Apiary Experiments. 
19 
a tendency to secure the building of worker comb throughout. It 
has one disadvantage, and that is its large size and short line of at¬ 
tachment, so that if it is not well secured at the top the bees are 
liable to cluster upon it and pull it loose. The long, narrow piece 
placed across, the top of the'Section, Figure/, has given rather bet¬ 
ter results than any of the preceding, as the bees usually attach it 
quickly at .the ends, thus* closing the top corners. I have also used 
many starters like the preceding, but extending about half way 
down. -Figures./?,, i and j represent comb on such starters. It will 
be noticed there are no holes in the upper corner or sides. At n is 
a section of - comb built on a full-sized starter, as shown at g. It 
will be noticed that the comb cells are all uniform in size and the 
comb - evenly filled' out. Such comb when filled and capped, is 
handsome in appearance, like the samples shown at s, and brings 
the highest market price. In my experiments the sheets that ex¬ 
tended half way down gave as good results as those that filled the 
section. The use of small pieces of foundation in the lower corners, 
as shown at Figure c, gave no beneficial results. 
The use of short strips of foundation in the middle of the bot¬ 
tom of the section, as shown at b, has resulted in somewhat better 
attached combs at the bottom of the section, especially during a 
slow honey flow* u 
Figures k, l and m show how comb is usually extended from a 
small piece of foundation, leaving, very often, holes in both upper cor¬ 
ners. If the honey is coming in slowly and the colony is not very 
strong, the sections are liable to be finished like *the two shown at o 
and p of the same plate. Not only are these sections light in weight 
and slow to sell, but they will not ship well, for the jar of handling 
will break many from their attachments in the sections. I have 
found, however, that such sections of honey are due much more to a 
weak condition of the colony and a poor honey flow than to the man¬ 
ner of using foundation. Under such conditions even large pieces of 
foundation are often gnawed away, as shown at Figures q and r. 
When the colony is strong and the honey flow good, small pieces 
of foundation, like the one shown at a, will often produce just as 
finely filled sections as can be obtained from full-sized pieces with 
strips below. Moral: Keep the colonies strong. 
Comb built upon foundation is always tougher and more waxy 
than the natural cdmb, and a cross-section will show that the mid¬ 
rib and bases of the cells are darker in color. So that while the 
large pieces of foundation result in a somewhat finer appearing 
capped honey, the small starters will result in a more delicate and 
brittle comb, ' 
ADVANTAGES FROM THE USE OF SEPARATORS. 
Most producers of comb honey recognize the advantage in the 
use of thin strips of wood or tin between the rows of sections in the 
