THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Foundation for Sections— A Review. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Just at the close of the lioney sea- 

 son for 1875, I received from Win. 

 Hoge, of New York city, a paclcage 

 of comb foundation to use in boxes, he 

 saying, as an explanation, that a great 

 saving was to be gained by the use of 

 it, as the bees would draw tlie side- 

 walls out to full-length cells, thus 

 making the combs out of the wax in 

 the foundation. As it cost 20 lbs. of 

 honey to make 1 lb. of wax, a saving of 

 $4.00 per lb. was gained, as honey sold 

 readily at 25 cents i)erlb. at that time, 

 and a ])ound of foundation cost but 

 $1.00, Tliis was supposing, of course, 

 that the pound of foundation woidd 

 hold as much honey as a pound of nat- 

 ural comb, and as it all looked reason- 

 able at first sight, I tested the matter 

 by buying one pound of it. 



As the honey season was so near be- 

 ing over, I had to feed some extracted 

 honey to get the sections containing 

 the foundation sealed over, when I 

 had as nice-looking sections of lioney 

 as I ever saw built with natural comb. 

 However, I was soon convinced that 

 the claim of saving to the bees was 

 erroneous, as upon cnttiiig, or rather, 

 trying to cut tliese sections of honey, 

 the knife would stop when it came to 

 the foundation, and upon examination 

 (which was done by a little scraping 

 and washing), I found I had my origi- 

 nal piece of foundation untouched 

 except as the bees had iidded their wax 

 to it in building out the cells. 



The next year more was used from 

 different makers witli like results, at 

 which time I began to expostulate with 

 A. I. Root, the most extensive manu- 

 facturer at that time, reasoning that 

 in time our honey markets would be 

 spoiled if we persisted in using such 

 thick stiilt as a base to the comb in 

 our surplus honey. His reply was 

 that " It has already grown into quite 

 an industry, and we are using wax by 

 the ton." Time passes, and 1877 finds 

 me witli plenty of f(nnulation, made 

 from my own wax, upon which many 

 experiments were ciniducted; but at 

 the end of tlie lioney season we found 

 all our honey built on foundation con- 

 tained a tliick base or " fish-bone" in 

 the center. Again 1 expostulated with 

 Mr. Hoot, but was met witli the reply : 

 " It is utterly iuconiprehensible to me 

 the way you stick to your old notions 

 on foundation ; it has filled the mar- 

 kets with most beautifid honey." 



About this time the Bee Journal 

 lifted up its voice of warning, and 

 bee conventions resolved against its 

 use for comb honey to such an extent 

 that some of our large honey produ- 

 cers began to study on the matter of 

 making a very thin foundation to over- 

 come this difficulty. In due time the 

 Van Deusen flat- bottomed foundation 

 appeared before the public as a result. 



and we had foundation so thin thiit it 

 took from 10 to 14 square feet to make 

 a pound. This seemed to be success- 

 ful as far as the " fish-bone" was con- 

 cerned ; but as tlie bees had to change 

 the flat bottoms into a lozenge-shaped 

 septum, it began to be whispered 

 around that it was not accepted as 

 readily by the bees as foundati(ni with 

 a natural-shaped septum. However, 

 this was far ahead of any brought be- 

 fore tlie public so far, and thus it 

 could be readily seen that we were 

 making some progress. 



During 1880 we hear of still another 

 advance, as Mr. Vandervort has suc- 

 ceeded in producing foundation run- 

 ning from 10 to 12 square feet to tlie 

 pound, with a lozenge-shaped base, 

 which is said to work equally as well 

 as the Van Deusen, and having none 

 of the objections urged against that. 

 Thus, we find tlie Northeastern Con- 

 vention, in February, 1881. giving that 

 the preference over the Van Deusen. 

 We now find A. I. Root tailing into 

 line, and advertising, in his price list, 

 veri/ thin foundation for comb honey, 

 running at least 10 sguare feet to the 

 pound, and our faith is now quite 

 strong that comb foundation for sec- 

 tion honey will prove a success, for 

 "out of a multitude of counselors 

 Cometh wisdom." 



Accordingly, last spring, to make a 

 thorough test, I lu-ocured foundation 

 of the following parties : A. I. Root, 

 Medina, O.; G. W.Stanley, Wyoming, 

 N. Y.; J. G. Whitten, Genoa, N. Y.; 

 R. Van Deusen, Sprout Brook, N. Y., 

 and Chas. Dadaut & Son, Hamilton, 

 111. That procured of Root was his 

 own make, but jn-oved to run only OJ^ 

 feet to the pound, instead of 10 as ad- 

 vertised, and besides, it was made of 

 very dark, dirty wax. That from 

 Stanley was made on the Vandervort 

 machine, was very nice wax, and run 

 11 feet to the pound. Mr. "Whitten's 

 was made on a Dunham machine, and 

 was the nicest I had ever seen coming 

 from a Dunham mill, as it run lOJ^ 

 feet to the pound, and was made of 

 nice wax. Mr. Van Deuseirs was the 

 thin flat-bottomed, which is, I think, 

 the prettiest foundation to look at of 

 any I have yet seen. Of Chas. Dadant 

 & iSon I had both the Root and Dun- 

 ham. 



The Root run about 7i^ feet to 

 the pound, and the Dunham about G. 

 As to the quality of wax, I will say 

 this last was the "nicest of all. I filled 

 20 section boxes full within ^ of an 

 inch of the bottom with each kind, 

 and marked the name of tlie party 

 producing the foundation on each box. 

 In due time these boxes were placed 

 on the hives so that an equal number 

 (six, one of each kind) was on each 

 hive. 



The different hives were examined 

 at different times, and the result 

 showed that the two kinds produced 

 by Dadant, and that by Stanley, were 

 worked upon about alike, and finished 

 at nearly the same time. That pro- 

 duced by Root and Whitten wasaboiit 

 a. day later in beingfinished, while the 

 Van" Deusen was nearlv three days be- 

 hind the first named. This was taking 

 the average time of the 20 colonies 



which worked upon them. Thus we 

 proved by exiieriment, at least, that it 

 did take time for the bees to manipu- 

 late the flat-bottomed foundation. 



After all were off the hives we were 

 anxious to know which kind had the 

 thinnest base, or, in other words,which 

 was the most free from the fish-bone 

 center so much has been said about. 

 Accordingly, I procured a very sensi- 

 tive pair of scales, showing the varia- 

 tion of I4 ounce accurately, and upon 

 these fixed a No. 16 wire (being square 

 at the end) so it stood perpendicular. 

 I now placed the section of honev on 

 this wire, letting it down carefully till 

 the square end t(nictied the base," and 

 then watched the scale till the wire 

 passed through, noting down tlie num- 

 ber of ounces resistance produced by 

 the base of the foundation on thia 

 wire. 



Each of the sections was thus sub- 

 jected to this trial in three different 

 places, when the amount was footed 

 up and an average made, and the ave- 

 rage of the 20 sections taken. When 

 this was done, the same number of 

 sections containing natural comb were 

 subjected to the same test and an ave- 

 rage taken, which gave us this show- 

 ing : A. I. Root's make showed the 

 average pressure of OJrf ounces ; G, 

 W. Stanley's make (Vandervort), i}^ 

 ounces ; J. G. Wliitten"s (very thin 

 Dunham), 5J^ ounces; R. Van Deu- 

 sen's (flat-bottomed), 5 ounces; Da- 

 dant's (thin Root), 5J4| ounces; Da- 

 dant's (thin Dunham), G}4 ounces; 

 natural comb, V^ ounces. Thus it 

 will be seen that the Stanley (Vander- 

 vort) foundation is even thinner than 

 tlie natural comb, according to this 

 showing ; then in order comes the Van 

 Deusen, Whitten (very thin Dunham), 

 Dadant (Root), Dadant (Dunliam ) and 

 A. I. Root (Root), none of which 

 proved to be as thin as natural comb. 

 These experiments were conducted 

 carefully, to arrive at the truth of the 

 matter as near as could be done in one 

 season with 20 section boxes of each 

 kind. This showing is very flattering 

 indeed to Mr. Stanley. 



I am in no way interested in the sale 

 of any kind of foundation, conse- 

 quently am not])rejudiced in the least. 

 One thing I wish to say about all foun- 

 dation, wliich I have long believed to 

 be so, but have had no chance to prove 

 it so till the past season, which is this : 

 At a time Avlieu honey is coming in 

 moderately, say when a good colony 

 is bringing in from 3 to .5 lbs. per day 

 of ext.iacted honey, conil) foundation 

 is a success in the surplus arrange- 

 ment, but at a time when honey comes 

 in with a rush, the same colony gath- 

 ering from 12 to 20 pounds perday, it 

 does not pay the cost, for my bees'will 

 fill a box having a starter of natural 

 coml). and flnisli it, as quickly as they 

 will one full of foundation by its side. 

 All through basswood the past season, 

 when honey was coming in slowly, the 

 foundation was drawn out and flnished 

 before a box by its side with a starter 

 was half filled, but when the rush came 

 on from teasel and red clover, those 

 with starters were filled fully as quick, 

 as has been my experience for several 

 years before. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



