THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ii 



wherever wax production is undertaken 

 largely are seen to a very limiled extent if at 

 all in hives fully supplied with foundation. 

 These facts and their corollaries which each 

 one can deduce for himself, lead ine to con- 

 tinue to hold for the present that more honey 

 will be produced when frames and sections 

 are tilled with foundation. 



But granting that the experiments referred 

 to disclose the truth in the matter with re- 

 spect to the advantages of using starters only 

 in brood frames, there are other facts upon 

 which at present I feel safe in resting a con- 

 clusion to use full sheets of foundation. 

 Some of these are the following : Combs 

 built from starters are not uniformly all 

 worker, even under the most favorable con- 

 ditions ; nor are they uniformly straight, and 

 they always lack more of tilling the frames 

 than do those built from full sheets of foun- 

 dation. 



These facts might not be very serious if 

 the combs were to be used only for the year, 

 but they are to be used indefinitely, and the 

 question presents itself what will be the effect 

 on the honey harvest, the following year, of 

 the smaller combs and the increased (luauti- 

 ty of drone comb ? Will not the disadvan- 

 tage here more than offset every supposed 

 previous advantage ? Some one may say 

 cut out the drone comb. But every one 

 knows who has tried it that in ninety-nine 

 cases in one hundred if left in the same hive 

 it will be replaced by the same kind of comb. 

 Of course the more defective coml)S may be 

 replaced by good ones, but in that case the 

 disadvantage will be learned to the serious 

 discomfort of the manipulator. A crooked 

 comb is in itself no great disadvantage so 

 long as all the others in the hive accommo- 

 date themselves to it l)y crooking in like 

 manner, but a rub comes when it is attempt- 

 ed to change places with the combs either in 

 the same hive or from different hives. 



I tried the plan of using starters one sea- 

 son extensively and know whereof I speak, 

 at least so far as my own bees are concern( d. 

 It is no small labor to sort and straighten 

 such combs, and it is generally so inconven- 

 ient to do it when it ought to be done that 

 it is more than likely to be neglected. 



I do not wish to be understood as intimat- 

 ing that a very large quantity of drone comb 

 is to be looked for in each hive, but enough 

 to be troublesome in from two to four combs 

 amounting in all to a piece from the size of 

 the hand to one and a half new Heddon 



frames, nor that many of the combs will be 

 found very crooked, but that few will be en- 

 tirely straigiit, and that very many will be 

 such that unless they are straightened they 

 must always be kept in the order in which 

 they were Ijuilt to prevent interference. 



Again, granting the advantage claimed in 

 using starters only, it is to bo remembered 

 that that advantage is to be had only once in 

 a (juarter of a century, /. c, the combs thus 

 T)roduced are to be used thereafter for twen- 

 ty-five years. Will it pay, for the sake of 

 the temporary advantage, to be compelled 

 to straighten and perfect the combs, or be 

 put to the inconvenience of using imperfect 

 and often practically non-interchangeable 

 combs for so long a period when it is re- 

 membered that at best they can hardly be 

 made first class ? It requires but a short 

 time comparatively for the apiarist who 

 produces honey, not bees, for sale, to secure 

 as many colonies as he desires ; when no 

 more bees are wanted no more combs are 

 required. It needs but a small profit from 

 each of the succeeding twenty-five years to 

 wipe out that which is supposed to accrue 

 from using starters in the first. If one 

 counts time, labor, the greater number of 

 workers and the less number of drones, will 

 he not easily secure it V From the stand- 

 point of my own experience I do not hesi- 

 tate to say that perfect combs secured only 

 from full sheets of foundation will yield the 

 required amount of increase in profit be- 

 sides solid satisfaction and convenience. 



Lapeeb, Mich., Dec. 3, 1890. 



Advantages of Foundation. — If Used Light 



no Wax Secretion is Wasted. — Some 



Very Practical Ideas. 



J. A. QBEEN. 



IRIEND H.— When you first brought 

 before the public your theory that 

 ^**'^ there was an advantage in allowing or 

 compelling bees to build their brood combs 

 without foundation, except in the shape of a 

 narrow starter, it seemed quite plausible to 

 me. I had noticed that at times the pro- 

 duction of wax seemed to be greater than 

 was required for the combs being built, and 

 thought perhaps you were right and that we 

 had been overdoing the matter of assisting 

 the bees in their labors. 



Surely, if I could save the cost of the 

 foundation I had been using in the brood 



