> Bees have
> impressive powers of measurement and calculations, but do not seem to
> be able to reason - only man can do that...
<snip>
> Remember the study on the crew of a US warship
> isolated at sea - there was direct correlation between falling ill
> and problems at home...

The treatise from which I quote is an interesting exercise in rhetoric,
but a faulty demonstration of the reasoning powers of homo sapiens.

> Why might they not like having sheets of plastic slicing through the
> brood nest?
<snip>
> We know wires in wax foundation are unnatural - and that the bees
leave
> empty cells down the wires when laying out a new comb).

Or sheets of altered and often impure foreign beeswax?   As Dee Lusby
has demonstrated so well, the entire idea of using foundation -- whether
plastic or wax -- is not in any way 'natural'.  Nor is managing bees,
housing bees in regtangular wooden boxes of any sort  on or near the
ground, the use of nails glues, wires, or paint, 'natural'.

I always attributed the empty cells on the first several rounds to the
toxicity of the metal to larvae.

Abstruse philosophical arguments aside, to most of us the question of
importance when examining any new bee stock, system, or product is
simply, "Does it work?".  The answer, in the case of any of the many
varieties of plastic foundation -- is not entirely clear or universal,
but seems to have much to do with the experience and intelligence of the
beekeeper trying the product, the season, and the product being tried,
as well as the beekeeper's expectations.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com/diary/
A Spring storm in Alberta illustrated, and more...

The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the
intelligent are full of doubt
--Bertrand Russell

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