COMB FOUNDATION 
207 
was sufficient; for brood foundation, two 
or three dips were required. But the ob¬ 
jection to this was that the Avax sheet 
was thicker at the bottom than at the top. 
This was overcome somewhat by reversing 
the ends of the board when dipping. 
Many efforts had been made to produce 
wax sheets in continuous rolls; but it was 
not till 1895 that E. B. Weed built a wax- 
sheeting machine that would turn out wax 
sheets any length desired, and of an ab¬ 
solutely uniform thickness. The quality 
and quantity of this product Avere such that 
every manufacturer of comb foundation in 
the world, with one or tAVO exceptions, has 
abandoned the old sheeting methods and 
adopted the Weed process. Probably 95 
per cent of all the comb foundation made 
in the United States turned out by manu¬ 
facturers is first sheeted on the Weed ma¬ 
chine and then put thru embossing rolls 
generally called “comb-foundation ma¬ 
chines.” 
FOUNDATION MADE BY LARGE FACTORIES. 
The art of making foundation is very 
complicated, and its manufacture has now 
gravitated into the hands of the large sup¬ 
ply manufacturers Avho are able to turn out 
a product Avhieh for quality and thinness 
of base is far superior to that made by in¬ 
dividual beekeepers. It is a trade in itself 
to make foundation having thin bases, be¬ 
cause an average beekeeper does not pos¬ 
sess the requisite skill to make foundation 
Avithout Avasting wax and ruining the deli¬ 
cate die faces of the comb-foundation 
rolls. 
Great improvements have been made in 
refining wax. by which the use of all acids 
is eliminated. The result of the new treat¬ 
ment is to retain the natural aroma of vir¬ 
gin wax, and at the same time make it 
more dense and ductile for the bees. 
AVHAT FOUNDATION HAS ACCOMPLISHED. 
Before the economic uses of comb foun¬ 
dation as noAV employed in modern api¬ 
culture are discussed, it is proper to make 
a statement of what can be accomplished 
by the use of the invention. Its introduc¬ 
tion has solved many difficult problems of 
the earlier days. Our forefathers had dif¬ 
ficulty, for example, in getting the bees to 
build combs straight and all Avorker cells. 
Before this invention, drones Avere reared 
in enormous numbers because there was so 
much drone comb. In modem apiculture 
only a very few, and those the most select 
for breeding, are reared. By the use of all- 
Avorker foundation there will be but very 
feAv drones in a hive. The rearing of so 
many useless consumers not only involved 
a serious drain on the resources of the col¬ 
ony, but it took the labor of the nurse bees. 
The elimination of drones by the use of 
•comb foundation materially increases the 
Avorker force in a colony, and this has made 
it possible to increase the actual yield of 
honey per colony proportionally. See 
Brood and Brood-rearing and Drones. 
Mention is made of the fact that our 
forefathers were unable to secure straight 
combs in their movable frames. The combs, 
besides having an excess of drone-cells, 
Avere more or less Avavy, and it Avas not a 
little difficult to get the bees to build their 
product on a straight line and parallel 
Avith and directly underneath the top-bar • 
of the frame. (See Frames, also Combs.) 
Y-shaped comb-guides, or narroAv strips of 
Avood, the edges of which projected down¬ 
ward, Avere used as a eoaxer to get the bees 
to build their combs parallel with the top- 
bar. But every now and then they would 
build them crosSAvise, zigzagwise, and 
every other Avise except the right way. The 
use of even a narrow strip of foundation 
compels the bees to start the comb on a 
center medial line beneath the top-bar of 
the frame; and Avhen a, full sheet is used, 
the comb built from it is not only true and 
straight, but it aa’ ill be all Avorker, as before 
explained. 
THE EVOLUTION OF THE SECTION HONEY BOX. 
The old box hive of our fathers con¬ 
tained combs built (irregularly in small 
boxes holding from five to ten pounds, the 
ends of these boxes being glassed. But 
such a package Avas too large for retail 
purposes. The time came when there Avas 
a demand for a small package, or one 
holding about a pound. Comb foundation 
made it possible for the beekeeper to com¬ 
pel his bees to build combs straight and 
even in little boxes holding approximately 
a pound. Without comb foundation, comb 
honey in sections would be impossible; 
and therefore the invention of foundation 
