THOUSAND ANSWERS 49 
workers and some like Italian, and perhaps intermediate mark- 
ings. 
Color Sense of Bees. — Q. What is there about the color of 
clothes to make the bees quiet when handling them? 
A. I don’t know why it is ; I only know the fact, that cross 
bees are not so likely to sting one with light as with dark cloth- 
ing. I have worn a good many different pairs of mason’s or 
painter’s white overalls for the sake of avoiding stings. I don’t 
think white clothing particularly appropriate to my style of 
beauty, and in going through town to the out-apiary, I’m not fond 
of appearing on the streets arrayed in white, but I’d rather do 
that than to take the increased number of stings with dark cloth- 
ing. But, mind you, I get all the stings I care for, even with white 
clothing. If bees are cross, they’ll sting through the whitest 
clothing. 
Comb. — Q. From what do bees make comb? 
A. From what they eat — honey and pollen — much as a cow 
makes milk from what she eats. 
Q. Is the comb in comb honey injurious to a person’s health? 
Most people when eating comb honey swallow the comb. 
A. Beeswax is utterly indigestible. It is sometimes used to 
make corks for bottles containing acids so powerful that they 
burn up ordinary cork, and of course the weak acids of the stom- 
ach can have no effect upon it. I have seen something about its 
being melted in the stomach; but the heat in the stomach is many 
degrees too low to melt beeswax. Even if melted, it would still 
be as indigestible as ever. But lots of indigestible things are 
taken into the stomach that do no harm; and may do good. 
When comb honey is chewed with other food and taken into the 
stomach some claim that the finely divided portions of wax are a 
benefit. Certainly they are not likely to do any harm. 
Comb Foundation. — Q. How many pounds of comb foundation 
would it take to fill one brood-chamber of 10 frames with full 
sheets? Also, to fill one super with 28 sections? 
A. For ten Langstroth frames it takes about 1 % pounds of 
medium brood foundation, and one pound of light brood. For 
twenty-eight sections it will take about one-quarter pound of 
thin super foundation. 
Q. What kind of foundation is best to use in the extracting 
frames? 
A. If you use shallow extracting-frames, you can use light 
