10, 
A B C OF BEEKEEPING 
ffimm 
The uncapped combs being: lowered into a honey-extractor 
frames, a product known as “comb founda¬ 
tion” (quite generally abbreviated “fdn.”) 
is used. This consists of a thin sheet or 
sheets of pure beeswax embossed or favos- 
ed, so that the surface shall be an exact 
duplicate of the midrib or center of the 
honeycomb with the cells sliced off. In 
other words, comb foundation is a dupli¬ 
cate of the foundation of the natural comb, 
and hence the name. The artificial prod¬ 
uct has more wax in the initial cells than 
the natural product. This surplus is used 
by the bees in building out their combs. 
The empty comb after extracting may be put back 
and refilled by the bees. 
In modern apiculture foundation is al¬ 
most an indispensable article. It is used 
either in narrow strips called “foundation 
starters,” or in full sheets. The latter are 
preferable, because the bees will build more 
nearly perfect combs—combs that are flat 
as a board and a duplicate of the article 
Comb foundation, which the bees have started to 
draw out in the center. 
built wholly by the bees. Without comb 
foundation the bees will show a tendency 
to build their own product in all kinds of 
fantastic shapes, crosswise of the section 
honey-boxes or the brood-frames. Practi¬ 
cally all the combs in modern apiculture 
today are built on comb foundation. This 
is filled with honey by the bees, and cap- 
