1870 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



143 



the bees, and supplies them with nearly enough wax to 

 finish the side walls. This is' demonstrated by coloriiiK 

 the was used, with indigo or earmine. It will then be 

 seen how much, or rather how little, additional materi:il 

 the workers have to supply in elongating the cells. The 

 septum, or middle partition of the foundations, requires 

 much the most wax, time and labor. The side walls are 

 very thin, and can be very expeditiously run up, on a 

 foundation on which multitudes have room at once to 

 stand and work. A strong colony furnished with such 

 foundations can readily build up the cells of -ICO square 

 inches of comb in 21 hours, at the height of the season 

 when cells are in demand for honey and brood. Of course 

 bees will not work so diligently at other seasons, but will 

 still build rapidly enough to furnish the beekeeper with a 

 supply of reserve combs. 



Since my invention was ijatented, several persons in 

 Germany have undertaken to manufacture foundations, 

 and one or two liave been successful in making such as 

 the bees will work ujjon ; but none of them make their 

 cell foundations with mathematical accuivicj'. Mr. Kiniz, 

 of Jagerndorfl in Silesia, furnishes 8x10 foundations at 

 the following prices : 25 for gl. 75, 50 for .f 3.25, and 100 for 

 So. He uses wax alone, but finds them so brittle in win- 

 ter, that he is unwilling to send out any at that season. 



Dr. Knaffee, of Nashville, devised a mode of making full 

 depth cells, which look very well, but unfortunately the 

 bees refuse to use them. At least I found it so on trial in 

 one of my hives, and Mr. Gallup says his bees ground 

 them into sawdust the first night after they were put in. 

 They will be torn down and rebuilt, or left untouched or 

 unused. My bees tore down a ])ortion, nibbled away 

 parts of others, and never placed honey, pollen or brood 



in any. 



Mr. Quinby has api)lied for a patent for making full 

 depth cells of metal. The queen will lay in SBCh cells, the 

 eggs will hatch, and the bees will in due time seal up the 

 brood, which it is presumable will mature properly. A 

 hive filled up with combs so constructed would jjrobably 

 be mofh-2nyiof to a. great extent ; but how a colony thus 

 provided would fare in tier;/ hot or very cold weather, I 

 am not just prepared to say. The mode of making the 

 cells is ingenious, and the process 1 should suppose to be 

 patentable on the score of Hovclty — as to utility, that is 

 yet to be found out. It is not yet through the mill, and I 

 must therefore not say more about it now. 



Dec. Idfh, 1870.— A letter I wrote you about a month 

 ago, I think, must have miscarried or somehow gone 

 astray. * * * i also requested you to inform Nov- 

 ice that I would not sell him a comb foundatioi; mould, 

 but that he shall have a pair of plates, at bare cost as 

 eoon as I can get them made, together with the right 

 of making, using, and vending the foundations in Me- 

 dina county and any other county in Ohio, which he 

 may select— on condition that he aid me, so far as in 

 his power, in getting satisfactory demonstration that 

 the bees will use, and use them to advantage; and 

 this if possible a little in advance of the opening 

 season. On this point I will write you fully, in sea- 

 son. I have devised a mode of altering the mould, to 

 suit my purpose, without the aid of the matrix maker, 

 and think now that his declaration that the old mould 

 could not be altered and that a new one would be nec- 

 essary, will in the end save me several hundred dol- 

 lars. I want to use these foundations, properly modi- 

 fled, for another important purpose which I have been 

 revolving in my mind for years. I shall want your 

 assistance in this matter also. It may be a vain and 

 perhaps ridiculous project, but I liave an idea it can 

 be made a success, and if successful it will pi-obably i 

 be a "big thing." If visionary I would like vou to 

 help in demonstrating the tacf. i Mav not the idea 

 have been the comb honey of to-daj'?— Ed.] I 



You will see an article on Arliflcial Combs in the 

 January Journal, which gets in a month earlier than 

 I thought desirable, as I received nothing from you 

 this month and "copy" was w^anted. 1 would have 

 preferi-ed delaying the notice till I have some of the 

 improved moulds i-eady to operate with. 



Ill health will prevent me from leaving home this 

 winter; but I would scarcely attend cither of the con- 

 ventions, if well enough; the last two German conven- 

 tions have pretty much put me out of conceit of such 

 assemblies. 



Fel). Isf, 1871. — After long delay and repeated disap- 

 pointments, I received from Philadelphia, the honei/ 

 comb type (as they are labeled) which I had cast ten 

 years ago ; and shall proceed at once to set up forms 

 for new stereotype plates, with the requisite correct- 

 ions. As I intend that you shall have the first set cast 

 after the forms are in ])roper working trim, it is nec- 

 essary I should know the exact size of the frames you 

 are using in your hives— inside measure— of which 

 please advise me. It is not indeed difficult to adjust 

 the sheets to any size or form of frame, though much 

 better to have them right at once. The sheets that 

 Mr. Bickford exhibited at Indianapolis, as well as 

 others still in his possession, are not properls^ made, 

 and were not intended to be put to practical use, tho' 

 if cut into strips and applied as guide cumbs, they 

 would answer that purpose much better than the tri- 

 angular strips or any other device known to me, 

 "hardly excepting the natural comb. A very powerful 

 press is required to make good impression, presenting 

 the rudimental side walls. Mine is a lever press, ex- 

 temporized for the occasion, and lacks many conveni- 

 ences, but with some modifications can be made to 

 work fast enough for individual wants, though not to 

 supply a large demand speedily. I shall search the 

 Patent Office for something better, and if not to be 

 found there, shall have to try to invent one. 



March It^fh, 1871.-1 am exceedingly mortified that 

 the new plates for comb foundations are not yet ready. 

 The stereotypers promised to furnish them early in 

 the month, but have disappointed me time and again, 

 and the only serious attempt to comply was a wretch- 

 ed failure. I have an assurance again now that I shall 

 certainly have them next week. Time will show. 

 Delays and detention compelled me to transfer the 

 printing of the Journal to Philadelphia, inconvenient 

 as that is; and it now seems as if this job had better 

 have gone there also. There seems to be no depend- 

 ence on Washington workmen. 



Sa:\['l Wagner, Washington, D. 0. 



We confess there is a mystery in the mat- 

 ter, as to whether our friend Warner meant to 

 patent the product, or the machine. See the 

 followinn;: 



Several years ago we devised and patented an apijaratus 

 for making artificial honey comb foundations having rudi- 

 mental cells, with ease and accuracy. 



—Hd. A. B. J., May No., 1867. 



Two pages farther, we have an account of 

 plate-i that came from Switzerland, and on page 

 175, Vol. 1, A. B. J., Mr. Quinby mentions liav- 

 ing made comb foundations as long ago as '46, 

 and that he used them successfully as guides 

 in boxes, as we are doing now. It may be that 

 Mr. Wagner was unaware when he procured 

 his patent, that foundations had been used ; 

 at any rate he states plainly that he had a ])a- 

 tent on the apparatus, and one patent could 

 not cover both. AVe are happy to inform our 

 readers that we not oiil.y have laid aside the 

 movable type, used by our friend Wagner, but 



