1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



529 



a more wholosorae sweet, especially if it comes 

 direct from your own apiary, than ordinary 

 syrups and so-called "strained honeys '"that 

 come from the cities. 



The price of the leallets is put away down so 

 that you can afford to give them away. (See 

 prices following the Honey Column.) The 

 watchword, then, with beekeepers everywhere 

 should be, increased consumption of honey; for 

 unless there is, prices will drop in obedience to 

 the law of supply and demand. If there is a 

 double supply, the thing to do Is to double the 

 demand if possible. 



THE NEW DRAWN FOUNDATION; DOES IT MAKE 

 "GOBBY " COMB HONEY? 



Of course, this new article has been the sub- 

 ject of continued and careful experiment at the 

 Home of the Honey-bees. Supers having a row 

 of drawn foundation, and then a row of full 

 sheets of ordinary foundation placed in alter- 

 nation, have been placed on the hives, both at 

 the home and at the out-yard. We have also 

 given the bees supers containing sections tilled 

 with drawn foundation only. Now, what has 

 been the result of these experiments? Just the 

 same as those conducted on a much smaller 

 scale last year. In every case the bees have 

 accepted the new drawn foundation at once. As 

 was to be expected, where full sheets of the new 

 article were put into sections, the combs were 

 attached, when completed, to all four sides. 



Earlier in the season, when orders were press- 

 ing for the nt-w foundation, we put into a good 

 many sections only narrow strips about !}.< 

 inches wide. These were placed In alternation 

 with the old style foundation of the same 

 width. The new article was accepted at once, 

 and comb-building begun at its bottom edge, 

 and continued down to the bottom of the sec- 

 tion, nearly, in very many instances such 

 combs were nearly completed before the bees 

 did much with the narrow Starters of common 

 foundation, which they had gnawed in many 

 cases. In one or two instances, where the 

 supers of full sheets of drawn foundation and 

 full sheets of old foundation were placed in 

 alternation over powerful colonies, the old 

 product was not so far behind in the drawing 

 out.* 



"But," you may ask, ^' what kind of comb 

 honey does the new drawn foundation make?" 

 I suppose an ordinary fair test would be to com- 

 pare it with comb honey made from full sheets 

 of foundation. But Mr. Weed was determined 

 to give it a more severe test still. Accordingly 

 he brought in one of the sections completed 

 that had been made from a narrow starter of 

 drawn foundation. The lower portion, or that 

 built by the bees, was, of course, natural drone 

 comb. In my presence he requested two of the 



♦This was the experience of M. G. Chase ; but 

 powerful colonies are not always to he had.— Ed. 



printers to turn their backs while he cut a 

 small chunk of comb honey from the natural - 

 built comb, and one that had been completed 

 over the drawn foundation, both from tlie same 

 sections. Boss printer Ilobart then took a 

 mouthful of one, without knowing which one 

 he took. He chewed it down to ? piece of wax, 

 and then took a mouthful of the other, and 

 chewed that also. When asked to state wheth- 

 er one was more '• gobby " than the other, he 

 answered in the affirmative. On being asked 

 which one it was, he named the second mouth- 

 ful, which proved to be the natural-built drone- 

 comb. To make sure that there was no mis- 

 take, another printer, Mr. Shane, was tried in 

 the same way, only that the order of the 

 mouthfuls was reversed, with the result in favor 

 of the new product again. It seem.ed to me 

 hardly possible that the Weed foundation 

 would give more 7>?ia/)?e comb honey with less 

 wax than that built wholly by the bees, even 

 though it were drone comb. Then the test was 

 applied on me, with the result that I could see 

 quite a marked difference in favor of the Weed . 

 I asked Mr. Shane what he meant by saying 

 that one was more " gobby " than the other. 

 " Why," said he, " one is harder to chew." 



Now, understand that this honey from the 

 new Weed drawn foundation was put in to test 

 over against comb built wholly by the bees, but 

 which, as a matter of fact, was drone comb, 

 and which they usually build for store purposes 

 during the honey-flow. 



It should be stated that natural-built dron*- is 

 heavier than natural- built worker; but the 

 bees don't build much worker comb for store 

 purposes, as already stated. It wlil be seen 

 that the fear that the comb honey from the 

 new product be more "gobby " is groundless. 



Later.— After the above was in type we tried 

 again the same experiment that we did on the 

 printers, with the exception that we placed 

 comb honey from foundation in the test. The 

 tasters were A. I. Root, my sister Constance, 

 my mother, three of the machine-shop men 

 who hardly know a bee from a grasshopper, 

 and. last, the cook in our lunch-room. The ver- 

 dict of all was that the natural-drawn comb 

 was heavier and more gobby than either the 

 drawn-foundation honey or that built from 

 full sheets of ordinary foundation. As between 

 the last two, the verdict was that there was no 

 difference. Please understand that none of the 

 tasters above mentioned had knowledge be- 

 forehand which sample was which. They 

 were tested independently, with the result 

 aforesaid. 



To-day, July 12, I took home with me a sec- 

 tion built wholly from a full sheet of Weed 

 drawn foundation. I cut it out of the section 

 myself. At the point where it was fastened to 

 the wood, it seemed to resist the knife consider- 

 ably; but beyond this the blade went through 



