1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



85 



dation. I think that any bee-keeper of ex- 

 perience would expect this. It is m)' practice, 

 and has been for many years, to bring two or 

 three frames with full sheets of foundation, 

 alternating with extracted combs, into my ex- 

 tracting-supers, for the main purpose of mul- 

 tiplying my store of extracting-combs. Dur- 

 ing a. fast and good honey-flow the bees work 

 out, fill, and cap these foundations in about 

 the same time as the extracted combs. In a 

 slow and moderate honey-flow they act quite 

 differently. The extracted combs are used 

 first, and the foundation is not used at all ; 

 then the cells of the combs next to the foun- 

 dation are prolonged ; and finally, when the 

 bees need more cells, the foundation is drawn, 

 and we have a comb with some honey in it, 

 but only half as thick as a regular comb. If 

 we fill a super with foundation only, the bees 

 are slow in commencing the work in it, and 

 sometimes fill all empty cells in the brood- 

 chamber before they start to work on the foun- 

 dation. To prevent this we give at least a few 

 frames with drawn combs in the supers as 

 bait-combs. Quite the same thing is true with 

 section-supers. During a good honey-flow, 

 when the bees have already commenced the 

 w r ork in the supers, I have found very little 

 difference whether drawn combs, full sheets 

 of foundation, or starters only were given. 



The problem is, to induce the bees to work 

 in the sections. For this purpose bait combs 

 are recommended, and used with advantage. 

 In many cases they are absolutely necessary; 

 but they are not always at hand. For this 

 purpose I think the drawn foundation with 

 natural base even better than natural combs ; 

 but it seems you are asking of this foundation 

 still more, and something that no natural 

 comb ever fulfilled. If you are willing to 

 manufacture a combination of drawn and com- 

 mon foundation, you will surely have the same 

 experience; they will be filled with honey at 

 the same time as common foundation, if plac- 

 ed side by side in the same super during a 

 good honey-flow. 



The reason why I think the drawn founda- 

 tion better than drawn combs for bait-combs 

 is as follows : It is a fact that the bees at once 

 repair all empty combs from which the thick- 

 ened edge is cut off ; for instance, extracted 

 combs May be they deem these thin side- 

 walls not strong enough for a foothold. Strong 

 edges are built on the cell-walls. To do this 

 the bees have to cluster on the combs ; and 

 this is what we expect from a bait-comb. The 

 drawn foundation is, in fact, nothing else than 

 a comb from which the strong edge is remov- 

 ed, and for this reason it is especially fit as a 

 bait-comb. If you will read my article in 

 Gleanings for July 15 you will see that I rec- 

 ommended this foundation for bait-combs 

 only, and I foretold the experience of Mr. 

 Niver and Mr. Coggshall when I said that, 

 under certain conditions, common foundation 

 is drawn and used for storing honey at the 

 same time that natural combs are used by the 

 bees. Besides this, if these two gentlemen 

 had filled the super with common foundation 

 only, I am not quite sure whether the bees 

 would have worked as soon as they did when 



a few sections with drawn foundation were in 

 this super. When they worked at once on all 

 sections, it is no proof that the drawn founda- 

 tion did not work as a bait. 



I am fully convinced that we often use 

 drawn combs when the bees would build out 

 foundation without cost, and that we just as 

 often use full sheets of foundation when the 

 bees would build combs from starters in the 

 same time, and would store the same amount 

 of honey in them. It is just the same with 

 drawn foundation. Its use can be of great ad- 

 vantage at proper circumstances, and under 

 other conditions it may have no advantage 

 over common foundation, and not even over 

 starters. 



So the experience of these gentlemen does 

 not prove any thing against the drawn foun- 

 dation; and if the manufacture of the same is 

 not too difficult you surely should not give up 

 something that, in my opinion, will prove to 

 be a great benefit to the comb-honey producer. 



Converse, Tex., Dec. 12, 1898. 



[I submitted this manuscript to Mr. E. B. 

 Weed, who, after reading the same, wrote this 

 reply:] 



Mr. Stachelhausen's article is evidently the 

 result of careful and prolonged observation, 

 and I agree with his conclusion that the value 

 of foundation depends largely upon the con- 

 ditions under which it is used. If the drawn 

 foundation with a natural base had been on 

 the market early last spring I feel confident 

 we should have had plenty of favorable re- 

 ports. 



The experience of Mr. Vernon Burt is a case 

 in point. I took him a number of sections 

 filled with drawn foundation to test ; but his 

 first supers were already full. He willingly 

 consented to put the new product side by side 

 with ordinary foundation in the second supers, 

 but said that, toward the latter part of a hon- 

 ey-flow, he had noticed that ordinary founda- 

 tion was often as good as drawn combs. Ft r 

 the first super, however, he places a high value 

 on the latter. As he had predicted in this 

 case, both kinds of foundation were . finished 

 simultaneously, but he still agrees with Mr. 

 Stachelhausen as to the value of drawn foun- 

 dation early in the season. Mr. Danzenbaker 

 ordered enough drawn foundation to fill a 

 thousand sections, in time to use it for the 

 first honey-flow last spring, and his report is 

 verv favorable indeed. In this case it was 

 both begun and capped much sooner than or- 

 dinary foundation. Mr. Stachelhausen has 

 noticed that drawn foundation is in some re- 

 spects better than natural comb. I believe 

 we can go a step farther, and do better yet. 

 From my point of view the ideal foundation 

 should have a base as thin as natural comb, 

 and enough wax in the wall to materially as- 

 sist the bees to construct the comb. We have 

 had foundation-mills that would make foun- 

 dation with a base almost as delicate as nat- 

 ural comb, and we have bad mills that would 

 make foundation one-fourth of an inch thick; 

 but a heavy base has always gone with deep- 

 cell foundation, so that it could not be used 

 in the sections where it is most needed. 



