84 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
without separators) were so flat that no point existed 
in which a newspaper could not be read between them 
through their whole depth of i8in. — a regularity which, 
I venture to believe, has never been excelled in any 
one instance to the present hour. But a fact of 
some importance lies before us, to receive comment 
hereafter. These sheets did not stretch, and most 
severe trials, through which they were passed in 
Pettigrew skeps, did not break them. Why were 
they, when of equal weight, more capable of sustain- 
ing strain than machine-made foundation of the 
present day ? 
Fig. 49.— Roller-pressed Foundation. 
With all these good points, these waxen sheets 
had two defects, the first remediable, the second 
fatal. They were more or less imperfect on the 
side next the brush ; this I obviated by a process 
immediately after obsoleted by the introduction of cast 
foundation. But they were inherently messy, and 
Mr. Root (whom I should imagine to be amongst the 
neatest of men) gave such an account of the drop- 
ping wax when he tried his hand, that I felt almost 
vain of my tidiness, while it was evident that some- 
