264 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May, 1920 



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The first Comb Foundation || 



Bee comb foundation is a recent product, comparatively. Previous |g 



to 1850 very few beekeepers realized the value of elimination of drone- jg 



comb. Some few did. These got straight worker-combs by cutting up the jj 



crooked combs and including only worker-cells in the frames. U 



The elder Dadant of the present Dadant firm well remembers this |g 



^^^^^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^ jn-ocedure, practiced together with jB 



I I his father, Charles Dadant. |g 



Not only did they remodel the |g 



combs of their own" colonies but they U 



bought dead colonies everywhere pos- §M 



sible, locally, in spring, to increase jj 



the amount of worker comb available. U 



And yet they were always short |B 



of worker-combs. |g 



It was in Europe that the first | g 



attempt at foundation was made. H 



Johannes Mehring, in 1857, pro- |( 



duced crude plates of wax with the |S 



I I hexagonal impression. But these were |g 



far from perfect. In fact, much |1 



drone-comb was built from them. But it was a beginning. | J 



The waffle-iron presses of Rietsche and Given followed. The sheets be- j| 



came of better impression, but were still hard to ship owing to their brittleness. 1 1 



The roller mills of American make were later to remedy this defect, || 



gradually improving with continued experiment. With the roller mills came || 



JOH^NNLh MtHKl\a 



DADANT'S 



FOUNDATION 



= 1 Dadant's Foundation, Every inch, every pound, every ton equal to any 



g I sample we have ever sent out. 



Mm -SPIOCIFY IT OF VOL It DKALKR — IF HE HASN't IT, WKMTK US. 



1 1 DADANT & SONS, HAMILTON, ILLINOIS 



H catalog and PRICES OP BEE SUPPLIES, BEESWAX, WAX WORKING INTO 

 gi FOUNDATION AND COMB-RENDERING FOR THE ASKING. 



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