20 Bulletin 54. 



supers. Without them the comb is sure to be uneven in a large 

 proportion of the sections, and in many cases it will be bulged so as 

 to make it very difficult to pack the sections in a crate tor ship- 

 ment. Illustrations of such sections are shown at h of Plate 6. 

 These sections also vary much in weight, some weighing consider- 

 ably more than a pound, while others weigh as much less. They 

 are not as attractive nor as easily handled upon the market as those 

 that are built with flat faces that do not project beyond the edges of 

 the section, and that are all uniform in weight and appearance, as 

 shown at s of Plate 6. I have used the tin and board separators 

 in about equal numbers and have been unable to see that one has 

 any special advantage over the other. 



I have also used separators upon one side and upon both sides 

 of the sections. While very good sections of honey are obtained by 

 Ihe use of separators upon one side only, the results have been 

 enough better when used upon both sides to make the latter plan 

 advisable. In my experiments the sections that had no separators 

 averaged one- half ounce more in weight than those with separators 

 on one side only, and the latter weighed one-half ounce more than 

 the sections that had separators on both sides. As these lighter, 

 better appearing sections sell better than the heavier, ill appearing 

 ones, there is a double advantage in their production. 



PROPORTION OF WAX IN COMB HONEY. 



Beeswax does not melt at the temperature of the body and .is 

 indigestible in the human stomach. Although this does not neces- 

 sarily imply that beeswax is harmful in food, it becomes a matter 

 of some interest to know how much wax is taken with ordinary 

 comb honey when the latter is eaten. It is also a matter of interest 

 to know how much wax the bees are compelled to secrete for every 

 pound of honey that they store in the natural way. 



As a thick comb has but one midrib, and as the walls of the 

 cells are heavier near the midrib than they are towards their outer 

 portions, it is evident that comb one and one-half inches thick 

 would not be half heavier than comb one inch thick. The increased 

 weight of the thicker comb would be due entirely to the' additional 

 wax required to extend the walls of the cells one- half inch, and to 

 that only. On the other hand, it is equally evident that the honey 

 filling a comb one and one-half inches thick would weigh half more 

 than honey filling a comb one inch thick. Consequently the 

 weight of wax in thick combs is less in proportion than in thin 

 combs. The weights given in the following table shows this to be 

 true: 



