BEE CULTURE, 97 
bee. It is amusing to notice how dexterously they pounce 
upon anything daring even to approach the entrance. 
We are sometimes asked why the bees do not build comb 
when they have nothing elsé to do, and thus save valuable 
time, the enquirer forgetting that comb-building and honey 
gathering are zealously carried on simultaneously, and when 
the honey flow ceases, comb building is also given up. The 
latter is chiefly done at night or during unfavorable weather: 
THE INVENTION OF COMB FOUNDATION. 
It is estimated that the workers consume about twenty 
pounds of honey, to construct one pound of comb. This 
being true, one pound of comb is equal in value to twenty 
Fig. 69.—Comb Foundation. 
pounds of honey. If, therefore, honey is worth fifteen cents 
per pound, comb costs three dollars per pound, when produced 
by the bees. From this we may learn-the value of comb 
foundation (fig. 69) when supplied to the bees. 
This, when only smooth sheets of wax, was first used in 
Germany, and Mr. W. M. Hoge, in 1874, assisted Mr. Fred- 
erick Weiss, an aged German, then living in New York to 
introduce it to American bee-keepers. In 1875 we visited 
both of these gentlemen in New York, and obtained some of 
the first sheets produced. This poor old German has, since 
then, lived in Chicago, and often visited the office of the 
BEE JouRNAL. Being poor, old and crippled with rheuma- 
tism, he sought refuge in the Cook County (Illinois) Poor 
House, and there died some years ago. ; 
Comb foundation (fig. 69) consists of sheets of beeswax, 
formed by dipping wooden plates into melted wax, and upon 
