THE BEE-KEEPERS' RE VIE W^ 



93 



thing like this : Take three swarms and put 

 them together in a large Ijasket caging the 

 queens, and place the basket in a darkened 

 cellar, then after the swarms have become 

 thoroughly united divide them again into 

 three equal parts, giving each a queen, and 

 hive each one in one of a set of the three 

 differently prepared hives. Though the three 

 swarms before being united may have been 

 of different values as workers the thorough 

 amalgamation and the equal division would 

 presumably make them of just the same 

 value. 



The subject of foul brood will continue to 

 receive sucli attention as circumstances will 

 permit. An experiment which I had ex- 

 pected to make last year, but failed to carry 

 out from the circumstances of the season, 

 will be attempted during the coming sum- 

 mer. I refer to the testing of wax from foul 

 broody combs as to its ability to convey the 

 disease to a colony hived upon foundation 

 made from it, without its ever having been 

 brought to a boiling temperature. The wax 

 was rendered in a solar extractor at a tem- 

 perature never exceeding 180° F., and it will 

 be sheeted and made into foundation with- 

 out permitting its temperature at any time 

 to go above that point. This foundation 

 will then be used in frames and swarms 

 hived upon it and results carefully noted. 



The testing of different sorts of section 

 foundation will again be made a prominent 

 feature of the work this year and on a more 

 extended scale. While in some parts of the 

 work no important change of method is 

 necessary, in others an entire change must 

 be made. For instance, in testing founda- 

 tions for the purpose of determining what 

 sort the bees prefer as shown by their draw- 

 ing it out quicker and farther, only two 

 kinds, I think, should be used together al- 

 ternately instead of a large number as last 

 year. Then the sections used for this pur- 

 pose should be much narrower so that the 

 bees will not be tempted to leave one sample 

 on account of the unusual depth which its 

 cells have reached to bring up another hav- 

 ing shallow cells. Comparis ns also will 

 be attempted of foundations made from the 

 same lot of sheeted wax but upon different 

 machines as well as of different weights of 

 the same make. 



These are the chief features proposed for 

 the summer's work so far as my plans are 

 yet matured and my hope is that this state- 



ment of my plans may lead bee-keepers to 



make suggestions that will enable me to 



further improve and extend my operations. 



Lapeeb, Mich. March 20, 1894. 



Suggestions for Foundation Experiments.— 

 Advantages of Single - tier Wide Frames. 



E. A. DAGGITT. 



mHE topic for 

 jj discussion in 

 the March issue 

 of the Review is 

 an import int one, 

 but I fear it will 

 be a difficult mat- 

 ter t settle to 

 the satisfaction 

 of all, owing to 

 certain difficul- 

 ties in the way of 

 a definite solution 

 of the (luestion, still I believe much good 

 will result from a thorough discussion and 

 investigation of the subject. 



Before reading the excellent article on this 

 subject by Mr. Oliver Foster in the Febru- 

 ary number of the Review — (an article that 

 deserves to be carefully read and studied by 

 every bee-keeper) — I was going to ask if 

 foundation could be made on the Given press 

 with other than broad side walls, and if so, 

 ;f it could be made on the same machine 

 with a very thin and broad septum and nar- 

 row side walls ; but Mr. Foster's article 

 makes it unnecessary for me to do so. 



It occurs to me that round dies would make 

 just as good foundation as fiat ones, provided 

 the projections and depressions on them were 

 just the same as on flat ones except the form 

 it is necessary to give them to adapt them to 

 circular surfaces. Indeed, I should think 

 that if one had the advantage of the other, it 

 would be the round ones, both in producing 

 softer walls and thinner septum. 



The results of the experiments at the Mich- 

 igan Experimental Station on the use of 

 foundation in sections were important and I 

 hope these experiments will be continued 

 and will lead to im[)ortant results, if not to 

 a solution of the problem. 



I wish the foundations used had all been 

 made of the same wax. This I think is very 

 important and I hope the matter will not be 



