INSIDE THE HIVE.—Chapter VI, 
sealed honey in two ad- 
jacent combs; but cells 
which contain worker 
brood are always slightly 
less than Y% inch in 
depth, thus leaving a 
wide passageway between 
the cappings of sealed 
brood in two adjacent 
combs. Drone comb has 
deeper cells than worker 
comb used for brood. 
When the comb is first 
built it is nearly white A frame of comb foundation. The bees will build 
in appearance. It very this out to full-depth comb. 
soon becomes “travel- 
stained,” however—that is, the bees in walking constantly over it and over 
the fresh propolis (the sticky substance which they gather from trees) soon 
stain the white wax so that it has a brown color. After a few generations of 
brood are reared in the cells the comb becomes quite black. This is no in- 
dication that it is not perfectly good, for combs have been known to have 
been used continuously by the bees for thirty or forty years. In fact, old 
combs are better than new; for they become stronger with age and warmer 
for wintering, owing to the many layers of cocoons left on the inner sides 
of the cell walls by the many generations of bees which have emerged from 
these cells. 
Comb Foundation. 
It is in the building of comb that man has come to the assistance of the 
bees in a most remarkable way. This is by the invention of what is known 
as “comb foundation,” which has been in common use now for nearly fifty 
years, and is used by all successful beekeepers everywhere today. It is 
made by running a very thin sheet of wax between two metal rollers, 
thereby transforming the wax so rolled into an almost exact impression or 
reproduction of the bases of the cells of the natural honeycomb. When 
the sheet of wax is run through these rolls it becomes what its name implies 
—a foundation for the 
- comb. In this foundation 
hd the bases of the cells are 
formed and the side walls 
started. 
This foundation is used 
in both sections and 
frames. There are differ- 
ent weights of founda- 
tion. The “thin super” is 
best for the comb-honey 
A frame of comb foundation which has been partly sections; “medium brood” 
drawn out by the bees. The nearly completed cells are i 
seen at the central part of the frame. is best for the brood and 
44 
