THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



39 



that both will }^o ou tDj^other in the proper 

 proportions so that honey will uot be used 

 up ill produciuy comb that outjht to go into 

 the sections, and we will uot have on hand 

 a (luantity of comb that we will have no use 

 for. You will better understand me now. 

 You need not trouble yourself in answering 

 my letter. 



Hoping that you and your family are do- 

 ing better if uot doing well by this time, I 

 am 



Very truly yours 



E. A. Daggitt. 



[ la the first place let me say that I am 

 opposed to heavy foundation in sections. 

 But right here is another point. Founda- 

 tion with a very thin septum and heavy side- 

 walls may result in less " fish bone" than a 

 lighter foundation that has a heavy base 

 and liglit side walls. When the wax is iu 

 the side walls it is where the bees can util- 

 ize it, can draw it out aud help make the 

 side walh, and it is true that in this manip- 

 ulation they rfo lighten-up and make the wax 

 more like natural comb. Mr. Weed says 

 that they will work over aud lighten-up the 

 cell-walls when they are % of an inch in 

 depth. I don't know how they can do it. 

 A bee's mandibles can't reach that deep when 

 placed astride a wall of wax. But, if they 

 do do it, that settles it. " Don't know how " 

 will have to give up to " i know so, " but I 

 hope to see some of this with my own eyes 

 and chew up some of the product with my 

 own mouth ere another year rolls around. 



Friend Daggitt, you must know that prob- 

 ably nine-tenths of the comb honey pro- 

 duced is stored in sections that are filled 

 with foundation. If foundation is used, 

 what difference does it make whether it is 

 drawn out aud tilled simultaneously, or if it 

 is first drawn out, and then filled a week, or 

 mouth, or a year hence '.' That is the point. 

 I am with you in condemning the use of 

 heavy foundation in sections, and I think 

 that all will agree that the use of founda- 

 tion does not i»i/)ror«? tlie "eatability" of 

 comb honey. Riglit here I may say that 

 this subject came up for discussion at the 

 late Michigan convention, and so eloquent 

 did one member becouic in favor of the very 

 thinnest kind of foundation, with )io side 

 walls at all, for use in sections, that a doz- 

 en or more of us chipped in and raised the 

 money to pay for the mauulacture of a ma- 

 chine that would make just such a kind of 



foundation. To day's mail brought mc a 

 sample of the foundation made on the new 

 machine. It is very thin and fragile, and 

 delicate, being about one-third lighter than 

 the llat-bottom VauDeusen. This will be 

 just as much of a guide to the bees, will re- 

 sult in just as straight combs, as the heav- 

 iest brood foundation, and will give the 

 least possible " fish-bone. " .Just how much, 

 if any, the use of such foundation will les- 

 sen the yield of honey, as compared with the 

 ordinary surplus foundation, remains for 

 experiments to determine, aud they will be 

 forthcoming as soon as it is possible to 

 make them. If we can have the bees make 

 drawn combs upon this thin, " spider-web " 

 foundation, during those portions of the 

 year when they are not pushed with honey 

 gathering, and thus have them on hand to 

 be filled when the honey shower comes 

 along, it is possible that this will be the 

 solution of this most important problem 

 —Ed.] 



The Failure of "Amalgamation"— The Plans 



and Prospects of the New United States 



Bee Keepers' TTnioQ. 



A. B. MASON. 



M 



R. EDITOR, I 

 believe you 

 were the first bee- 

 keeper to propose 

 and urge the amal- 

 gamation of the 

 North American 

 Bee Keepers' Asso- 

 ^^^^^ elation, and the 

 jf^^^^L^ National Bee- 



j ^|u^^^^^^^H| Keepers' Union, 

 [j^j^|g^^^^|H^P and you have 

 steadily held to 

 the desirability of such a step, and you, and 

 every one who has advocated such a course, 

 has been accused of '• desgins" upon the 

 money in the treasury of the Union. 



I have no idea that you or any other one 

 had a thought of squandering the money, 

 and I believe that every one who advocated 

 the measure thouglit, and think yet, as I in 

 substance, expressed it in the Sept. number 

 of the Review for 189.5, I believe, I was, and 

 am still, opposed to the amalgamation, un- 



