GUIDE COMBS, AND COMB FOUNDATION. 107 



now entirely superseded by the improved manufacture. 

 A thin strip of old comb, or even a line of melted wax, 

 put on the top bar of the frame, will be sufficient to 

 ensure straight building, but this is not all that can be 

 desired ; for although the straightness of the comb be 

 secured, the particular construction of the cells is still a 

 thing to be wished for. Mr. Cheshire made a good step 

 in this direction by his plan of painting hot wax on a 

 plaster mould of Worker comb. This the Bees readily 

 completed; and, with care, Worker cells could be nearly 

 depended on ; but this plan was troublesome, messy, 

 and, without considerable practice, difficult ; but now, 

 since the introduction of the comb foundation, many 

 important points have been overcome, and we can by its 

 use, not only ensure that every comb shall be perfectly 

 straight, but almost that every cell shall be of Worker 

 size, thus absolutely controlling the birth of inordinate 

 numbers of Drones, who so severely tax the energies of 

 their sisters to feed. Comb foundation I will describe as 

 thin sheets of wax, having its whole surface on both 

 sides accurately impressed with the foundations of cells, 

 which may be either of Worker or Drone size, generally 

 the former for stock hives, the latter for supers. The 

 cells have shallow walls, which are made sufficiently 

 thick to provide enough wax for the Bees to draw out 

 to the full length of the cells. The Bees readily per- 

 form this work, and the beautiful regularity of a comb 

 when so completed is a sight to delight the eye of an 

 appreciative Bee-master. We must not forget that 

 comb-building is a great tax on the energies of the Bees, 

 wearing their lives out fast from the necessary hard 

 work, and the honey consumed in wax-secreting might 

 be more profitably employed in filling the cells. At the 

 present time, every comb in all my hives has been made 



