56 FOURTH ANNUAL REPORT 



bees draw out comb. -Sure they do. They draw out the cells. 

 They take what is above and take it farther down bit by bit. 



Mr. Primm — I don't know that I catch your idea yet. 

 The question implies, do the bees fill the comb if you put in 

 foundation? Do they affect that foundation to any extent 

 in order that they might enlarge? 



Dr. Miller — I see your point. The point Mr. Primm 

 makes is that they don't draw it out. No, sir, emphatically 

 they do draw it out. The yellow foundation will be drawn 

 out. I know they draw out the foundation. 



Mr. Primm — I think when you have a foundation one 

 year the next year when you eat the honey you will find 

 where the foundation is, there is thick wax. 



Dr. Miller — Because that foundation is allowed to stand 

 for a year and it is hard. 



Mr. Stone — Right there is a stumbling block for me. 

 I have had beeswax lying out for the bees to lick the honey 

 off, and they do not carry off the wax. How do they get 

 the comb drawn out, if they cannot carry off my wax? 



Mr. Coppin — The bees can dig wax and carry it away ; 

 they have done it at my place this past summer. I put out 

 some honey that had pollen in it, for the bees to clean out. 

 It could be drawn down like Mr. Stone had in his question. 

 It would not be a worker-bee cell if drawn down, it would 

 be all out of shape. They use the wax in the foundation 

 below. It was near the bottom of the section. 



Dr. Miller — With regard to bees taking wax from any 

 place and then using that wax to build out comb, it is pos- 

 sible that it is done. They do take bits of wax scattered 

 around and use it as propolis. I could not say positively 

 they never use it to build comb, but I don't see how it is 

 possible. 



Mr. Stone — I believe that is one question we can't solve. 

 I think if the foundation is colored further down than where 

 it was put in, that there is a possibility the darker colored 

 wax colors that which is attached to it. An old hen made 

 a nest, and laid every day in a barrel where I had cleaned 

 old brood-frames. After being a few days from home I 

 went to the barrel to get the eggs, and found those eggs 

 were colored. If propolis or beeswax can color egg-shells 

 can it not color the wax attached to it? And may not this 

 be the secret of wax-coloring? 



Mr. Becker — Is it not a fact that after a honey-flow you 

 never see bees swarming around- an old hive that is thrown 

 away looking for beeswax on old frames? I think Benton 

 in his book issued by the Government, says he thinks that 

 bees don't produce comb, and we know they don't unless a 

 certain temperature is in the hive, and this yellow wax in the 

 hive is the production that comes after a honey-flow, and 

 there is not sufficient white it it to give it the same color; 

 it is always a darker color. I never see bees around an old 

 frame. 



Mr. Black — My experience is different from Mr. Becker's. 

 During the great honey-flow we had noticed that the bees 



