boards cold and wet. I have a knife at 

 my right side which I run through the 

 wax when it hardens. On July 14th, the 

 hottest part of the past season, I made 

 30 pounds of sheets in three-quarters of 

 an hour. All pieces of wax not right 

 are melted again, and put into the dip- 

 ping pan as soon as the melted wax 

 lessens or gets too hard. The cold and 

 wet boards cool the wax in a short time. 

 When I have no more wax I use warm 

 water to keep the pan filled. After the 

 •dipping process I separate the sheets, 

 thick and thin, for giving the impression 

 from the machine. For lather I formerly 

 used slippery elm and corn-starch; now 

 I use strong" soap-suds, and thoroughly 

 wet the rollers by running the machine. 

 After that I run a sheet through, and 

 when it comes out on the other side of 

 the rollers it is loosened with a turkey- 

 quill by a second person, after which it 

 is taken between both hands and drawn 

 out slowly ; then draw through clear 

 water, which will rinse from soap. Wax 

 is a substance that will take any im- 

 pression while soft, but after becoming 

 hard or cold, it is difficult to work up. 

 When the points of the cells look white, 

 it indicates that the wax is too cold, and 

 impossible to impress side-walls. Some 

 ask, will it do to run very thick sheets 

 through the machine ? I answer, No ! 

 It may hurt the machine and tire the 

 workman. The lower roller of my ma- 

 chine is movable, and regulated by the 

 two screws under it, to make founda- 

 tion thick or thin. Patience and perse- 

 verance will accomplish the end. I do 

 not say that my way of making founda- 

 tion is the best, and I would like to hear 

 from others as to their way of making 

 It. I think this would be a favor to a 

 great many readers. 

 Fond du Lac, Wis. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Improvement of the Race of Bees. 



BY JAMES HEDDON. 



Mr. Editor : I think I may safely 

 say that no question created more in- 

 terestat our late Michigan Bee-Keepers' 

 Association than this. I was much 

 pleased to see so many of our leading 

 and experienced apiarists coming over 

 to the ground that I have felt sure was 

 the future field of our labors. We cer- 

 tainly owe Prof. Cook a vote of thanks 

 for his fearless and able essay upon 

 "•Untested Dollar Queens." From care- 

 ful experiment and observation, I have 

 long felt sure that there was more dif- 

 ference in the valuable qualities, be- 

 tween certain colonies and strains, than 

 between the different races of bees. 



Why is it, do you suppose, that there 

 is such a difference in the results in 

 surplus honey, between colonies that, 

 to all appearance, should equal each 

 other ? 



Believing that every reader who has 

 had two years' experience with bees 

 knows that this difference exists, I wish 

 to ask this question : Is it not the best 

 way to breed qualities, regardless of 

 stripes V Men have bred the horns off 

 their cattle ; they have bred the shape 

 of every limb of their bodies ; they have 

 to a great extent bred their disposition 

 to suit their ideas. Now, I admit they 

 have the advantage of a more perfect 

 control and choice of the sires, but this 

 is more than offset by the rapidity with 

 which we can produce one generation 

 after another. 



In order to Italianize this neighbor- 

 hood and accommodate some of my 

 neighbors, I commenced to raise queens 

 for others, some three years ago. Word 

 of that fact was spread abroad, and ac- 

 cording to order, I sent some queens to 

 parties at a distance. Of course I bred 

 and selected three yellow-banded 

 queens to ship to these parties, at the 

 same time selecting those of good qual- 

 ities, when it did not conflict with the 

 three bands. 



The worst feature in my case was that 

 to perfect my apiary for queen-rearing 

 to sell, and satisfy my patrons, was not 

 at all the plan of perfection that was 

 necessary to the best results in surplus 

 honey. The production of surplus 

 honey being my business, I was not long 

 in making up my mind just what to do. 

 Then came the dollar queen system, in 

 which I thought I saw an outlet. We 

 were not obliged to warrant them to 

 have any exact number of rings or 

 shade of yellow. Now we could pay 

 strict attention to qualities. "Bless 

 the man who first had sense enough to 

 devise and spread this system I" said 1. 

 But ere I had long practiced it, I found 

 that it, like nearly all the rest of his 

 work, was destined to prove a curse to 

 the bee interests of America. 



As far as the feature of the strict 

 purity of either was concerned, the sys- 

 tem was all right, but the one dollar 

 was not sufficient pay for rearing, fer- 

 tilizing, putting up and delivering the 

 two or three valuable queens of each 

 brood. I mean that if a brood of ten 

 queens is hatched, and if the poorest 

 five are worth one dollar each, the best 

 two or three are worth ten dollars each. 

 But neither statement is correct. I 

 would say that perhaps about one-fourth 

 on an average, of the cells that will 

 hatch, will produce queens of value. 

 The rest are not worth the stamp that 



