist got maximum 

 worker comb by going over all his 

 combs, cutting out the drone cells 

 and replacing the same with worker 

 cells, whereas the less careful left 

 the combs as built by the bees. 



The object of this article is to give 



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The usual method of wiring is to have four wires spaced equally distant on the frame. 



some reasons for failure to secure 

 perfect combs and some points on 

 proper procedure in effecting the de- 

 sired end. 



The Foundation 



The foundation, in the first place, 

 should be as perfectly made as is 

 possible. There should be no 

 stretched cells through improper 

 manufacture. Fortunately, this has 

 been practically eliminated by mod- 

 ern methods of manufacture. Virtu- 

 ally all foundation on the market is 

 free from this defect. 



But there is too much tendency to- 

 day to replace the heavier founda- 

 tion weighing one pound for six or 

 seven sheets, with that running nine 

 or ten sheets to the pound. Messrs. 

 Jacquays and Bartlett, of Michigan, 

 have in the past few years drawn out 

 many thousands of combs on differ- 

 ent weight foundation. They have 

 had very little trouble with that run- 

 ning seven sheets to the pound and 

 very much with the lighter grades. 

 Six sheets to the pound would be 

 even better. E. L. Hoffman, of Min- 

 nesota, is of the same opinion. 



N. E. France, among others, has 

 had success by painting the upper 

 half of each sheet of foundation with 

 hot wax after the plan of H. Vogeler. 

 Nearly all stretching comes in the 

 upper half of the sheet, and this 

 stiff congealed wax helps prevent it. 

 Wiring the Frames 



Without exception, wiring of 

 frames is considered necessary. At 

 different times, both vertical and 

 horizontal wiring have been recom- 

 mended. The vertical wiring is much 

 more difficult, on account of the 

 heavy top-bar and narrow, thin bot- 

 tom-bar. Moreover, the foundation 

 has a tendency to "buckle" between 

 such vertical wires in the hands of 



