Sept. 7, 1905 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURJ>AL 



633 



bees, or bees mixed with Italians or Cariiiolans), will it suc- 

 ceed with others? Thus many points are to be examimd 

 with the greatest care by a number of trials. 



We must not doubt that there will be some failures, per- 

 haps numerous ; we would be very fortunate should it prove 

 otherwise. But experimenters must not lie discouraged by 

 failures, but must not fail to repeat their experiments, regis- 

 tering carefully the results obtained, together with the atmos- 

 pheric conditions, the character and condition of the bees — 

 in a word, all that may have influence upon the experiments. 

 It would be well, at the beginning, to make the experiments 

 on fair days with prosperous and quiet colonies, while the 

 bees are at work. Progressively, the experiments may be ex- 

 tended to the different colonies, whether gentle or cross, and 

 in all sorts of weather. 



The results obtained will be the more positive, with muti- 

 lated experiments, and I am sure that the friendly and 

 devoted readers of our little Bulletin will gladly welcome the 

 communications that will be made upon the subject. 



Moudon, Feb. 18 L. Forestikr. 



^ 



(£oni^cntton 

 Proccebings 



J 



Report of the Chicago-Northwestern Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Convention, held at Chicago, ill., 

 Nov. 30 and Dec. 1, 1904 



[Continued from page 617.J 

 CASH FOR PROOF OF ADULTERATED COMB HONEY 



Mr. Dadant — A gentleman over here spoke a while ago. 

 He thought it was not advisable to let people know that there 

 is foundation in combs. The question is only whether we 

 shall allow the people to keep on believing a lie or tell them 

 the plain truth. We do put foundation in our honey. In fact 

 we cannot get straight sections without putting foundation 

 in it. If we explain that we must explain to them we put 

 foundation in the bottom. It is nothing to be ashamed of. 

 Why not tell them that rather than allow them to believe a 

 lie, for fear of telling them that honey-comb is manufactured 

 and sealed over? I have never seen a lady, delicate as she 

 may be, that was not willing to take a piece of that founda- 

 tion and chew it. If they are willing to do that they are 

 willing to eat the honey that is made on that foundation. 



Mr. Horstmann — I think each bee-keeper is responsible 

 for his own neighborhood. I don't agree with Mr. Wheeler. 

 I believe you should e.xplain to them the use of the founda- 

 tion and why you use it. I will take people right into my 

 bee-house and show them sections before they are bent and 

 put together : show them the strips of foundation before they 

 are put in : show them the machine I use for putting the 

 foundation in, and for fastening it ; show them how I fix up 

 the supers : shows them how I put .it on the hives ; show 

 them the bees working, and then guarantee to everybody that 

 my honey will be absolutely pure. If they find any adultera- 

 tion I will give them $100, and also pay for the analysis. I want 

 people to be fully satisfied when they buy honey from nic 

 that they are getting it pure. I have never had to take ,'iny 

 honey to a wholesale house ; I have always been able to >rll 

 it at home. 



Mr. Wheeler — I am afraid I was misunderstood. I lia\c 

 been selling honey a good many years. I aim to sell as n:uch 

 honey with as little work as possible. It would be a pretty 

 hard job for me to explain to every customer who buys ,i 

 pound of honey all about it. but I tell you one thing th.it 

 proved to me very strongly that the idea of foundation w\\\ 

 against the people. I have used for ten years a split secn^ai 

 that showed the foundation on four sides. I put in four secti "i- 

 in a row, put sheets of foundation through the middle .^n- 

 sheet of foundation running the full length of the secti. m. 

 and when I got ready to case up those sections I pulled tl; 

 sections out and scraped the foundation off and went al-. .' ' 

 and cased it up. A great many objected to that foundaia •!.. 

 All they saw was the foundation sticking out. The gr^a •• i \ 

 men say, "I wish you would let me have sections that ar; i 

 split; my customers object to those split sections." The coi. 

 sequence was I quit for the present using them. It is a ver> 

 convenient section the best kind of section in the world ' ■ 



get filled out, but I had to cater to the trade and I did it 

 just for that reason, no other, simply because people saw 

 that foundation and they said, "Well, that looks as if it was 

 manufactured; I am a little afraid of it." 



Mr. Kimmey — I would like to ask some of these prac- 

 tical men when they speak of foundation drawn out what pro- 

 portion of foundation is used in honey? I speak now of sec- 

 tion honey ; such as is produced by Dr. Miller's bees. 



Dr. Miller — That will depend largely on the foundation 

 itself. 



Mr. Kimmey — Take the thin surolus foundation . 

 Dr. Mill er — I should say that the thin foundation is 

 drawn out perhaps an eighth of an inch. 



Mr. Kimmey — I will confess I was one of those persons 

 for two years who firmly believed honey was manufactured — ■ 

 comb honey, everything by macliinery. I heard it so often. 

 I knew so many things that I firmly believed the comb honey 

 capping and everything was manufactured. I have found out 

 differently since, but I have found out also that the founda- 

 tion is manufactured. I can't say it is to the detriment of 

 anybody, and I don't believe in trying to deceive or fool any- 

 body. 



Mr. Bacon — When you come right down to it, foundation 

 is not manufactured ; it is pure beeswa.x and is merely pressed 

 out ; it is originally made by the bees. 



Mr. Kimmey — If you can manufacture the full comb and 

 fill it with the pure article, that is absolutely pure; it is just 

 as good as though made by your bees. 



Mr. Meredith — I would like to have Mr. Dadant and Mr. 

 Root give their opinion of how much of the medium or light 

 brood can be drawn out in the shape of foundation. 



Mr. Dadant — If you give foundation and the bees are not 

 too much in a hurry they will draw it nearly entirely into 

 comb. There is a great difference ii? the result between when 

 the bees are in a hurry and when they are not. If they are 

 in a hurry and they have plenty of wax they will add to the 

 foundation without drawing it much. They will always work 

 the foundation over. They have changed the shape of it ; 

 they have changed it to suit themselves. They always thin it 

 a little if they have plenty. I suppose you understand that 

 clearly. Of course it is according to the grades of foundation, 

 vou have thicker or thinner combs both in' the midrib and 

 also in the wall. The first is always the best for comb honey. 

 What we call extra-thin we have always considered the best 

 for starters or sheets in the supers. I think very little of 

 that will go into the cell-wall. It will nearly all remain in 

 the midrib because it is so very thin. Therefore, I want 

 to advise people to use the very thinnest for their sections. 

 But when you come to medium and light brood, it is out of 

 the question to furnish that to people for consumption. You 

 will have a heavy midrib in either case. I am afraid too 

 many people use that and create a sentiment against the 

 foundation. But better have a sentiment against the founda- 

 tion, which we must all know and acknowledge to be there, 

 than to let them believe that your honey is manufactured 

 comb honey, and sealed over with a hot iron, as so many 

 believe. The great trouble is they don't look and don't 

 rely on their palates. The car-loads of honey that come in 

 from the West are largely responsible for that. It is very 

 nice and white, and it looks as if it had never been on a 

 hive, to anybody who does mat know. But anybody who 

 will look at the honey, and anybody who can be told that no 

 two sections are alike, will readily understand that it cannot 

 be manufactured. Because, if we were to manufacture them 

 we could not make every comb different from every other 

 comb. 



Pres. York — It has been suggested we write for our local 

 papers. I want to say that a few weeks ago my attention 

 was called to a statement about manufactured comb honey 

 in one of the papers that has perhaps several hundred thou- 

 sand readers. I wrote the editor asking him to make the 

 correction, and he replied that he believed comb honey was 

 manufactured, but if he found utherwise he would correct it. 

 A few weeks later I received another letter from him saying 

 he had discovered it was not true, and he would correct it. 

 I wrote him at once and thanked him for his intention to 

 make the correction. I also sai<l if he wished I would write 

 him an article, and got a letter in a few days saying he 

 would be glad to have me write an article of eight himdred 

 or a thousand words, and I have just written the article. It 

 may have been a little presumption on my part to offer that, 

 but I think it was all right, and I think the rest of us 

 can do the same thing. Whenever you see anything about 

 honey that is wrong, ask for the correction of it, and offer , 

 to write an article. .Continued next week 



