116 



lire-L-i-r 1,1 11(1 in ]'irfiiriii. 



Storage cells, produce 2,900 drones. The amount of food and labour 

 necessary for the raising of 4,500 workers is probably the same as for 2,900 

 drones, but while the workers, from a few davs after hatching onwards, 

 engage in producti\e work, the drones remain consumers to the end. 



Further, the presence of large numbers of drones in the hive stimulates 

 the swarming impulse of Ix-es by causing crowding of the brood combs and 

 that condition of the colony which precedes swarming. It will be seen 

 from the above that the use of all worker combs not only increases the 

 amount of surplus honev, but also counteracts in a large measure the 

 swarming propensity of bees. Under certain conditions, which will be 

 dealth with later on, the use of starters instead of full sheets is not only 

 permissible but even advisable. 



2. Faster Conib-biiilding. 



Apart from the advantages of using full sheets of foundation enumer- 

 ated aboxe, the saving of the time of' the bees by the quicker building of 

 the combs and the consequent greater and earlier storing of surplus honey 

 will aniplv repay the extra cost of foundation. Up to a few years ago 



Comb from Full Sheet of Foundation, all Worker Cells. 



it was assumed that when given full sheets of foundation the bees used no 

 wax of their own secretion and wasted that which they secrete involuntarily 

 when swarming, while quite recently the prevention of the exercise of one 

 of their natural functions, the secretion of wax, has been held responsible 

 for impaired vitality and consequent predisposition to disease. Experi- 

 ments have shown, however, that no wax is wasted, and wax secretion not 

 niterfered with. A sheet of foundation of the grade generallv used weighs 

 2 ozs., while the finished comb built from it weighs 3^ to 4 ozs., showing 

 that an equal or nearly equal quantity of wax of their own secretion was 

 added by the bees. In another experiment, when foundation of a different 

 colour to that of the wax secreted bv the bees was used, a cross-section of 

 the resulting comb showed that nearly one-half of the total was newly- 

 secreted wax. 



As half the wax composing the combs is given to the bees and the other 

 half secreted by them, it follows that without any interference with their 

 natural functions, double the amount of comb is produced in a given time, 

 thus bringing the colonv much .sooner into the condition for storing surplus 



