ARTIFICIAL AIDS TO COMB-BUILDING. 
217 
pient cells. We thus learn why foundation the cells 
of which are rather smaller than the size most accept- 
able to the bees to which it is given, is but little thinned 
down, while the foregoing considerations show that 
foundation five square feet to the pound gives no 
greater aid to the bee than that little more than 
half its thickness. The excess of wax the former 
contains may be, and is generally, of service in 
adding solidity during drawing-out, but it remains in 
the midrib, where it is rather a disadvantage. Strict 
economy is inconsistent with the use of this heavy 
foundation, while that of lighter make (seven feet or 
Fig. 64.— Foundation Correctly and Incorrectly Suspended. 
thereabouts to the pound), aided by my fixers or any 
of the several plans indicated, will yield combs which 
leave nothing to be desired. 
In natural objects, even small differences are usually 
not without a meaning, and here foundation, which 
is an imitation of a natural midrib, should not be 
suspended sideways in the frames. A piece of comb, 
as built, will always have its hexagons disposed as 
in A, Fig. 64, the perpendicular walls on both its 
faces giving, in consequence of their position, the 
