18hS. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



Mr. York — The Weed process applies only to the sheeting 

 of the wax. That is all. And that wax is sheeted the same, 

 whether it is put into a shallow-wall foundation or a deep-wall 

 foundation. The old process, or the new Weed process, is 

 really the process of a year or two ago, and the later founda- 

 tion is only the drawn foundation or deep-cell foundation. 

 They are both Weed foundation. You might as well drop 

 those terms. It is all Weed process. But the drawn founda- 

 tion has the deep cells, deeper than the ordinary foundation. 

 That is all the difference. 



Mr. Moore explained that he had put in the question, and 

 that drawn foundation was what he referred to. 



Mr. Cooley said he would the next day bring in samples of 

 sections of honey built upon drawn foundation, so it was de- 

 <;ided to postpone discussion of the question till the samples 

 were present. 



USE OF FOUNDATION IN SECTIONS AND FRAMES. 



" Is it best to use full sheets of foundation in brood-frames 

 and in sections '?" 



Mr. Heffron — I would say, from my experience and obser- 

 vation, use full sheets, if they are convenient, but have them 

 fastened so that there is no sagging, aud use them only as a 

 center, simply to guide the bees. 



Mr. Green — I think we might consider it the universal 

 practice of bee-keepers to use full sheets ; and if anybody 

 thinks differently, let us hear arguments against it. 



Pres. Miller — I very much doubt whether the majority of 

 bee-keepers use full sheets in sections. How many present 

 use full sheets of foundation in sections ? [Ten signified af- 

 firmatively.] How many use starters, or less than full sheets, 

 in sections ? [Ten signified affirmatively.] 



Mr. Stone — I decided to use Just little strips, because I had 

 heard so many people say that comb honey was manufactured, 

 and just as soon as they began to find out that the comb foun- 

 dation was manufactured then they took it for granted that 

 comb honey was manufactured. If they find there is simply 

 a little strip put in the top of the section, or a little in the top 

 and bottom, too, they won't object like they would if there 

 was a full sheet. 



Mr. Green — I have used both starters and full sheets, al- 

 tho for several years I have used nothing but full sheets, be- 

 cause I think under all circumstances I can get more honey, 

 fuller sections of smoTther honey, and consequently a larger 

 crop of nicer honey. If you have a small strip in the top the 

 consumer can tell it; if not, niue times out of ten he can't de- 

 tect it. 



Mr. Thompson— The public has been used a good while 

 now to foundation. I don't see how you are going to stop it. 



Mr. Baxter — My experience has been that it always pays 

 to have full sheets, invariably, in the brood-chamber. If you 

 use a full sheet the sections "when finisht are well sealed all 

 around the edge, in shape, and there is little danger of break- 

 ing them ; while when you use only starters the bottom very 

 often is not fastened well. As far as the objection by the pub- 

 lic is concerned, I think that wouldn't hold good. Either you 

 have to do away with it altogether or you may just as well 

 use full sheets, because you must be able to tell them there is 

 nothing artificial in that section. If you tell them there is just 

 simply a starter you might as well tell them a full sheet. The 

 question of using full sheets, in the quantity of honey pro- 

 duced, and the way it is finisht up, I think will counter-bal- 

 ance all other considerations, even the cost, if it were five 

 times as much as you pay now. 



USING UNFINSHT SECTIONS OF PREVIOUS YEAR. 



" How many have produced first-class honey in sections 

 that had been partly filled with honey the year before ?" 



Dr. Besse — I have produced it that way, considerable last 

 year. The great objection is that It gives it too dark a shade 

 — don't get it so while. 



Mr. Green — That is not first-class, then. 



Dr. Besse — By shaving it down pretty thin, if it is built 

 late in the fall, or partly drawn out, it will make very fair 

 honey, but I havenever succeeded in getting first-class honey 

 from the previous year's drawing. 



Mr. Green — Sometimes the honey will be inferior because 

 this old comb is hard and dirty, and the bees don't seem to 

 clean it properly. Moreover, this hard comb is worse than 

 the worst foundation you ever saw; and besides this, the 

 honey that is stored iu these cells and then taken out just as 

 soon as sold, very often is not properly ripened, and, after 

 standing awhile, that part filled with drawn comb will very 

 often, after it has stood awhile, be very much worse in ap- 

 pearance than the other. The honey will ooze out of it, and 

 if the honey is stored in any moist place it will show in those 



cells almost every time, and that part of the honey will be 

 decidedly inferior. 



Pres. Miller — How many have produced first-class honey 

 under the circumstances stated in the question. ]Two an- 

 swered affirmatively.] 



Mr. Heffron — The appearance will be against it. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think the trouble comes In when the sec- 

 tions are unfinisht ; we are apt to leave them in the fall, and 

 the bees are apt to deposit their glue over the section. It is 

 my impression if the section is taken off just as soon as the 

 bees stop work, and put on when they commence the next 

 season, you can't tell the difference ; but I am not certain. 



Pres. Miller — That honey left in there becomes candied 

 honey, and that acts as a yeast upon any honey put into that 

 section afterwards. I am inclined to think this : If when the 

 white honey harvest stops you takeoff every section promptly, 

 and then allow the bees to have full access to those sections, 

 to rob them out, they will make a clean job of it, and those 

 sections will be just as good as if you gave them foundation 

 the next year. I don't say i know that, As to leveling them 

 down, I don't agree with my good friend, the editor of Glean- 

 ings, about that. He says it must be leveled down to at least 

 % of an inch. For the purpose of getting them clean on the 

 edges, that is valuable. If they are clean and good, I don't 

 see any reason why a cell % of an inch deep is not just as 

 good as one '4 of an inch deep. If it is a good thing to have 

 a cell U of an inch deep, I think it is better to have it three 

 times that deep, providing the cell and the comb are as good. 



Mr. Baxter — I will say that I used, this year, foundation 

 for two-pound sections that was cut Into sizes for the sections, 

 in 1889, by my wife, and I used them in connection with 

 fresh foundation this summer, and I couldn't see the least 

 difference. I could see some difference on the fastening it in 

 the section, tho. The old foundation was a little harder. It 

 took more heat to get it to stick. 



DRONE-COMB IN SECTIONS. 



" Have you any objection to drone-comb in the sections ?" 



Mr. Baxter — No objection at all in the sections, but in tbe 

 brood-chamber I say I invariably use full sheets of foundation. 



Mr. Green — I would object to drone-comb in the sections 

 because honey stored in drone-comb has not nearly so nice an 

 appearance. The consumer may not be able to tell why, but 

 he knows it doesn't look as nice, and he doesn't buy it as 

 readily. 



Mr. Thompson — Drone-comb looks very coarse in sections. 



Pres. Miller — Did you ever know drone-cells to be kept 

 empty in sections for some time, when the worker-cells in the 

 same section were filled with honey, Mr. Green ? 



Mr. Green — Yes, sir. 



Pres. Miller — That is a serious objection to drone-comb in 

 sections. It will not apply, probably, if there is a large 

 amount of drone-comb In the brood-frames, but we generally 

 limit the amount of drone-comb in the chambers, and you have 

 that condition. 



Dr. Besse — I have noticed that. 



GETTING UNFINISHT SECTIONS CLEANED OUT. 



Pres. Miller — How can we get the section" cleaned out 

 without having the combs torn ? 



Mr. Thompson — Put them out-doors. 



Dr. Besse — I used to do that a good deal, and the bees 

 would clean them out. 



Pres. Miller— And they will tear them all to pieces. 



Dr. Besse — No, put out enough of them, and put them out 

 late in the evening. If you uncap them thoroughly they will 

 clean them up. I never had the bees tear them down. 



Pres. Miller — 1 have. 



Mr. Baxter — Yes, and they will clean every living person 

 off the plantation. 



Mr. Baldridge — I would extract the honey from the sec- 

 tions, and put them under instead of over the hive. I would 

 sprinkle them with an atomizer before I did so, and the bees 

 would remove every particle of honey from them. 



Mr. Stone— One point has not been toucht upon that has 

 bothered me some. 1 have taken the sections off the hives, 

 and when the bees were done working, and just taken them 

 off in the cases, and set them in the honey-house ; and some- 

 times in the spring of the year I have kept them just as dry 

 as I could, and as warm as I could, and in the spring of the 

 year I would find that some of those sections that were partly 

 filled, the honey would be sour in them, or a little tainted, 

 and the bees don't like to accept it, and if they do they don't 

 make a good grade of honey. I have got to refusing them en- 

 tirely, and I don't put in anything except what is fresh foun- 

 dation, and where they are just partly filled that way I have 

 just extracted them of late years. And the past summer I 



