THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



417 



car. Thus it will be seen that tlie sudden 

 jar wliiie coupling tlie cars was all obviated, 

 which is the only jar sufficient to brealv 

 honey in transit. 



We gave the sawdust to Thurber & Co., 

 but afterwards learned that we could have 

 sold it for $7 to $9. The sawdust cost us 

 nothing for height. We supposed we linew 

 liow to handle honey, but when we saw 

 Thurber & Co. put a whole car load (9,000 

 lbs.) on one truck and haul it to tlieir store, 

 we concluded we Itnew nothing about it. 



We found Tluirber & Co. to be gentlemen 

 in every sense of the word. They do not 

 aslc a man to wait for the pay for his honey, 

 but as soon as it is delivered tlie cash is 

 ready. We would advise bee-keepers hav- 

 ing honey to sell to correspond with them. 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Borodino, N.Y., Nov. 5, 1877. 



For the American Bee .lournal. 



Open Letter to Prof. A. J. Cook. 



Dear Friend.— Let me thank you for 

 your candor and honesty in treating the 

 subject upon wliich we differ so widely, 

 riiongh I cannot think you right upon this 

 subject of supply and demand, 1 am pleased 

 totiiink you honest and unbiased by any 

 person 1 1 interests, which is more than can 

 be said of many praisers of the business. 



1 think L. C. Kowt's reply to your claim 

 of a great deal for a little, also honest and 

 entirely correct. Such remarks as yours, 

 above referred to, if they should be spread 

 broadcast, and be generally believed, would 

 be the ruin of many now i)rosperous 

 apiarists, and nearly all ot the new begin- 

 ners that would embark. It is not founda- 

 tion nor exti actors that has pro(luce<l so 

 nuu^li nice honey in such marketable shape, 

 lately, but a certain enthusiasm and care 

 only found among si)ecialists. 



Many of our most successful honey pro- 

 ducers use no modern ai)pliauces, but much 

 prefer comb honey production to the use of 

 the extractor, and will not use foundation 

 in any shape. One says "foundation is a 

 failure in the brood chamber;" another, 

 thai "it is not lit for boxes;" others that 

 they don't want it at all. Some of those 

 that are "getting on" fastest, raise comb 

 honey almost exclusively, and assure us 

 that its production is the most profitable. 

 That lands us back to where Langstroth 

 stood, 20 years ago. For my own part, 1 

 consider both the extractor and foundation 

 of use in some places, but it is only a non- 

 essential at preser.t. Now it strikes me 

 that the enthusiasm of specialists is the 

 very thing we should cherish, and to pre- 

 serve that they nuist have renumerative 

 prices for their productions, and they can- 

 not accumulate a fair share of these produc- 

 tions unless they can have the honey 

 "field" to themselves. No matter how 

 much honey brings, if we have none to sell. 

 If foreign countries take all our honey at 

 good prices, then the next squabble will be 

 for location, as it is in California where the 

 bee-ists want Congress to grant them so 

 many square miles, instead of quarter sec- 

 tions. 



Jasper Hazen is nearer right, on the mat- 

 ter of over-stocking, than popular opinions. 

 How much we might do to help us on in the 

 business, if most of us were not all interest- 

 ed in, and full of middle-men's labors. 



Now, friend Cook, allow me to say that I 

 think you will have more occasion to feel 

 "nervous about the knees" ere many sea- 

 sons, than you have yet. California's dis- 

 aster came to our rescue this time, and our 

 home crop is small— but isn't it better to 

 pray that men may never enter our ranks, 

 than to rejoice in their failure, in order that 

 we may succeed? 



It seems to me that as long as honey is 

 produced by specialists, and not too many 

 of them and too close together, we may ex- 

 pect to see honey in every market in nice 

 shape, selling at i)rices that will pay for 

 labor and study for putting it in such shape. 

 We may also exjiect to see bee papers and 

 conventions su])])orted and attended. We 

 may also rest assured that useful supply- 

 dealers will always lind customers that will 

 have money to |»ay for what thev buy. But 

 on the other hand, if every farmer, me- 

 chanic and invalid, in fact everyone who 

 has failed at other jmrsuits, is induced to 

 try bee-keeping— until such are driven from 

 the field by the natural law of "the survival 

 of the fitest,"— we shall see plenty of honey 

 in tubs and pails, slopping about every 

 grocery, selling at prices below cost of pro- 

 duction, as in years gone by. Let us meet 

 to further the interests of those already en- 

 gaged, and let us like men welcome all 

 volunteers, and we will see the consump- 

 tion and demand keep just in advance of 

 production, and consequently keep our 

 business healthy, and our ranks composed 

 of successful ami reasonable men. 



"One volunteer is wortii two conscripts," 

 both to himself and those around him. A 

 specialist knows too nuich to crowd his 

 bees into a tield already occupied. He does 

 m)t wish to spite any one, and if he did, he 

 knows too much to " bite his own nose off 

 to spite his face!" It is a pleasure to dis- 

 cuss a subject in which one feels .so much 

 interest, with one who feels just as much 

 interest on the other side; and heaven 

 knows I am open to conviction, and desire 

 to be put right, wherever 1 am wrong, with- 

 out delay. James Heddon. 

 Dowagiac. Mich., Nov. 7, 1877. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Comb Foundation. 



Some difference of opinion still exists in. 

 regard to foundation, as to what extent and 

 advantage it can be used. I would report 

 the following experiment with nine sheets, 

 12x12. Last year I tried a few sheets, but 

 as they were not pure wax, and the season 

 too far advanced, I took them out, after 

 several days, untouched. I made an obser- 

 vatory hive this year, with nine American 

 frames; tacked the foundation on the top 

 bar, tai^ered slightly on the sides down, and 

 % inch from the bottom of frame. I took 

 the queen and all the Hying bees of a strong^ 

 Italian colony from my park apiary and 

 took this colony to my home in the middle 

 of the city, and had them in the hive con- 

 taining foundation at 8 in the morning,with 

 a box of honey on top from which the bees 

 could help themselves, which, however, 

 they did not need. The first day was pleas- 

 ant, the second rainy, and at 6 p.m. I looked 

 at them, when the bees had become so re- 

 duced in number in the sugar houses that 

 they had almost left the two outer combs; 

 they had, however, stretched tlie cells- 



