THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



45 



foundation are also important points, es- 

 pecially in making foundation for use in the 

 sections. In Mr. Taylor's recent experi- 

 ments the thickness of the septa in different 

 foundations was very clearly brought out, 

 but the hardness or toughness of the " fish 

 bone " was not noted. Perhaps this is a dif- 

 ficult point to experiment upon. Mr. Doolit- 

 tle, several years ago, made some experi- 

 ments, something similar to those performed 

 by Mr. Taylor, in which he tested the hard- 

 ness or toughness, or both, of the septa by 

 thrusting . wire through the finished sec- 

 tions and noting the resistance by means of 

 scales. This is something in the line of 

 what I have in mind. It is well-known that, 

 in a certain sense, comb is not wax. That 

 is, comb contains something more than wax, 

 besides it is of a "eculiar, light, flaky, brit- 

 tle, granular character which is greatly lost 

 upon being melted into wax. It is then 

 more solid, hard and tough. Mr. Bingham 

 has given the best illustration that I ever 

 saw. He says '* butter is butter, but melted 

 butter is grease." So comb is comb, but 

 melted comb is wax. But there is a differ- 

 ence in wax, whether this sometimes comes 

 from its treatment I cannot say positively, 

 but I think it does in some instances. I 

 know that some foundation is quite tough 

 and leathery, so that it can be handled in 

 ordinary summer weather, yes, even in the 

 fall and spring, with no danger of its break- 

 ing. Other foundation requires some care 

 even in hot weather to avoid damage by 

 breaking. Of course, this toughness is a 

 great con enience in handling and shipping, 

 but the question arises, is it a desirable 

 qu lity in foundation that is to be used in 

 the production of comb honey ? I thi k 

 not. I think the brittle foundation would 

 result in honey with a less preceptible " fish 

 bone." Oliver Foster calls attention to this 

 point in his excellent article in this issue, 

 but I fear that he confounds hardness with 

 brittleness. The terms are not synonymous 

 by any means ; neither are the properties 

 that they represent always found in com- 

 p?ny. For instance, wrought iron is quite 

 hard, yet it is far from being brittle, while a 

 pine stick is so soft that it may be indented 

 by the thumb nail, buj may be easily snap- 

 ped asunder. The most brittle foundation 

 may be the softest. A peeled banana is so 

 soft that my baby can easily mash it with 

 her soft fingers, yet a very slight bend will 

 break it. It will be seen that because an 



object is brittle is no sign that it is hard. 

 The molded foundation, or the Given foun- 

 dation, may be the most brittle and at the 

 same time the softest and easiest molded ; 

 which I suspect is the fact. 



If I remember aright, Mr. M. H. Hunt 

 once told me something about some kind of 

 a treatment through which he put the sheet- 

 ed wax which toughened it — made it the op- 

 posite of brittle, so that it could be bent in 

 quite cool weather without breaking it. I 

 think it was done with water and that he 

 called it " tempering " the wax. Now wheth- 

 er this process hardened the wax as weU as 

 toughened it I do not know, it may have 

 softened it for aught I know. 



Possibly, pressure hardens wax, and it is 

 because no pressure is exerted upon the side 

 walls in the Given foundation that they are 

 softer and more eatily worked by the bees. 

 In the roller mills having deep interstices 

 between the cell-dies I do not understand 

 why or how the side walls receive pressure, 

 but perhaps they do. 



Once before in the Review there has been 

 a special discussion in regard to the use of 

 foundation, but no attention was paid to the 

 different ways of treating the wax nor of the 

 methods of manufacture. I think now is a 

 very proper time to discuss methods of clar- 

 ifying and' preparing wax for being made 

 into foundation, and the methods of manu- 

 facture, having in view the points that I 

 have brought up. I should be glad to hear 

 from every manufacturer of foundation, 

 also from every one who has used different 

 kinds of foundation, and the next issue of 

 the Review shall be an old fashioned 

 "special topic" number, devoted to a dis- 

 cussion of " How to make the best founda- 

 tion." When you write, plsase also make 

 suggestions as to how future experiments 

 upon this subject shall be conducted at the 

 Experimental Apiary. 



EXXRT^OTOD. 



How Much Centers in the Queen. 



In one of the early issues of the Review 

 the question of " Queens and their influence 

 upon success in bee culture," was discussed. 

 In that discussion I took the ground that too 

 much stress is laid upon the importance of 

 having the right kind of queens. I argued 



