COMB FOUNDATION 
PAPER AS A BASE FOR FOUNDATION. 
Other devices have been used, such as 
paper imbedded in the center of the foun¬ 
dation; but this is very objectionable be¬ 
cause the bees soon discover that this is a 
foreign substance, and proceed to tear it 
out bit by bit, utterly ruining the foun¬ 
dation. They do not always do this; but 
sooner or later they will; when they have 
nothing else to do they will begin to tear 
out the paper, thinking, perhaps, that the 
fiber is a part of the silken gallery of the 
moth worm. 
COMBS BUILT FROM FOUNDATION PRESSED 
ON THIN WOOD VENEER. 
Years ago A. I. Root tried comb founda¬ 
tion pressed out of pure beeswax on each 
side of a sheet of thin basswood veneer, 
but his foundation, so made, was very crude, 
and finally the plan was given up as it 
was believed that bees needed holes thru 
the combs in winter. The authors began 
experimenting with wood veneer founda¬ 
tion again early in 1920. Such combs have 
been in use ever since. So far as can be 
determined there is no appreciable gnaw¬ 
ing of the wood, and, the cells being per¬ 
fect, the bees draw out the foundation im¬ 
mediately into perfect combs. 
With the wood veneer foundation the 
frames can be made with thin top-bars 
and thin bottom-bars, allowing at least 
three extra rows of cells. Moreover, the 
Comb built on wood veneer foundation, in thin top- 
bar frame. No sagging, no imperfect cells. 
brood and honey being that much closer to 
the top-bars, the bees enter the supers more 
readily. This is especially important in 
case of comb-honey production. 
The great advantage of an indestructible 
comb is the freedom from stretching of the 
cells and the increased amount of room 
thereby made possible for brood-rearing. 
In comb-honey- production especially it is 
often difficult to get bees to enter the supers 
if there is room for the storing of honey 
in any great quantity under the top-bars 
of the brood-frames. Absolute freedom 
from stretching adds nearly 25 per cent to 
the brood capacity of the hive. 
A wood base foundation also makes a 
much stronger comb—one that will stand 
hard usage in an extractor and a greater 
speed, insuring dryer combs. 
Worker brood reared close to top-bar in comb built 
from wood veneer foundation. This particular 
comb is one of ten in use for more than eighteen 
v months, the hive wintering out of doors. 
These combs seem to be a success, but 
they have not yet been tried on a large 
enough scale to permit a positive state¬ 
ment of their value. 
INDESTRUCTIBLE COMBS. 
In spite of all the experimenting - that 
has been done with various forms of wir¬ 
ing the frames, including vertical wires, 
horizontal wires, diagonal wires, wires in¬ 
corporated in the foundation itself, etc., 
it is admitted that while the most ap¬ 
proved methods of wiring prevent comb 
breakage for ordinary handling of the 
combs and even to a great extent in the ex¬ 
tractor, yet the very best plans of wiring 
do not prevent all sagging of combs and 
consequent construction of storage-cells or 
even drone-cells in the upper part of the 
frames. The comb does not have to sag- 
very much before the cells become unfit for 
worker brood. 
The aluminum combs, introduced in 
California in 1919 and 1920, which are a 
modification of the old metal combs experi¬ 
mented with by Quinby, have been given 
extensive tests in all parts of the country. 
While it is too early yet to predict the final 
