1882 



GLEAl^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



15 



curatel.v, and upon these fixed a No. IG wire (being 

 square at the end) so it stood perpendicularly. I 

 now placed the section of honey on this wire, Ictiinjj: 

 it down carefully till the square end touched the 

 base, and then watched the scales till the wire passed 

 through, noting down the number of ounces r-.sist- 

 ance produced by the base of the fdn. on this wire. 

 Each section was thus nubjocted to this trial in their 

 different places, whcu the amount was posted up 

 and an average made. When this was done, the 

 same number of sections containing natural comb 

 were subjected to the same test, and an average 

 taken, which gave us this result: A. I. lloot's make 

 showed the average pressure ofe?^ ounces; G. W. 

 Stanley's make (Vaadervort) 4?4 ounces; 1. G. Whit- 

 ten's (very ihin Dunham) bVi ounces; R. Van Deusen 

 (flat-bottomed) 5 ounces; Chas. Dadant & Son (thin 

 Root) oU ounces; Chas. Dadant & Son (thin Dunham) 

 6'/i ounces; natural comb, -t'/i ounces. Thus it will 

 be seen that the Stanley (Vandervort) fdn. was even 

 thinner than the natural comb, while the VanDeu- 

 sen stood the next best in the list. These experi- 

 ments were conducted carefully, to arrive at the 

 truth of the matter as nearly as could bo done in 

 one season with 20 section bo.\es of each kind. I am 

 in no way interested in the sale of any kind of fdn., 

 consequent!}' am not prejudiced in the least. One 

 thing I wish to say about all fdn., which I have long 

 believed to be so, but have had no chance to prove 

 till the past season, which is this: At a time when 

 honey is coming in moderately, say when a goad 

 swarm is bringing in from 3 to 5 lbs. per daj' of ex- 

 tracted honey, comb foundation is a success in the 

 surplus arrangement; but at a time when honey 

 comes In with a rush, the same swarm gathering 

 from 12 to 20 lbs. a day, it does not pay the cost, for 

 my bees will fill a bo.Y having a starter of natural 

 comb, and finish it as quickly as they will one full of 

 fdn. by the side of it. AIL through basswood the 

 past season, when honey was coming in slowly, the 

 fdn. was drawn out and finished before a bo.\ by it,^ 

 side with a starter was half filled; but when the rush 

 came from teasel and red clover, those with starters 

 were filled fully as soon, as has been my experience 

 for several years before. Thus I have given you 

 my experience with foundation for surplus comb 

 honey. If it does not agree with the experience of 

 others, please use charity, and remember that local- 

 ities make a difference in results. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y., Dee. 17, 1881. 

 Friend D., I am certainly very much 

 obliged for the result of your valuable ex- 

 periments, even if you have given our fdn. 

 for surplus honey apretty square left-handed 

 recommend. Very likely it was fully de- 

 served, for I did discover, one time last 

 spring, that the hands in our wax-room 

 were not making fdn according to the ad- 

 vertisement. When taken to task about it, 

 the reply was, that if we made it that thin, 

 it would cost more than we ever got for it. 

 I gave them to understand pretty clearly, 

 that we were to do all we agreed to in print, 

 and when there was a difficulty in the mat- 

 ter, 1 was to be consulted. Since that time, 

 I believe we have furnished clean wax for 

 surplus boxes, and as thin as advertised. I 

 am sorry the above experiments did not in- 

 clude also samples of ihe dipprd fdn. With 

 all deference to friend Doolittle, 1 would re- 

 mind our readers, that he has, from the'com- 



mencement, pulled strongly against the use 

 of fdn. Even when everybody else was sat- 

 isfied, apparently, his experiments seemed 

 to indicate it didn"t pay. The above is a 

 pretty big concession in its favor, but it 

 seems to me he is hanging back a little still. 

 Will our friend excuse so much of a criti- 

 cism V I would mention one more reason 

 why our fdn. was not as thin as advertised. 

 The advertisement was put in with the in- 

 tention of using drone fur starters, and we 

 can work drouedownto 10 feetto the pound, 

 with little trouble. AVell, when some de- 

 clared they wanted worker equally thin, we 

 found it much more difficult, because of the 

 greater number of side-walls. Will friend 

 i). please tell us if lie experimented with 

 drone fdn. also, and how it compared with 

 the worker 'i 



. — ,„ ,^ , -a», 



BEE:-STI^GS AAD KHELMATISITI. 



.MOHR CONVINCING rACTS. 



^f HAVE read in Gleanings, at different times in 

 the past few years, reports of rheumxrism be- 

 ing cured by bee-stings; some of those report- 

 ing very positively that they were cured; others 

 were not so positive: still others were certain that 

 they were not benefited at all. I have a little ex- 

 perience in the matter of iheumatism and bee- 

 Ftlugs, which I will relate brielly, and let you and 

 others judge for yourselves. I have been HtHictcd 

 with rheumatism for at least 25 years, and of the 

 wandering kind (as the darkey said, "hereto-day 

 and gone yesterday to some other part.") I was 

 with Sherman at the siege of Atlanta during the 

 summer of 18(>-t, and during the autumn and winter 

 following, on the march to the sea and through the 

 Carolinas. I was, like the private soldier, exposed 

 to all Ihe extremes of heat and cold, wet and dry — 

 at times my clothing wet night and day for at least 

 ten consecutive days, sleeping upon the cold wet 

 ground, or exposed to the rays of a summer sun, 

 with the temperature up to lu(i° in the shade, clad in 

 a heavy woolen suit from head to foot, perspiring • 

 like a man mowing. Strange to say, during all of 

 that exposure I had not a particle of rheumatism 

 for the space of about one year. On my return 

 home to Medina county, Ohio, my old enemy (rheu- 

 matism) returned also, and afllicted me summer and 

 winter — not so badly in summer as winter (change- 

 able weather fall and spiing is the most favorable 

 season for the development of rheumatism), till the 

 summer of 187(5. Since that time I have handled 

 bees every season on a small scale for my own diver- 

 sion, and have been stung almost every working 

 day during the bee season up to the present time. 

 Whilst I am handling bees, and am being stung, I 

 have no rheumatism; but it returns in a few weeks 

 afterward. Question (the same that Mrs. Harrison 

 has asked): Will outdoor exercise and profuse per- 

 spiration cure rheumatism? I am quite sure it will 

 relieve, but not cure. 



Quite a number of articles have appeared in 

 Gleanings on the curative effects of bees iu dropsy; 

 and the publisher has raised the inquiry, if bees 

 could not be used beneficially for the treatment of 

 other diseases than rheumatism and dropsy. I say, 

 yes. Apis is not a new remedy; it has been used 

 successfully in a great many diseases for half a cen- 

 tury or more by the homoeopaths. I have used it 



