Apiary experiments. Foundation in comb building by Gillette Clarence Preston 1859-

Author:Gillette, Clarence Preston, 1859-
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Bees
Publisher: [Fort Collins, Colo., The Experiment station
Published: 1900-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

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iiig within .11 of a grain, as they would have done if no foundation had been given. ;

The samples of comb .56 and .60 of an inch thick on this foundation contain enough wax to make a natural comb one inch thick, and nearly half of the weight was added by the bees.

Eeliable results are not so readily obtained in the study of comb samples on the light foundations, as the amount of wax in them is small and the natural variation in comb samples is considerable.

The thickest sample on the thin super foundation (B) was only .90 of an incli. To-get as near an average weight of the natural comb as possible for comparison, let us combines'the two examples that measure .90 of an inch each with those measuring respectively 1.00 and .80 of an inch. The average would be 8.40 grains to the square inch. The difference between this and the sample on this foundation is 3.10 grains. As the foundation itself weighed 4.00 grains to the square inch, the indication in this case is that the saving to the bees was the difference between these weights, or .90 of a grain to a square inch, or about 23 per cent, of the amount of wax given.

Far better results were obtained in the use of thin super foundation (A), the average weight of which was 4.07 grains to the square inch.

Comparing comb 1 inch thick on this foundation with natural comb of the same thickness, we find, in case of one of the samples in the table, there is but ;20 of a grain difference in favor of the latter. This means that I his foundation lessened the amount of wax that the bees' secreted, by 95 per cent, of its own weight.

The above may have been rather an exceptional piece on the thin foundation. If we compare the sample that measured 1.20 inches in thickness with a sioiilar sample of natural comb, we find a difference of 2 grains to the square inch. As the foundation Was almost exactly twice this weight, it indicates that the bees were relieved from secreting an amoiunt of wax equal to half the weight of foundation given.

It is important to notice that to build the comb on this foundation to the thickness of 1.20 inches, the bees added the difference between 11:50 and 4.07 grains to the square inchj which would be 7.43 grains, and this is actually less than they added in cases where they built comb to a thickness of only one inch on the very heavy and the medium brood foundations, and to a thickness of 1.13 inches on the deep-cell foundation, though in any one of these last three cases they were furnished more wax to start with.

Again, if we take the average of the two samples of comb on this thin foundation that were 1.25 inches thick and compare it with an ' average of the two samples of natural comb of the same thickness, we find that the latter is .

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