FOUNDATION MILLS. 385 



probably on an imported machine. Mr. A. I. Root, to whom 

 the credit is due of popularizing the invention the world over, 

 manufactured a large roller-mill, in February, 1876, with the 

 help of a skilled mechanic, A. Washbume. He sold hundreds 

 of these mills afterwards. 



680. In the practical use of comb-foundation, the most 

 sanguine expectations were realized: 



1. Every comb that is built on foundation is as straight 

 as a board, and can be moved from one place to another, 

 in any hive, without trouble. 



2. The combs built on worker-foundation are exclusively 

 worker-combs, with the exception of occasional patches, when 

 the foundation sags slightly, owing to being overloaded by 

 the bees before the cells are fully built out. 



3. All the wax produced by the bees, and gathered by 

 the Apiarist from scraps, old combs, or cappings, is returned 

 to the bees in this shape, instead of being sold at the com- 

 mercial value of beeswax, which is several times less than 

 its actual cost (223). The cost of foundation for brood- 

 combs is not very great, especially if we consider that this 

 capital is not consumed, but only employed; as the wax con- 

 tained in the combs represents at least one-half of the 

 primary value of the foundation, and can be rendered again, 

 after years of use, none the worse for wear. It has been 

 asserted that beeswax decays with time when exposed to damp- 

 ness. We have never seen this and believe it to be an error. 



681. Comb foundation has been made largely, especially 

 in Europe, on plaster casts. There is also a press, the 

 Rietsche, which makes cast sheets of wax to which it gives 

 the rudiments of cells. These sheets are made very much 

 like waffles and for that reason the sheets of comb foundation 

 are called in the French language "gaufres de cire.'' They 

 have the advantage of being easily made by almost any per- 

 son, but are very rudimentary and very brittle. Similar 

 sheets were made in this country formerly by the Given 

 press but they have gone into disuse, as our bee-keepers are 



