THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



211 



doubt many of the methods pursued will 

 prove cruder than they might have done had 

 I had the advantage of time for previous 

 thought directed to the maturing of plans 

 best calculated to secure the clearest results 

 in some of the still unsolved matters that are 

 of especial interest to bee-keepers; indeed, 

 I already see more than one point where im- 

 provement could have been made. It is to 

 be noted also that thus far I have been left 

 to my own resources for the selection of 

 points to be investigated in conducting the 

 work, but it is to be hoped that in the near 

 future direction may be given in this respect 

 by a committee appointed by those who on 

 account of their vocation or avocation are 

 specially interested. 



FOUNDATION FOB COMB HONET. 



No intelligent, well-informed, practical 

 apiarist can avoid the rising of numerous 

 questions with regard to the comb-founda- 

 tions prepared for use in sections, some of 

 which are : Are those of all makers equally 

 good ? Do the bees have a choice and con- 

 s >quently work more readily upon some than 

 upon others ? Has the thinner any advan- 

 tage or disadvantage as compared with the 

 heavier ? Is that long made equally as good 

 as that just out of the machine ? Are all 

 kinds in equal daiiger of a weli founded ac- 

 cusation of leaving a " fish bone ?" 



With the hope of throwing some light upon 

 some of these I procured a variety of foun 

 dations, to the number of eight, distin 

 guished from each other either by weight, 

 make or age. Each kind for the purposes of 

 the experiment was distinguished by a letter 

 of the alphabet and the number of feet to 

 the pound of each carefully determined, all 

 of which was made a matter of record. Each 

 was then cut to the same size and fastened 

 into sections. Twenty-eight sections of each 

 were used for the purpose of the experiment 

 and each section was plainly marked on the 

 top with the letter used to designate the kind 

 of foundation with which it was filled. These 

 actions were then put into cases without 

 separators, alternately, each case, after the 

 first, beginning with a section marked with 

 a letter immediately succeeding the letter 

 nsed in marking the final section of the pre- 

 vious base. These cases thus prepared have 

 been adjusted to colonies best fitted by their 

 character and condition to work in all parts 

 of the case equally. What valuable results, 

 if any, can be expected ? Worked out under 

 such circumstances can those least liable to 



produce the "fishbone" be determined by 

 comparing the combs ? Can those most 

 profitable to the apiarist be determined by 

 comparing the weights of the comb honey 

 produced from each ? I shall later desire 

 the assistance of a few of the most compe- 

 tent apiarists in making comparison of the 

 septums of comb built from these ditferent 

 kinds of foundation. 



IS COMB FOUNDATION PROFITABLE IN THE 

 BKOOD-CHAMKEB ? 



This is an old but still unsettled question. 

 To obtain some difinite information if pos- 

 sible on this matter I prepared four sets of 

 hives, each hive being one section of the new 

 Heddon. Each set consists of three hives — 

 one filled with drawn comb, one with foun- 

 dation, and one with frames furnished with 

 narrow starters only. The sets are numbered 

 1, 2, 8 and 4 and those furnished with comb, 

 foundation and starters are designated by 

 the letters A, B and C respectively. A record 

 is made of the weight of each hive and of the 

 cases adjusted at the time of hiving each 

 swarm, and, also, of the bees in each swarm. 

 Each hive with its cases and bees was again 

 weighed upon the morning of the day suc- 

 ceeding the hiving to determine as far as 

 possible the extent of change which had 

 taken place in the denizens of the hives by 

 their going from one hive to join another as 

 they frequently do when there has been any 

 commingling of bees in swarming. It will 

 be seen that at the end of the honey season I 

 can easily determine the increase in weight 

 both of the brood-chamber and of the supers 

 and so be able, I hope, to draw some solid 

 conclusion with reference to the comparative 

 value of comb, starters and foundation for 

 use in the brood-chamber. 



These sets of hives, it has occurred to me, 

 are well adapted to throw light upon another 

 question which perhaps is not given the con- 

 sideration it deserves, viz : Do colonies pro- 

 duce results in proportion to their strength, 

 or is there a golden mean in this respect 

 and is it true that when that is either ex- 

 ceeded or come short of, there is less rela- 

 tive profit ? How the above mentioned sets 

 of hives may help to elucidate this question 

 will be evident when I mention the fact that 

 swarms put into 1 C, 2 C, 3 C and 4 C weighed 

 respectively 73^, 10%, 5 and 414 pounds. 

 Among the swarms hived upon combs and 

 amon/ those hived upon foundation there 

 was also a considerable difference in weight, 



