208 
COMB FOUNDATION 
paved the way for the one-pound honey 
section box that sprang into use shortly 
after comb foundation was introduced on 
a commercial scale. See Comb Honey. 
FOUNDATION AND ITS ECONOMIC USES. 
Comb foundation may be divided into 
two general classes: That designed for the 
brood-chamber and that for the supers, or 
where the surplus honey is stored. Each of 
these general classes is subdivided still fur¬ 
ther, viz., “thin super,” running 10 to 11 
square feet to the pound; “extra thin,” 12 
Heavy and medium brood. Light brood. 
Thin super. Extra thin super. 
to 18 for the supers or sections: “light 
brood,” used only in the brood-nest, run¬ 
ning 8 to 9 feet; “medium brood,” for the 
brood-nest, 7 to 8 feet. Thin super is 
generally used for sections, and light brood 
for the brood-frames. 
The four illustrations used above repre¬ 
sent the different grades. The medium has 
been used for the brood-nest, because of 
its tendency to resist sag while the bees 
are drawing it out into comb; stronger, 
because there is more wax in the corners 
of the hexagons. It has been found that 
bees will utilize all the wax in the walls, 
and draw it out into cells. The more wax 
that can be given to them in the wall, the 
quicker they will draw it out into comb. 
The objection to the medium brood is the 
expense. 
WHAT WEIGHT OF FOUNDATION TO USE. 
The light brood is now generally used 
for the brood-nest where frames are wired. 
As will be seen by comparison of illustra¬ 
tions, there is less of wax in the wall and 
less strength to the sheet. On this account 
it is not recommended that light brood 
foundation be put into brood-frames that 
are not wired, yet it is advisable that all 
brood-frames be wired. The thin super 
has lighter walls still than the light brood: 
and the extra thin super lighter walls still 
and a thinner base. Both of these are for 
use in sectional honey boxes. 
The ordinary thin super is generally 
preferred because the bees are less in¬ 
clined to gnaw it down; and when they do 
begin work on it they draw it out more 
readily. The extra thin is preferred by 
some, when full sheets are used, because it 
is believed it makes less midrib. 
It was formerly supposed that the heav¬ 
ier grades of foundation used in sections 
would cause the bees to build too heavy a 
midrib in the combs; that such heavy mid¬ 
rib would be very objectionable to the con¬ 
sumer, in that it would give rise again to 
the stories about manufactured comb 
honey. (See Comb Honey.) But late ex¬ 
perience seems to indicate that the bees 
will generally thin down the heavier grades, 
and, what is more, will accept the founda¬ 
tion much more readily than the extra 
thin grades. But the real objection to 
heavy foundation is the expense. 
Owing to the tendency of foundation to 
cause midrib in comb honey, some think 
that using a starter would remove the ob¬ 
jectionable feature. They argue that near¬ 
ly all the comb would have to be natural, 
and it would, therefore, be delicate and 
friable like the old comb honey on the 
farm. But it has been shown that in a 
majority of cases, the natural-built comb 
will be composed of store or drone cells, 
the bees being able to build these larger, 
heavier cells more readily. Some recent 
tests seem to show that natural-built drone 
comb has as much or more wax to the 
cubic inch than worker comb built from 
full sheets of thin worker foundation. If 
the bees, on the other hand, would make 
their natural comb all worker, the result¬ 
ant comb for ddicacy and friableness 
would be all that could be desired. Drone- 
comb cappings do not have nearly the 
pleasing appearance of worker. If for no 
other reason, full sheets of worker foun¬ 
dation should be used. 
