iHia BEE-KEEPERS uFAIEW. 



37 



money power, the prices of all products of 

 the farm has so depreciated in value that the 

 farmer of to-day has hard work to "make both 

 end's meet," to say nothiutj about buying 

 a luxury like houey, while the avarage bee- 

 keeper finds himself in nearly the same po- 

 sition. In 1874 twelve pouudsof honey would 

 buy a ton of coal, while to day it takes forty- 

 two ; in 1874 ten pounds of honey would buy 

 a pair of boots, while to-day it takes twenty- 

 tive pounds to buy the same boots. So it 

 will be seen that if we are to look for a 

 bonanza in bee-keeping, only as it comes to 

 us through the good health and recreation 

 there is in it. we are to be disappointed. And 

 while I say this, I wish also to say that finan- 

 cially, bee-keeping ranks favorably with any 

 other branch of agriculture, where there are 

 any flowers to secrete honey, and the person 

 having bees follows along the line of mixed 

 farming. But the farmer is having a hard 

 time of it, as is all of the wealth producers 

 of the present time, and unless a change 

 comes, the twentieth century will scarcely 

 dawn upon us before we are a nation of 

 slaves. One-seventieth of the population of 

 the United States holds three-fourths of the 

 wealth we possess, while the other sixty-nine 

 seventieths are forced to annually contribute 

 from 25 to 40 per cent, of their earnings to 

 help lift on high the multi-millionaires in 

 the former. There are other evils in this 

 land of ours besides the clearing away of 

 that which gave to the bee-keepers of the 

 past the sunshine they have had in our 

 favored pursuit. 

 BoEODiNO, N. Y. Feb. 1, 189.5. 



why Given Foandation is Brittle. 



0. p. DADANT. 



y RIEND HUTCHINSON :— Please excuse 

 ly delay in complying with your request to 

 give you our impressions on the Taylor ex- 

 periments. It was simply a little oversight. 

 The two experiments and the explanations 

 given by friend Taylor show very clearly 

 one thing that we have always held, and that 

 is, that the Given foundation is, with the 

 very best of care, the most irregular founda- 

 tion that is made. These experiments show, 

 also, what most of us already know, that the 

 greater weight of foundation to the s(iuare 

 foot gives a more readil.x built comb and of 

 greater depth of cell and also a heavier comb 



in which the lish-boue is more pronounced. 

 In regard to what you say of the quality of 

 beeswax after being manipulated, I will 

 state that it is a mistake to say that the more 

 or less ductility is due to the manner in 

 which it has been melted. Its greater or 

 less ductility is all due to the more or less 

 manipulation that it undergoes when cool. 

 Perhaps you will remember that yon and I 

 and Heddon had a private talk on this subject, 

 quite a while ago, at the N. A. meeting of 

 Detroit, in 1886, I believe. J was comparing 

 roiled foundation to wrought iron and Giv- 

 en or cast foundation to cast iron. The 

 more I see of this, the more I am convinced 

 that the comparison was correct. It is for 

 this reason that foundation made on the 

 mills will bend and be pliable and soft at a 

 temperature where the Given will fall to 

 pieces. Can you bring this as an argument 

 in favor of Given foundation ? Then you 

 might as well hold that wax in cakes is 

 more easily manipulated by the bees than 

 that which has been even only slightly press- 

 ed, like the Given. But here is another 

 point. Foundation which has been standing 

 a long time, becomes more and more brittle, 

 until at the end of a couple of years, a piece 

 of moulded foundation is about as brittle as 

 a fresh piece of Given foundation. Does 

 that make it better for the bees ? Some 

 hold that it does just the reverse, and I know 

 of many bee-keepers who want only fresh 

 foundation, owing to that fact. But they, 

 also, are only asserting without proof, for a 

 test made in the hive, of foundation two 

 years old and of sheets made only two hours 

 previous proved to me evidently that when 

 the sheets are in the hive, the warmth of the 

 bees renders them as easy of manipulation 

 as one another, or, in other words, the bees 

 work the one as readily as they do the other. 



Tliere is, however, one great drawback to 

 brittle foundation. It cannot be transported 

 readily. That is one thing that will always 

 stand in the way of the Given, except for 

 those bee-keepers who have the time, the 

 taste and the patience to make their own 

 foundation just at the time when they need 

 it, and even these will soon discover that 

 they can more readily, more pleasantly and 

 more regularly run their wax through a mill 

 than through a press and that, upon the 

 whole, the labor will be more satisfactory and 

 the result more uniform. 



One thing, let me say, upon which I will 

 agree with friend Taylor. There is nothing 



