THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



341 



of each from still another pair. The cases 

 were selected with a view to their giving au 

 opportunity of selecting well filled sections 

 of each sort from the same relative posi- 

 tions in the cases and the sections compared 

 were so selected. The following figures give 

 the results in pounds and ounces : 



My next resource was mechanical instru- 

 ments for fine work in measuring and weigh- 

 ing. I knew there were such instruments at 

 our agricultural college and in speaking of 

 the matter with Mr. E. R. Root he informed 

 me that his house possessed a micrometer 

 and generously put it at my service. To the 



This indicates pretty clearly what I have 

 been aiming at as well as the course with the 

 modifications already suggested which I 

 think should be pursued in making further 

 investigations in this line. Of course it 

 would be rash to claim any very definite re- 

 sult from the experiment so far but the totals 

 here given will be found very interesting 

 matter for comparison with the weights and 

 measurements given further on which were 

 procured with the expectation of evolving 

 something that would assist in the solution 

 of the general problem under consideration. 



I suppose it would not be denied by any 

 one that so far as the amount of wax con- 

 tained in comb honey is concerned we must 

 take the amount of wax contained in natur- 

 al comb when used as the receptacle of hon- 

 ey as the standard of perfection. How near 

 does comb produced from foundation pre- 

 pared for use in sections approach that 

 standard ? And do combs produced from 

 all sorts of such foundation approach equally 

 near to that standard 'i It was with the pur- 

 pose of making a beginning if possible at 

 answering these and similar questions that 

 I undertook the experiment with section 

 foundation. It first occurred to me that 

 samples of honey made from different kinds 

 of foundation and from natui-al comb might 

 be submitted separately to several careful 

 individuals experienced iu the production of 

 honey for comparative tests with the hope 

 that the reports of such tests would give the 

 light sought. With further thought that hope 

 gradually grew dimmer, until the committee 

 of the N. A. B. K. convention to whom the 

 septa cut from comb made from the sev- 

 eral foundations were submitted for com- 

 parison with a view to a report, gave the 

 matter up in despair, when it went out al- 

 together. 



se})ta of the foundations I added one from 

 natural comb which I designated by the 

 letter " I." I at once gave Mr. Root a set, 

 and measurements of them were taken by 

 C. C. Washburn of his establishment who is 

 skilled iu such work. These measurements 

 appear further on. 



To procure samples of comb for the pur- 

 pose of the weighing test I took two sets of 

 sections of the several varieties and extracted 

 the honey as thoroughly as possible then af- 

 ter filling the cells with water I plunged 

 them in a large vessel of water where they 

 remained twenty-four hours when they were 

 furtlier washed and then thoroughly dried. 

 To get pieces of exactly the same size I first 

 shaved off the comb from both sides to bring 

 all to an equal thickness, about one-half 

 inch. To accomplish this I began by cut- 

 ting away the section box within a little less 

 than a fourth of an inch of the septum mak- 

 ing the opposite sides perfectly straight and 

 parallel then using these sides as guides with 

 a long straight sharp knife all portions of 

 the comb jutting out were shaved off leaving 

 a perfectly flat surface of comb. As guides 

 for shaving off the other side two straight 

 pieces of wood of even thickness — about 

 half an inch-— were nailed to a smooth, flat 

 board and after cutting away the other edges 

 of the section box sufficiently it was laid on 

 the flat side of the comb between these and 

 fixed firmly with wedges, when the superflu- 

 ous comb was shaved away as before. After 

 this process was completed a circular piece 

 to be used for the purposes of the experi- 

 ment was cut from each with a rim of tin a 

 little more than two and a half inches in di- 

 ameter, used after the manner of a cake-cut- 

 ter, thus leaving in each case the septum 

 with a portion of the cells upon each side. 

 The first set I thus prepared came short of 



