56 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



ously, but enough to show that I was 

 getting somewhat of a corrugate-roof 

 effect. Some one, I ain not sure who, 

 said if I reduced the tension of the 

 wires so that they could sag a little 

 bit with the foundation, the combs 

 would come out true and nice, and 

 they did. That person, if I remember 

 rightl3', was Geo. E. Hilton, of Fre- 

 mont, Mich. If so, he can corroborate 

 by his own experience the inatter cov- 

 ering some 3'ears before that time. 

 We had been using perpendicular wir- 

 ing, and Mr. Hilton took occasion to 

 compliment me for recommending hori- 

 zontal wiring in opposition to the 

 views of m}' respected father. 



All foundation, in proportion to its 

 weight, has a tendency to stretch a 

 little in drawing. The stretch is 

 downward a very slight amount. If 

 the middle supports of the wires will 

 allow no sag, there is pretty sure to 

 be a wavy jippearance to drawn comb. 



It would be interesting to know how 

 heavy your foundation was where the 

 wires were drawn up like fiddle- 

 strings. I will bet a cooky that it was 

 medium brood; and if so, I can readily 

 understand how you g^ot nicely built- 

 out coinbs. Try the experiment again 

 with light brood, on a warm day, or 

 in a strong colony, and see what you 

 will get. 



KEEPING MORE BEES. 



Let it be Done by Increasing the Number 



of Colonies, not of the Number 



of Owners. 



For three or four years I have been 

 preaching the gospel of "keeping more 

 bees, ' ' and, that any one should oppose 

 it I had never dreamed; but, it has 

 been done, and over in our sister coun- 

 try, Canada. Mr. W. H. Kirby, in 

 the Canadian Bee Journal, expresses 

 himself as follows: 



Somewhere about three or four years 

 ago at a convention held in Buffalo, a 

 Mr. Coggshall, of New York State, 

 pealed forth the advice to bee-keepers, 

 to "keep more colonies" in order to in- 

 crease their income. He was soon fol- 

 lowed by W. Z. Hutchinson, at an- 

 other convention with a similar note, 

 "Keep more colonies." Such advice, 

 coming from such apicultural gods fill- 

 ed the whole fraternity within the 



sound thereof with consternation and 

 amazement. This new "evolution" in 

 business was a stunner to a great 

 many, and I have no doubt was a stim- 

 ulus to a large number, who went to 

 the expense of getting more hives, etc., 

 and of providing winter quarters for 

 more colonies, and the extra labor 

 contingent thereto, all this extra trou- 

 ble to produce more honey in order to 

 increase their income, has resulted in 

 over production, which has brought the 

 price down. Had there been a favorable 

 season in Eastern Ontario and Quebec, 

 the price would have been much lower 

 than it is. Just imagine a lot of man- 

 ufacturers increasing their plant and 

 output in a limited market, to increase 

 their income. It seems to me it would 

 cause a. big slump in the price of their 

 product. There are individual cases 

 like Coggshall's who have done it and 

 succeeded. But for every bee-keeper, 

 or part of them, to do likewise means 

 ruin. This new "evolution" in busi- 

 ness won't work in bee-keeping anj"^ 

 better than in any other business. 



I see by York County Bee Keeper in 

 December "C. B. Journal" that W. Z. 

 H. is booming this new "evolution" 

 again in his paper. From the present 

 price of clover honey, I don't think he 

 will influence many Canadian bee- 

 keepers. There are already too many 

 colonies in the country for the business 

 to be very profitable. 



Perhaps I am peculiarly constituted, 

 but when a man opposes me, and arg- 

 ues against me, and I think him sin- 

 cere, instead of feeling any antipathy 

 toward him, there comes over me a 

 friendly feeling for him. There is a 

 disposition on my part to go over and 

 stand by his side, and try to see how 

 the inatter looks from his point of view. 

 I like to look at the matter from both 

 sides, and I try to feel as willing that 

 / should be proved to be incorrect as 

 that my opponent should be showed to 

 be in the wrong. I wish to know the 

 real truth regardless of which must 

 yield to the other. I never stand by a 

 proposition a minute longer than I be- 

 lieve it is right, but, so long as I do 

 stand by it, I stand firm. So much by 

 way of an introduction, and now let us 

 look at this matter of keeping more 

 bees. 



