76 



PLEASURABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



evenly filled frames and preventing breakdowns. To 

 remedy this, and secure the building of regular and 

 perfect combs, Captain Hetherington, in America, 

 the owiier of the largest apiary in the world, in- 

 vented flat-bottomed wired foundation. Wired foun- 

 dation, known as the Van Deusen, because patented 

 by Van Deusen and Son, of New York, has been 

 extensively used in America, but not to any great 

 extent in this country, owing to the cost, about 3s. 

 per lb. There are in " Ivo " apiary, now in use, several 



Fig. 19. 



frames of comb worked from this foundation more than 

 ten years ago ; and though combs may be found in 

 many apiaries that have been several years in use, it 

 is best to renew them as soon as, by continual use, 

 they become overloaded with poUen, or have in the 

 cells too great an accumulation of cocoons left by the 

 young bees. 



Supposing the cells to be used only three times in a 

 season for the raising of brood, the number of cocoons 

 left behind will in course of time very greatly diminish 



