> With LC this is especially true for the bees leave the cocoons in to help
> get the walls thicker. But it is also noted in old archives before the
> times of enlargement

(Which never did take place)

<snip>

.. bees readily chew and keep thin, the cell walls in old combs, and this
was written about much by E.B. Wedmore.

That has been observed by some, but not others, and was that to which I 
referred.

As for what really happens, a wide range of observations is needed to
confirm any general conclusion, although there may be many local, seasonal
and other effects.

IMO, much of the old beekeeping literature is simply imaginative romantic 
fiction and has to be checked against present-day experience. 

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