42 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



honest dealers have injured bee-keepers a 

 thousand fold more than would have the 

 petty neighborhood quarrels over bees that 

 the Union has been so successful in hand- 

 ling, yet not one cent of its boasted thou- 

 sands of dollars has the Union used lighting 

 these greater evils— not a linger has it lifted. 

 Well, if amalgamation has not yet been 

 accomplished the agitation has resulted in 

 the formation of a new Union that will 

 fight adulterators and dishonest dealers. 

 This new. United States Union now has 70 

 members, and would probably have had 

 many more ere this, but bee-keepess waited 

 to see whether amalgamation would be ef- 

 fected. Now that it has been defeated, 

 there is not a bee-keeper in all this broad 

 land that should not at once send his dollar 

 to the Secretary, Dr. A. B. Mason. Sta. B., 

 Toledo, Ohio, and make this new Union 

 such a power that it can sweep honey adul- 

 teration and honey sharks off the earth. 

 There never was a time when a bee-keeper 

 could spend a dollar to better advantage, 

 that is, more se//i.s7i?y, than at present. I 

 am a poor man and need every dollar that is 

 my due, but I will tell you what I at onetime 

 had fully resolved to do, and that was to 

 offer to make a mana member of this Union 

 and send him the Review one year for 'ijfl.lB, 

 and I would do it now, but the thought came 

 to me •' We don't any men in this Union who 

 have to be hired to come in. We want will- 

 ing volunteers who will put their there 

 shoulders to the the wheel and push. ' ' Come 

 on boys. "—Ed. J 



Thanks The Review for its Warning Regard- 

 ing Artificial Comb— Something 

 About Smokers. 



IBVING KINYON. 



Fbiend H.— Your editorial in the Jan. 

 Review on the artificial comb hits the case 

 exactly, as I see it, and I write this to thank 

 you for your warning. I have taken the 

 Review since the first issue and have always 

 fonnd it working for (he best interests of 

 the bee-keepers. 



I want to tell you something about smok- 

 ers that is worth knowing, if yon don't know 

 it already. Instead of a hinged cover, have 

 one made with the lower part of the top 2}^ 

 or 3 inches longer than usual and let it slip 



down out side an inch or so. If your smo- 

 ker is a little fuller than usual, or has a long 

 stic^ in it, you can put the cover on easily 

 with out jamming the grate, and it will not 

 fall off easily. 



Yours truly, Irving Kinyon. 

 Camillus, N. Y. Feb. 28, 1897. 



[ The foregoing is a fair sample of the 

 letters that come almost every day. Now, 

 it may surprise the friends some, but, after 

 all of my criticisms regarding the new arti- 

 ficial comb, I am going to ask you all to sus- 

 pend judgement until you have tried it your- 

 selves. I have expressed my views freely on 

 the subject, and I still say that I cannot un- 

 derstand how the finished comb can be 

 otherwise than tough and leathery, but when 

 a man like E. R. Root says it isn't, I feel 

 like saying that I will at least wait until I 

 can judge for myself. Isn't that fair ? Ed.] 



ii-c^^^"^:^^^^ 



The Evolution of Comb Foundation. 



T. F. BINGHAM. 



27 HE history of 

 '± comb founda- 

 tion extends over a 

 period of about 

 thirty years. The 

 original founda- 

 tion, the Weiss, had 

 A 110 side-walls and 



^A^ w : could be made very 



'■^V (■ i?' f^^fel thin on plates, but 

 could not be made 

 rapidly, nor in 

 large sheets. So the cost and possibility of 

 supplying the market hindered its general 

 use. At that time, however, the black bees, 

 constituting a large per cent., produced 

 most of the comb honey, and bee-keepers 

 did not feel the necessity of large starters, 

 as the blacks would make combs in any 

 reasonable place and almost without wax. 

 But the general introduction of Italian bees, 

 determined to store only close to the brood, 

 and the desire for flat combs caused by the 

 introduction of movable frames made foun- 

 dation a necessity, both for surplus and 

 brood frames. Thus came about a series of 

 changes essential to profit as well as con- 

 venience. 



