178 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 24-, 



and you will have sheets of foundation which will not so 

 readily warp in milling, and which will therefore warp but 

 little if any in the hive. The sheet of foundation without cell- 

 wall at all can hardly be handled in warm weather without 

 warping. It is, to use the expression of Mr. Vandervort. 

 " like a rag " in your hands. With a little cell-wall, be it ever 

 so little, it will have more firmness, and will stand handling. 

 But let it be remembered, if you handle a sheet of foundation 

 and get it slightly out of shape, no matter what you may do, 

 it will return to that shape when hung freely in the hive. 



If foundation .with such a cell-wall as above-mentioned 

 was found acceptable and desirable, it cound be produced thiu 

 enough to fill about 135 sections to the pound, and do good 

 work. C. P. Dadakt. 



Hancock Co., III. 



[Mr. T. P. Bingham, who was instrumental in bringing 

 out the no-wall comb foundation, sends us the following regard- 

 ing his experiments with it in 1897. — Editor.] 



The IVIieliigan :Vo-Wall Comb Foiiiidalion. 



The various efforts to produce a foundation which would 

 be acceptable to the bees as well as those who use honey, 

 demonstrates beyond belief the great value of foundation in 

 a general sense. But as neither the bees nor consumers 

 '.itherto have been entirely satisfied, the experiments go on. 

 The Michigan convention last year took the no-wall idea and 

 carried it to a conclusion. The convention had a no-wall 

 machine adapted to the Weed process, constructed and sup- 

 plied such foundation to the members who wisht to experiment 

 with it. Several availed themselves of the opportunity, and 

 used sufficient amounts to fully demonstrate that the bees did 

 not gnaw it down, and that they did accept it promptly. As 

 these two points were the only ones bee-keepers regarded as 

 dangerous, the experiments may be justly regarded as a 

 success. 



While such results were to a certain extent satisfactory, 

 they did not cover the ground or explain why obtained. One 

 fact was perhaps more clearly demonstrated than any other. 

 Among the hundreds of sections filled, notone had the patches 

 of drpne-size cells, showing conclusively that the foundation, 

 however thin, was not gnawed or cut. 



Another fact demonstrated was, that in sections of ordi- 

 nary size the foundation, neither the half-filled combs, stretcht 

 nor sagged. They remained as put in, except that the foun- 

 dation, having as it did sharp corners, was before the side- 

 walls were put on made to appear less angular and more 

 downy ; that is, the shiny appearance vanisht, as did also the 

 yellow color. Nothing could have been more complete than 

 the transformation in color and texture. It was so perfect 

 that no one. could have realized that only three hours before 

 the beautiful white, downy, perfectly-formed combs were thin, 

 corrugated sheets of yellow beeswax. 



Experiments in brood-fraraes filled with the same founda- 

 tion, 5x12 inches, did not sag or stretch, tho as white aud 

 transparent as natural combs until about half full of honey, 

 when they began to settle, and the cells to assume a rectangu- 

 lar form. This experiment furnisht one more evidence that 

 it is not the walls of foundation that prevents its settling, but 

 its general thickness. 



During a good flow of honey, with cool weather, no sag- 

 ging in foundation 5x12 inches took place, but in the same 

 flow a few hot days developt the fact that no-wall foundation, 

 the lightest ever made in pieces 5x12 inches, with no support, 

 would not do for brood-frames, tho none did worse than to 

 settle. It was a great pleasure to me to realize that I could 

 now produce comb honey in sections 4x5 inches that I could 

 put on my own table without apology — no yellow, hard strip 

 in the center to prevent its being served to expert visitors. 



Clare Co., Mich. T. F. Bingham. 



[In the Bee-Keepers' Review for January, Editor Hutch- 

 inson had this to say about the no-wall foundation, which was 

 accompanied by the illustration appearing on our first page 

 this week, kindly loaned us by Mr. Hutchinson. — Editor. J 

 The No- Wall Foiiuilalion. 



Some of my readers will remember that at the meeting of 

 the Michigan State Bee-Keepers' Association, held in 1896, 

 Mr. Bingham so strongly advocated what he considered the 

 advantages of a very thin foundation having no side-walls ; 

 that sufficient money was contributed to pay for the expense 

 of making a mill upon which such foundation could be manu- 

 factured. Some of this foundation, running about 16 feet to 

 the pound, was sent out to the different members; some of 

 them using as much as 10 pounds of it. Unfortunately, how- 



ever, so far as a report was concerned, Mr. Bingham was 

 about the only one present who had given the foundation 

 much of a test. I produced no comb honey in my own apiary 

 last year, and Mr. Aspinwall was detained at home by com- 

 pany. 



It will be remembered that Mr. Aspinwall had previously 

 reported in the Review that he was pleased with it so far as 

 the eating quality of the honey was concerned, but that it 

 curled too much to suit him. His only objection is that of 

 curling. To show how little trouble lie had from curling, Mr. 

 Bingham brought along to the convention a super full of 

 partly-flnisht sections just as they came from the hive. The 

 foundation had been brought out, or partly drawn out, and 

 filled with honey, and, as this was at the end of the season, 

 when, as all experienced bee-keepers know, there will be 

 curled combs if at any time, the exhibition of that super, just 

 as it came from the hive, was a pretty good proof that foun- 

 dation will not curl in some place where it might De expected 

 that it would. Of course, no one doubts that it did curl with 

 Mr. Aspinwall, but, of course, there must have been some rea- 

 son for it — something in his management, locality, or some- 

 thing. 



Mr. Bingham's supers are small ; I think that two are re- 

 quired to cover the top of his hive, and that one suijer holds 

 15 sections. Some beys got hold of two of the best-filled sec- 

 tions, and " gouged " them so badly that they were valueless 

 for pictorial purposes, but I rescued the other baker's dozen, 

 and brought them home, aud had them photographt, first tak- 

 ing one side from all but two of them. From the photograph I 

 had a half-tone made which is shown herewith. I did this to 

 show how straight are the combs that are built under circum- 

 stances where curled combs would be expected. Mr. Bing- 

 ham says that this was not a selected super, and to show that 

 the sections were not selected, he brought the super just as 

 taken from the hive, with the sections all stuck together with 

 propolis, so that it was necessary to pry them loose with a 

 knife in order to get them out. 



I honestly believe that this thin, no-wall foundation Is 

 worthy of a most thorough trial. The fault of curling has 

 been urged against it, and some complaints were made that 

 the bees were more inclined to gnaw it down when no honey 

 was coming in than they were other kinds; but, as in many 

 other things, actual experiment under various conditions is 

 needed. The quality of the finisht product is certainly very 

 fine; the nearest approach to that of natural comb of any- 

 thing I have seen. 



In working out the ordinary flat-bottom foundation the 

 bees do change over the base to the lozenge-shaped style. 

 There are no side-walls on in the way, and It is possible for 

 them to make this change. With the deep-cell or Weed style 

 of foundation the bottoms of the cells are so securely braced 

 by the three deep walls that center upon each cell-bottom, 

 that it is impossible for the bees to "budge" the bottoms of 

 the cells. Not only this, but the side-walls are in the bees' 

 way, and prevent their getting at the bottoms of the cells to 

 make changes. Even with the ordinary or lozenge-shaped 

 base, the bees make some changes in working out the founda- 

 tion. Mr. Bingham had with him a piece of the no-wall foun- 

 dation which had been partly drawn out in a strip down 

 through the center. Some of the cells were, perhaps, one- 

 fourth of an inch in depth, and shaded off until there could be 

 seen only a few " scratches " that the bees had made on the 

 surface of the wax. About the first thing that bees do, judg- 

 ing from the appearance of this specimen, is to make the bot- 

 tom of a cell rounding, like the bottom of a prest-tin wash- 

 basin. Then, as the side-walls are started the lozenge-shaped 

 character begins to appear in the base. It is much the same 

 in natural comb-buildiug. Get a piece of natural-built comb 

 having a wedge-shaped edge of cells that are not complete. 

 Look right down close to the edge, where the bases and side- 

 walls are being started. You will see that there is a stage in 

 the proceedings when each base or bottom to a cell is round- 

 ing instead of being formed of lozenge-shaped pieces. As the 

 side-walls are laid out and started, the lozenge-shaped base 

 appears. 



What is the point to all this ? Well, it is probably that 

 we will never be able to make such foundation that the bees 

 will accept it without change, and be satisfied with it any 

 more than we can make a nest that would suit the robin, but 

 let us get just as near to It as we can. 



Mr. Bingham has brought out the best style of smoker, 

 and the best style of honey-knife, and it is possible that he has 

 struck upon the best style of foundation for use in the sections. 



Genesee Co., Mich. W. Z. Hutchinson. 



■^ 

 ijy See " Bee-Keeper's Guide" offer on page 125. 



