1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



955 



the Chicago office of The A. 1. Root Co. So far 

 as the American Hee Joiivnal is concerned, it 

 is just as independent as before. It has no con- 

 nection, pecuniarily or otherwise, with Glean- 

 ings or its publishers. As Mr. York was an 

 old wheel-horse in the supply-business under 

 Thos. G. Newman it Son, and as the successor 

 of that firm had sold out its business to us, Mr. 

 York, by virtue of his experience and general 

 acquaintance with the territory, was engaged 

 to manage the Chicago branch office; and ware- 

 room rent, insurance, cartage, freight, and 

 stationery, etc., are paid by us. But suppose 

 the publisher of the American Bee Jnunial 

 did open up a supply-office, the same owned 

 and controlled by himself; would that neces- 

 sarily weaken the influence of his paper? If 

 he were selfish, and inclined to " boom his sup- 

 plies " irrespective of their merits, through his 

 journal, he would hurt it; but he is not dispos- 

 ed to do any thing of that kind. 



Mr. Hutchinson, in writing upon the subject 

 of journals and the supply-business, says that 

 he doesn't know that " there is any thing espe- 

 cially praiseworthy in an editor keeping out of 

 the^supply-business;"ithat " the selling of sup- 

 plies allows the^dealer to publish a journal at 

 a lower price;"^that '* most of our bee-keeping 

 editors, if,'|!noti all of them, are pretty fair in 

 allowing competing goods to be described in 

 their journals," and that " there are no bee- 

 journals that can be called 'house organs.'" 

 Friend H. closes up inathisway: "I must ad- 

 mit that my views regaraing a publisher also 

 being a dealer have been somewhat modified 

 since I have been "able toclook at the subject 

 from a publisher's standpoint." These state- 

 ments, coming as they do from one who pub- 

 lishes a journal practically independent from 

 the supply-busin«^ss, are, to say the least, kind 

 and fair toward those who conduct the two 

 together. Surely it would be no very sad thing 

 if Bro. Y'ork should have even a financial in- 

 terest in the supplies. So far as Gleanings is 

 concerned I am sure I have tried to give our 

 competitors a chance in our Trade Notes de- 

 partment to show their goods. Often, too, I 

 have taken the pains to call for articles that 

 rather "sat down " on our goods, and, as some 

 might call them, on my pet notions. A journal, 

 to be a journal at all, mnst let all sides have a 

 fair hearing. 



THE NEW WEED PROCESS OF SHEETING WAX 

 FOR FOUNDATION- MAKING. 



This is proving to be a great success. Yes, 

 the new machine feeds a continuous sheet of 

 wax, any thickness, from between a set of dies 

 or parallel bars to any desired length — a mile 

 long— without stopping, if need be. In practice, 

 however, the wax is rolled up upon bobbins 

 holding about :.*5 lbs. These bobbins are then 

 set in a set of bearings (in a vat of warm water), 

 just back of the foundation-machine. The 



free end of the sheet is fed into the rolls, and, 

 presto! the whole bobbin of sheeted wax can 

 be reeled off without stopping the mill. In 

 practice, however, again, the foundation-mill 

 reels off a length, and stops where the sheet is 

 cut off. A pressure of the foot applies the 

 power, starts the mill, and more is reeled off, 

 and cut to the desirtd length. We have our 

 plans laid, however, to run the wax through 

 the mill, the whole 2,'j lbs., without stopping. 

 An automatic cutting-off device will then in 

 the mean time cut the sheets up into the re- 

 quired lengths. 



This is not all. A new and better product is 

 secured. The wax, besides being of an abso- 

 lutely even thickness, is much more beautiful 

 and transparent. Indeed, some of it, even be- 

 fore it is milled, looks almost as transparent 

 and beautiful as rock candy. Nor is this all — 

 it is tougher and yet more pliable. 



It may be well to state to those not familiar 

 with foundation-making that the old process of 

 sheeting involved dipping a strip of wood one 

 or more times into a deep vessel of hot wax. 

 The adhering film, after being dipped in water 

 to cool, was then stripped off. Besides this 

 labor of sheeting in short lengths, there was 

 the labor of starting the sheet into the mill, 

 stopping it to pick off the end from the rolls, 

 and starting again until rolled out. This 

 process had to be gone over again with each 

 sheet. 



It will be seen that the new Weed process 

 effects a great saving of labor. There are no 

 more short-length sheets, no back-breaking 

 process of dipping, no starting and stopping 

 the foundation-mills at frequent intervals, and 

 no picking and picking to get the sheet off the 

 roll. 



The new machine runs almost alone now; 

 but an attendant stays by to operate, occasion- 

 ally, the valves to regulate the flow of wax and 

 the cooling process. 



Mr. E. B. Weed, formerly of Detroit, later of 

 Brantford, Can., and now of Medina, is the in- 

 ventor. Patents are now pending, and I sin- 

 cerely hope Mr. W. will be rewarded for his 

 pains. For two or three years he has been 

 working and experimenting, with much dis- 

 couragement. Every one gave it up but he 

 and Holtermann. They knew he was on the 

 right track, but couldn't make a practical suc- 

 cess of it. They finally succeeded in overcom- 

 ing the last obstacle. But the machine was 

 not a success: it was too light, and too every 

 thing in spots. Our Mr. Washburn, the man 

 who first made the roller comb-mills, at once 

 appreciated the weaknesses of the machine 

 Mr. Weed brought from Canada. To make a 

 long story short, drawings were made, patterns 

 gotten out, and in a short time a new and 

 stronger machine was built, with results as 

 above stated. 



