A few things to think about the article below:

1.  "worker - comb measures very nearly 5 cells to the inch" and "true worker - comb generally contained five cells within the space of an inch" means that the size of worker comb is measured by the author as smaller than 5.08.

2.  The last paragraph _seems_ to say that there was a push in 1888 to make the bees larger, that the author didn't think it possible simply by increasing foundation size...unless breeding were also brought into it.  That the biggest problem was the propensity of larger bees to make too many drones, and that the use of all worker foundation overcame this hurdle, opening up the possibility to make the bees bigger.

I dictated and typed this right out of the original volume.

deknow

The ABC of Bee Culture

A Cyclopaeoia of Every Thing
Pertaining to the Care of the Honey Bee;
Bees, Honey, Hives, Implements, Honey-Plants, Etc.,

PAGES GLEANED FROM THE EXPERIENCE OF THOUSANDS OF BEE KEEPERS ALL OVER OUR LAND

And Afterward Verified by Practical Work in Our Own Apiary.

BY A. I. ROOT.
MEDINA, OHIO:

1888

Under: HONEY-COMB
Pages: 163-164

DIFFERENT KINDS OF CELLS IN THE HONEY - COMB

The bees build two distinct, regular sizes - drone and workers cells.  The worker - comb measures very nearly 5 cells to the inch, on average.  Some specimens average a little larger, and some little smaller; but when the comb is that all irregular, it is quite apt to be a little larger.  That's specimens of true worker - comb generally contained five cells within the space of an inch, and therefore this measure has been adopted for the comb foundation.  If there are five cells to the inch, a square inch would give, on average, about 25 cells, and 25 on the opposite side would make 50 young bees that would be hatched from every square inch of solid brood.  As foundation is so much more regular than natural comb, we get a great many more bees and a given surface of comb, and here, at least, we can fairly claim that we have improved on nature.

The drone - comb measures just about 4 cells to the inch, but to be seen less particular about the size of it then with the worker.  They very often seem to make the cells of such size as to best fill out a given space; and we, accordingly, find them of all sizes, from workers size all the way up to considerably larger than 1/4 of an inch in width.  Drones are raised in these extra-large cells without trouble, and Honey is also stored in them; but where they are very large the bees are compelled to turn them up, or the honey would flow out.  As the honey is kept in place by capillary action, if the cells exceed a certain size, the adhesion of the liquid to the wax walls is insufficient, of itself, to hold the honey in place.  Where drones are to be reared in the very large cells, the bees contract the mouth by a thick rim.  As an experiment, I had some plates made for producing small sheets of fdn., having only 3 1/2 cells to the inch.  The bees worked on a few of these, the same thick rims, but they evidently did not like the idea very well, for they tried to make workers cells of some of it, it proved so much of a complication for their little heads that they finally abandoned the whole piece of comb, apparently in disgust.  Bees sometimes rear worker brood in drone comb, where compelled to from want of room, and they always do it in the way I have mentioned, like contracting the mouth of the cells, and leaving the young bees are rather large birth in which to grow and develop.  Drones are sometimes reared in workers cells also, but they are so much cramped in growth that they seldom look like a fully developed insect.

Several times it has been suggested that we enlarge the race of honey - bees, by giving them larger cells; and some circumstances seem to indicate that something may be done in this direction, although I have little hope of any permanent enlargement in size, unless we combined with the idea of selecting the largest bees to propagate from, as given a few figures back.  By making the cells smaller than ordinarily, we can get small bees with very little trouble; and I have seen a whole nucleus of bees so small is to be really laughable, just because the comb they were hatched from, was set at an angle so that one side was concave and the other convex.  The small bees came from the concave side.  Their light, active movements, as they sported in front of the hive, made them a pretty and amusing site for those fond of curiosities.  Worker bees reared in drone cells are, if I'm correct, sometimes extra-large in size; but as to whether we can make them permanently larger by such a course, I'm inclined to doubt.  The difficulty, at present seems to be the tendency to rearing a greater quantity of useless drones.  By having the hive furnished entirely with worker comb, we can so nearly prevent the production of drones that is safe enough to call it a complete remedy.

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