42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



burn ; Sub. Inspector, F. A. Gemmill, Strat- 

 ford; Auditors, J. Alpaugh, St. Thomas, and 

 S. T. Pettit, Belmont. 



DIBECTOKS. 



District No. 1.— W. J. Brown, Chard. 



2.— J. K. Darling, Almonte. 

 3.— M. B. Holmes, Athens. 

 4. — Allen Pringle, Selby. 

 5. — S. Corneil, Lindsay. 

 G. — Wm. Couse, Streetsville. 

 7. — D. Chalmers, Poole. 

 8. — F. A. Rose, Balmoral.' 

 9.— J. B. Hall, Woodstock. 

 10.— R. McKnight, Owen Sound. 

 11.— John Myers, Stratford. 

 12. — E. O. Jones, Kertch. 

 13.— R. H. Smith. Bracebridge. 

 Stratford was selected as the next place of 

 meeting. 

 Selby, Ont. Jan. 25, 1894. 



The Essential Qualities of Foundation and 

 How to Secure Them. 



OLIYEB FOSTER. 



[VERY bee-keeper who uses foundation, 

 (and what bee-keeper does not), has a 

 pecuniary interest in the question, 

 '* which make is the best ?" 



Every manufacturer of foundation wishes 

 also to know what is the secret of merit and 

 demerit. 



Mr. Taylor's experiments at the Michigan 

 station seems to indicate that foundation 

 made upon the Given press has some points 

 of advantage, as compared with that f rona 

 roller mills. 



While we are not yet warranted in decid- 

 ing this question, it is well to fully discuss it 

 now before the time when farther experi- 

 ments can be conducted. 



When Mr. Given invented and introduced 

 his machine in 1878 and '79, his object seems 

 to have been, not to produce a foundation 

 that the bees would more readily accept, nor 

 that they would more perfectly work out 

 into completed comb. The important ad- 

 vantage he claimed for his machine was that 

 a sheet of wax could be pressed into foun- 

 dation and fastened into a wired frame at 

 one operation, the wires being more perfect- 

 ly imbedded than by any other process. This 

 machine consisted of a pair of plates or dies 

 the exact size of the sheet of wax to be 

 pressed into foundation. These were hinged 

 together at one side like the leaves of a 



double slate. The inner surface of each leaf 

 was of copper plated embossed type metal, 

 backed with, or mounted upon wood. 



To fill a wired frame with foundation, the 

 frame was placed over the face of one leaf 

 of the die, a sheet of wax fitted into the 

 frame over the wires, and the other leaf 

 closed down into the upper side of the frame, 

 and in order to make the required impress- 

 ion, the dies inclosing the frame an.i wax 

 sheet, were shoved into an iron press and 

 subjected to a tremendous pressure. 



To make foundation for sections, a thin- 

 ner sheet of wax is used and the wired frame 

 omitted. 



If I am correct, Mr. Given's first dies were 

 made to form the side walls of the cells high 

 and narrow like those made on roller mills. 

 But it was found impossible to make the 

 septum as thin, and at the same time force 

 the displaced wax into side walls as narrow 

 and as high by means of the plates, as could 

 be done with the rolls. 



In case of the rollers, the surplus wax that 

 is forced from the bottom of the cell, flows 

 out from between inclining surfaces, where- 

 as with the dies, these surfaces are always 

 parallel to eac ■ other, approaching each 

 other in this position, requiring a heavier, 

 direct pressure. 



With the latter also, the only place for the 

 surplus wax is in the side wall cavities ; 

 hence it is important that these be commo- 

 dious. Any unevenness in the thickness of 

 the sheet of wax, must appear in the side 

 walls of the foundation, if the bottoms of 

 the cells are made uniformily thin. But in 

 case of the rollers, this superfluous wax sim- 

 ply flows forward, causing the sheet to 

 stretch. 



To impress a whole sheet of wax at one 

 stroke, and effect as near an approach to 

 natural comb as was possible with rollers, 

 would require a pressure too great to be 

 practicable. 



Even if such a deep impression could be 

 made, the removal of the sheet would be 

 next to impossible, since the whole surface 

 of the foundation must be released from the 

 die simultaneously. It was this evident 

 necessity that was mother to the invention 

 of the thick, shallow side walls, and which 

 led Mr. Given to adopt this form of cell. 

 About this time some one presented a theory 

 that seems still to pass as sound doctrine ; it 

 was that by pressure wax was made harder, 

 and less easily manipulated by the bees, and 

 that the wax in the heavy side walls of the 



