and its Economic Management. i6i 



the boards. Of these, two or three sets are required on 

 hand standing in water, to give time for cooling and 

 saturation. 



There are a number of machines in use such as the 

 Pelham, Root, Dunham, Given, Van Deusen, and more 

 recently the " Weed " Process. Of these, the Van Deu- 

 sen gives the most beautifully finished foundation I have 

 seen, but, being flat bottomed, the bees appear to waste 

 much time in converting to the natural base ; though it 

 must be acknowledged that in doing so comb is produced 

 that has so thin a septum as to be equal to any all-natural 

 comb. I have been very favourably impressed with the 

 Pelham foundation, principally because there is no pressure 

 on the side walls ; but I suppose this might be so with all 

 machines if thinner sheets were used, so that the same 

 need not receive sufficient pressure to be driven tight into 

 the matrice, while the same thin base would be retained. 

 There is no advantage in having high side walls in super 

 foundation, as I find them in these foundations nearly 

 always scraped off to the base before actual building is 

 commenced by the bees. Indeed, that which I should 

 consider a perfect super foundation would have nothing^ 

 whatever but the bare base of the cells. 



Foundation in the brood chamber gives a great saving 

 in time under some conditions, as hereafter noted, but 

 there are times when it is an unnecessary expense, more 

 especially when the beekeeper has all the stock he requires^ 

 when he will become a producer of wax instead of a con-^ 

 sumer of that article. 



How to insert Foundation in Frames and Sections^ 



The original method, and one usually practised by- 

 myself, and others, is by melted wax run along the 

 sheet of foundation on both sides where it meets the top 



