252 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



2. With a Gray foundation fastener. 3. 

 One-fourth inch from the bottom, and 

 3^ inch from each side. — J. A. Green. 



1. Perhaps it does, if you are just 

 sure that you will get the sections filled. 

 If you do not, it will not pay. 3. I still 

 use melted wax, and a little camel's-hair 

 brush, and I like it the best. — G. L. 

 Tinker. 



1. Yes, all the time that a honey 

 harvest is "in sight." 3. I now use 

 foundation coming to K inch from the 

 bottom, and 3^ inch from the sides. 

 Such sections will be filled full without 

 a bee-space at the bottom. — -C. H. Dib- 



BERN. 



1. I have doubted it for several years, 

 and my experiments in " feeding back," 

 last Summer, have increased my doubts. 

 I do not think it pays in quantity of 

 honey, and certainly not in eating 

 quality. 2. I use a little machine that 

 can be guaged so as to "bite" the 

 starters fast to the sections in the right 

 position. 3. When using whole sheets I 

 adjust them in the sections, so as to give 

 a full % of an inch at each side, and }i 

 of an inch at the bottom. Using Da- 

 dant's extra thin foundation, in a lot of 

 1,000 sections last year, not a dozen of 

 them were badly bulged. — G. W. Dem- 



AREE. 



1. Yes. 2. T have not produced any 

 comb-honey in sections for nearly ten 

 years, to amount to much, but when T 

 used to produce it, I put the foundation 

 in the small groove then made in the 

 top of the sections, and I liked it. I 

 saw my boys last year, as they produce 

 some honey in sections, dipping the 

 sheets in melted beeswax quickly, and 

 sticking them to the sections. I saw 

 they did it very fast and nice, and none 

 ever came off. I do not know where 

 they got it. 3. In this warm climate I 

 used to notice that when I filled my sec- 

 tions with foundation to the wood all 

 around, I occasionally had one to bulge. 

 I prefer the foundation to lack }4 to % 

 of an inch of touching anywhere except 

 the top. — Mrs. Jennie Atchley. 



1. It certainly does pay to use full 

 sheets of foundation in sections. The 

 proof is overwhelming. 2. Use a foun- 

 dation fastener ; or, if you have none, 

 melted wax. 3. The space at the bot- 

 tom should be at least a bee-space— per- 

 haps Yi an inch would be better. — The 

 Editor. 



Does a man keep. his word when no 

 one else will take it ? 



Topics of Interest. 



Cost of tlie Prolnctioii of ComS-Hoiiey, 



G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



On page 146 of the American Bee 

 Journal, I see that Mr. R. L. Taylor 

 has an article about the cost of comb- 

 honey, and says, "it would be interest- 

 ing to know how Doolittle arrived at his 

 conclusions, that if capital and labor get 

 their due reward, the cost of comb- 

 honey is 13 cents per pound." 



I am always willing to talk about that 

 which will "interest" any one, but be- 

 fore doing so I wish to state that Mr. 

 Taylor never has, andnever can, produce 

 honey at the price he names. Let him 

 publish his expenses, etc., and say 

 whether he has a farm, a law office, a 

 hold on the " public crib " of his State, 

 or something else to support his family, 

 and then we can come nearer the truth 

 regarding the matter, than we can by 

 the conclusions which he jumps at, as 

 given in his address. 



In support of the above assertion, and 

 also to give Mr. Taylor and others that 

 which he says " would be interesting to 

 know," allow me to quote something 

 which I find on page 75T of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal for 1887, under the 

 title of "Honey production, its first 

 cost, and how much the bee-keeper 

 should obtain for his labor," the same 

 being a short essay read before the 

 North American Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion of that year : 



"Many seem to suppose that an api- 

 arist is entitled to no moi-e pay than the 

 man who cuts wood, carries the hod, or 

 breaks stone on the highway ; men 

 whose working value is about .$1.25 per 

 day. 



"If this be true, whence is the bee- 

 keeper to receive compensation for 

 sleepless nights passed in forming plans 

 to be carried out in the apiary during 

 days of toil in the hot sun, only perhaps 

 to find failure at the end, and the whole 

 ground to be gone over again ? Many 

 have spent more hours, days, weeks and 

 years studying bee-keeping than the 

 most noted lawyer or physician ever 

 spent over their calling; and yet there 

 are some so insane as to think the bee- 

 keeper can afford to work for the same 

 wages as the hod carrier ; one who has 

 probably never spent an hour's thought 

 upon his profession." (I see Mr. Taylor, 

 in his address, only allows the bee-keeper 



