378 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



I have pronounced comb foundation a 

 success; i wish to qualify by confining the 

 verdict to its use in tiie breeding apartment 

 of the hive, as to whether it should be used 

 in the surplus boxes full size, for small 

 guides, or not at all, is a question of honest 

 ditference. I will not use it myself at all 

 for surplus in its present form any further 

 than for experiment — and think that to urge 

 or advocate its use in surplus boxes a wrong 

 to bee-keepers, for we cannot afford, for any 

 consideration, to create prejudice against 

 comb honey. My experience is, that under 

 some circumstances they tiiin the founda- 

 tion very fine, while at other times the cen- 

 ter will remain as thick as when introduced, 

 and hence very objectionable. 



I am aware that when it was first intro- 

 duced, with the walls extended and cells 

 large size, it was pronounced a success by 

 men prominent in the industry, either from 

 the verdict of appearances or too limited 

 experiment; my own experiments at the 

 time proving it a failure. My present opin- 

 ion is based on the practical use of from 

 four to five thousand frames of foundation 

 used in the breeding apartment of the hive 

 the present season, which is without doubt 

 to a greater extent than ever before used. 



I now leave the subject to your tender 

 mercies for discussion. 



A vote of thanks was passed for the able 

 and interesting address of Capt. Hethering- 

 ton. 



L. C. Koot. — The point of most interest to 

 all is summed up in the closing sentence of 

 that address: '* It is a success." This is the 

 expression of one who has used it more ex- 

 tensively than any other, and has had 4,000 

 or .5.000 frames of it in use this season. 



J. B. Hutchinson— Said that lie had used 

 25 fi)s of it and had found it a success. 



L. C. Root remarked that his experience 

 was also good, but he wished to hear from 

 Mr. Nellis. 



President Nellis said that at first the 

 queen refused to use it, but he attributed 

 that circumstance to the use of strong soap 

 suds, to keep the rolls from sticking. This 

 the queen perhaps did not like, and he found 

 a substitute, and now he had no further 

 trouble. He had used it in warm and cold 

 weatlier and found it a grand success, par- 

 ticularly in the brnod chamber. He had- 

 used none in surplus boxes, but as others 

 had and desired it made of drone size cells, 

 he had procured a machine to make that 

 size also. When made of pure yellow wax 

 it is no doubt a success. He had tried 

 paraffine and it was some time before the 

 queen would accept it — but with pure yel- 

 low wax it was accepted in a few hours. 



L. C. Root. — A.11 tilings considered, is 

 there a gain by the use of comb foundation? 



Rev. J. W. Sliearer said that there was a 

 gain in the fall. If he wished to increase 

 in August, to get full advantage of the fall 

 crop, and not to wait for them to build 

 comb, he could get it quickly by supplying 

 worker comb foundation, and thereby se- 

 cure a strong stock to gather the fall crop. 

 He preferred not to winter on fall honey. 

 He took out the combs of honey and set 

 them away for winter, and then after the 

 fall honey was gathered, take it out— giving 

 them the matured honey for winter. He 

 had tried ceresin and they will use it, but it 

 is unsatisfactory. He liked the thin best; 

 for rapid development it is just tiie thing. 



L. C.Root remarked that he had given his 



bees foundation, and the next day found the 

 cells drawn out two-thirds of the way. He 

 was prejudiced against it, but found it a 

 success. 



N. N. Betsinger remarked that he under- 

 stood that Capt. Hetherington was experi- 

 menting with something besides wax in the 

 comb foundation for the brood chamber, 

 and would like to liear from him on the sub- 

 ject. 



Capt. Hetherington said he was experi- 

 menting, and if he found it a success in the 

 winter as it had been in the summer, he 

 would give a description— but he was op- 

 posed to giving a report upon only partial 

 or limited experiments. All ideas were 

 modified by experience, and he was utterly 

 opposed to getting novices to adopt mere 

 experiments before they had been subjected 

 to a tliorough test. 



A. J. King said he was a city bee-keeper 

 in a small way. He had heard of the sag- 

 ging of comb foundation in the brood cham- 

 ber, but found it was caused by the founda- 

 ti»n being placed in the frames the wrong 

 side upwards. One way it was weak, while 

 if put in the right way up, it was much 

 stronger. 



E. D. Clark said he procured some founda- 

 tion from A. I. Root, but it was received in 

 very bad shape and was too thin. He had 

 since procured a machine for making it, 

 and pure wax, and now he had no trouble. 

 It was a success. 



Capt. Hetherington explained how he fas- 

 tened foundations. He cut a kerf 3-16 in. 

 deep along the underside of top bar, in 

 width just the thickness of the comb, and 

 placed the foundation in it, ran ordinary 

 white glue along and found it held per- 

 fectly. He used the best white milliner's 

 glue for the purpose, and believed it to be 

 the best method of fastening them. He 

 also used the same for wax guides. 



A. J. King had received a box of white 

 clover honey from Novice in his shipping 

 case. It was beautiful to look upon, but 

 when using it he found that the foundation 

 used was thick, and not thinned out by the 

 bees one particle. He did not think its use 

 in boxes could be tolerated. 



T. G. Newman remarked that he had simi- 

 lar experience to Mr. King's. Novice also 

 sent him a case of honey to dispose of for 

 him, which, upon being used, proved to 

 have a regular fish bone in it, (the thick 

 foundation in [its original state) and that 

 such, if used in that way, would injure the 

 sale of comb honey. If used in boxes it 

 should be exceedingly thin. 



N. N. Betsinger said he would give $50 

 for comb foundation that he could not 

 detect. 



A. J. King.— Yes, it was easy to detect, 

 because it was more perfect than natural 

 comb. 



Thomas G. Newman then addressed the 

 Convention as follows on 



Organization and its Relation to the 

 Sale of Honey. 



Mr. President, Ladies & Gentlemen: 

 " Order is heaven's first law." The great 

 Father of the Universe has ordained this as 

 one of the eternal decrees. When that 

 Divine order was first applied to our planet, 

 "the morning stars sang together and all 

 the sons of God shouted for joy." In the 

 social compact order is ever essential to 

 man's nature and well-being. 



