44 



TBF BEE-KEEPERS' REViujW. 



going on in the course he has mapped out. 

 The editorial notice of a new journal is 

 simply the polite bow with which we greet 

 a new comer, and to withhold it looks either 

 boosish or Pharisaical. 



THE CELL-WALLS OF THE NEW ABTIFIOIAL 

 COMB. 



I have been having some correspondence 

 with Mr. E. R. Root and Mr. E. B Weed in 

 refer ence to the tenacity, elasticity, edibil- 

 ity, etc., of the new artificial comb. This 

 kind of foundation or artificial comb has 

 been used in the Root apiary the past sea- 

 son, and Mr. Weed's idea is that the bees 

 do work over and thin down, and thus some- 

 what change the character of the cell-walls, 

 making them more like the natural comb. 

 He believes that the bees will do this if the 

 cells are not more than % in. deep. He has 

 sent me four pieces of cell- wall taken from 

 sections built out by the bees last summer 

 and asks me to say whether I can distin- 

 guish the natural from the artificial ones. I 

 do not gather from his letter whether all of 

 the samples are from the artificial comb, or 

 if part of them are from natural comb. I 

 certainly can see but little if any difference 

 in them. But it is not by the eye alone that 

 we are to judge of the palatability of honey 

 produced by the use of this artificial comb. 

 The proof of the pudding will be in the 

 eating. I shall wish to try some of the 

 samples in my own yard, see the bees make 

 it into complete combs, fill them and seal 

 them, and then try eating them. Perhaps I 

 am stubborn, but there is nothing like actu- 

 al, personal esperienoe. When I know from 

 my own experience that the use of such comb 

 is not detrimental to the quality of the comb 

 honey that is built from this as a base, I 

 shall be ijaost happy to say so and to rejoice 

 in its success. 



After the foregoing was in type there 

 came another letter from Mr. Weed, from 

 which I make the following extract : — 



" In the first place, I can not admit that 

 there is any practical, ea<jti/e difference be- 

 tween machine-made cell walls and those 

 drawn from foundation by the bees. It is 

 possible they might be distinguished from 

 each other, but surely not by eating the 

 ccmb. You may differ with me until yon 

 get a chance to test the new foundation : but 

 I think a few bites will change your opinion. 

 You say you don't see how they thin deep 

 cell walls. They certainly do it; and if they 

 can't do in the way you would suggest to 

 them they must have hunted up some other 



way, for we have proof positive that they do 

 it. and do it so thoroughly that you yourself 

 admit you see little or no difference. I in- 

 fer that yon assume that in drawing out 

 foundation the bees knead it and pull it 

 without disintegrating the wax. I am posi- 

 tive they do not work this way but bite off 

 the wax from the place where it is not want- 

 ed, and carry it where it can be of use to 

 them. 



If we give the bees the very lightest sec- 

 tion foundation made of wax colored black 

 with some preparation of carbon, such as 

 lampblack, the comb built upon it will not 

 show a well-defined line where the founda- 

 tion ends and the natural comb begins, but 

 it will be darkened clear out to the capping, 

 showing that the new wax i« not added to 

 the foundation, but mixed with it. 



Again, if we give the bees a piece of col- 

 ored foundation 4 inches square, we shall 

 generally find that the colored comb result- 

 ing is about ■') inches square. Even assum- 

 ing that you aie correct about the difference 

 in texture between comb before and after 

 it has been remelted, isn't it better to have 

 the wax in the walls wherever you can not 

 distinguish it, than to have it in a fishbone 

 where it immediately attracts attention ? 



Two or three years ago, in the Ladies' 

 Home Journal, Mrs. Francis Hodgson Bur- 

 nett gave a most delightful sketch of the 

 babyhood and childhood of that wonderful 

 little son of hers, "Little Lord Fontleroy. " 

 When his mother told him some new fact 

 that he could scarcely comprehend, he was 

 in the habit of saying " I believe what yon 

 say, dearest, but I don't believe it is true. " 

 Now. I don't believe that my friends Weed 

 and Root are telling me lies, but what they 

 tell me is so at variance with what the past 

 has taught me, that I can't believe it until 

 my own senses tells me it is true. 



EXXR7XOTED. 



Light-Weight Sections. 

 Dr. Miller and E. R. Root have quite a 

 little argument about the right and wrong 

 of selling light-weight sections. If they are 

 sold for a pound, when they are no< a pound, 

 if the purchaser is led to believe that he is 

 buying a pound of honey when he is not, 

 then it is wrong, but, as I understand the 

 matter, it is exactly as Bro. Root puts it in 

 the Feb. 1, No. of Gleanings. Hesaj's: — 



" From the best information that I can 

 get, retailers sell by the piece; in fact, I do 

 not believe that customers or purchasers 

 have any idea of the weight of a section. 

 It is the price and not the weight that is 

 prominent in their minds; hence I cannot 



