1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



805 



inches, yet after the comb is once built I 

 find no difference in the readiness with 

 which the bees enter the supers with frames 

 more widely spaced. It may be that, when 

 building the comb, the bees want to con- 

 struct it so that it is right for a brood- 

 chamber, while, when entering the supers 

 for a honey-flow, it is with the immediate 

 object of storing surplus. No doubt many 

 may think that we find wide combs in box 

 hives. True; but there are then reasons 

 which compel the, bees so to build. In the 

 above, let me say when reference is made 

 to the 17-inch spacing for 12 combs I do not 

 mean to say foundation in this way is more 

 readily accepted than when spaced 1^ in. ; 

 but I speak of greater variation. That bees 

 will enter frames with foundation more 

 readily than when there is none, can be 

 seen by sections. Those with drawn-out 

 comb and foundation are sometimes filled 

 or almost filled out with honey before the 

 empty section has been touched. This is 

 particularly true if the flow is moderate or 

 light. I will admit that, in a very heavy 

 flow, the bees sometimes appear to delight 

 to build comb, and will build it in an empty 

 frame when there is still plenty of room for 

 storage in the combs at each side of it. To 

 build on such a flow is, however, unsafe and 

 unwise; and, more, such a comb is almost if 

 not invariably drone comb. 



Another advantage in comb foundation is, 

 of course, that material is supplied the bees 

 which would require honey, and the time 

 and energy of the bee to produce. I am in- 

 clined to think, but am not positive, that 

 the secretion of wax, while largely volun- 

 tary, is partially involuntary. If involun- 

 tary, it is so only after and during a good 

 honey- flow, when the bees have become 

 thoroughly fat; for bees will vary just as 

 much individually in percentage of weight 

 as any other animal when in and out of con- 

 dition. When the heavy honey-flows are on. 

 where bees gather from 15 to 26 lbs. of 

 surplus in a hive, then the bees can not 

 build comb rapidly enough to store and 

 ripen the nectar, and, through lack of stor- 

 age room, the bee- keeper must lose a por- 

 tion of what he might harvest had he given 

 the bees comb foundation. 



The time when bees are most disposed to 

 draw out foundation . is after they have 

 swarmed. If short of drawn comb, such 

 stocks should be given foundation in the 

 brood-chamber and super, and, by taking 

 away partially drawn comb, putting these 

 in the supers of colonies not swarmed, and 

 the swarm kept at comb- building as long as 

 they take readily to the foundation. 



Another very fair way to force bees at 

 the beginning of the honey- flow into the 

 supers, and accept foundation, is to uncap 

 all the honey capped in the brood- chamber. 

 If the brood-chamber cells are occupied 

 with either honey or brood, and it would be 

 useless to super them unless they were 

 practically in this condition, the bees can 

 not find a place for the leaking honey, and 

 they are forced to accept the foundation in 



the super, and build comb in which to store 

 the honey. 



As to the method of fastening in founda- 

 tion, I prefer the hot-plate machine by 

 means of which the edge of the foundation 

 is heated to the melting-point. The hot 

 plate recedes, and the foundation falls upon 

 the under side of the top-bar and is there 

 attached. Next to that I use a rubber bulb 

 and glass tube of large size. By means of 

 this the melted wax and resin is distributed 

 along the edge of the foundation and the 

 lower side of the top- bar. I use two large 

 boards, each having three minor boards over 

 which the frame will half shp. The foun- 

 dation is first placed upon this; the wired 

 frame next, and the foundation is inserted, 

 and the wire put imbedded before the frame 

 and foundation are removed. Of course, a 

 bee- keeper with only a few hives, and inex- 

 perienced, has a reasonable excuse for using 

 a groove in the top bar, or some such device; 

 but an extensive bee-keeper is not only thus 

 weakening his top-bar but is wasting large 

 quantities of foundation, and worse than 

 wasting it, for it is much needed on the low- 

 er side of the sheet in the frame. Founda- 

 tion should not buckle, but touch at the 

 sides; better still, the upper half touch the 

 lower, almost so. When this is the case the 

 bees attach the sheet to the side-bar almost 

 as quickly as they go on it, and relieve the 

 sheet of a good deal of strain and a propor- 

 tionate danger of sagging. The sheets 

 could be cut off in this way, even by an au- 

 tomatic cut-off machine. I should like to 

 see foundation made so the mill will roll out 

 a sheet as wide as the Langstroth frame in- 

 side the side- bars. By hanging the sheet in 

 as it comes from the mill, it is much strong- 

 er than when turned the other way. How- 

 ever, unless swarms are thrown upon the 

 foundation, when there is an extra strain, I 

 find three strands of horizontal wire and 

 light brood foundation with the Weed pro- 

 cess all right. I have to say Weed process, 

 for it is less liable to sag than the old dip- 

 ped process — at least, of such as I have 

 made and used 



WHY FOUNDATION STRETCHES. 



In the prevention of sagging foundation, 

 there are a good many points to be consider- 

 ed. Some of these I know, and probably 

 there are others. Naturally, beeswax is 

 not subjected to the same strain which a 

 sheet of foundation suspended only from the 

 top is. The bees build a little septum at a 

 time, and immediately add cell- walls to 

 strengthen it. The comb is attached to the 

 top, and circles more or less toward the 

 center as it is built. When the swarm is 

 put into the new hive, or enters it of its own 

 accord, it is generally the heat of the day, 

 and the bees are much excited and give off 

 great heat. What can we expect but sag- 

 ging, with a hive standing in the sun, poorly 

 ventilated, and with excited bees clustering 

 on and covering these sheets of foundation? 

 When a swarm is put upon foundation the 

 hive should, for 48 hours, be shaded. There 

 should be plenty of bottom ventilation as 



