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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15 



ing wax lightly they should possess an advan- 

 tage. 



Fig. 6 is foundation from the same plates, 

 6 feet to the pound, and drawn out by the bees 

 in January of this year. 



The cut does not represent the walls fairly, 

 as they are as light as any I have ever measur- 

 ed. 



Fig. 10 is a poor illustration of the founda- 

 tion we are now manufacturing. 



Figs. 11 and 13 are regular light and extra 

 light section, from The A. I. Root Co.'s stock. 



I do not anticipate that, under all circum- 

 stances, this new foundation will give better 

 results than the old style; but I am confident 

 that it generally will. 



To sum the whole matter up, if the founda- 

 tion generally in use is perfect, and leaves ab- 



solutely nothing to be desired, then the new 

 product and machine have no excuse for being. 

 On the other hand, if the ideal foundation is 

 not yet upon the market, we now have a means 

 of producing it ; and no-wall foundation 20 feet 

 to the pound, or a deep-cell foundation of any 



desired weight, are alike practicable I don't 

 know " for sure " just what shape the ideal 

 foundation will take; but when we agree on 

 that point there is no question that it can be 

 made. 



[I will explain that the plates above repre- 

 sent cross-sectional views taken from some of 

 the latest samples of foundation made by 

 Weed's new method, and from samples of 

 ordina y foundation on the market. It would 

 be impossible to cut cross-sections of wax 

 without marring the edges. To prevent this, 

 each piece is imbedded in plaster of Paris ; 

 then a razor-edged knife slices across the plas- 

 ter, showing a perfect cross-section of the 

 foundation, just as it leaves the plate. I 

 know of no method that can show more ex- 

 actly and more truthfully than this one the 

 relative thicknesses of the bases and the walls 

 of the various grades of foundation. 



For some time — in fact, ever since Mr. Tay- 

 lor, of the Reviezu, gave the results of his 

 experiments in 1893 and '4 — I have been 

 strongly of the opinion that what was needed 

 was less wax in the base of our foundation, 

 and more in the walls. As desirable as this 

 thing seemed to be, it did not seem to be 

 possible with ordinary rolls to put some of the 

 surplus wax from the bases into the walls ; 

 and Mr. Taylor's experiments years ago show- 

 ed that an old Given press, imperfect as it 

 was, would produce a thinner base than rolls. 

 I believe rolls can be made to produce thin 

 bases, but they have not hitherto been built. 

 I will say in this connection that a much thin- 

 ner base can be secured on rolls by using 

 thinner sheeted wax. Mr. Weed was of the 

 opinion that a more perfect foundation could 

 be made with plates. Accordingly, with that 

 theory in mind he has gone ahead and made 

 several sets, all of which were discarded ex- 

 cept two. These gave a foundation with a 

 base as thin as the bees make it. I have 

 thought it was thinner, but Mr. Weed says 

 not. It is necessary to have a certain amount 

 of wax to stimulate the bees to comb-building; 

 and that wax, as will be seen by Figs. 5, 7, 

 and 12, is placed in the walls and not in the 

 bases. The spurs sticking up show sectional 

 views of the walls. 



Going on this theory we find that, in nearly 

 every case covering a period of two or three 

 years, this large amount of wax in the wall 

 seems to be thinned down to the thickness of 



