me, if he would sell to me on terms of 

 " no cure, no pay." I then dropped the 

 subject, supposing it forever ended ; 

 but along came a letter saying he would 

 accept the proposition in this case, and 

 I might look for a press soon. By-and- 

 by it was received. I had a 9-inch Root 

 machine, but had never made or seen 

 made a sheet of wax or foundation in 

 my life, though I had used it 5 years. I 

 had some 600 lbs. of wax on hand, and 

 concluded to manufacture it into foun- 

 dation. 



Having prepared everything, we com- 

 menced dipping wax sheets, and were 

 quite successful ; but from want of ex- 

 perience, failed and were twice discour- 

 aged in our attempts to make the proper 

 impressions with the Root machine and 

 the Given press. Upon examining 

 some fragments from the latter, we 

 observed that the septum was very thin, 

 while the lines, or side-walls were quite 

 prominent and heavy. This encouraged 

 to try again. 



The third time we tried the press we 

 turned out a few poorly-made sheets. 

 This encouraged us. We tried again, 

 and finally " struck a gait," rinding our- 

 selves putting in 100 per hour, and turn- 

 ing off frame after frame of just such 

 foundation, on wires, as the one I send 

 you for the Bee Journal Museum. 

 We now have 1,700 of them partly occu- 

 pied by prime natural swarms. 1 have 

 never seen foundation drawn out more 

 rapidly than this made on the Given 

 press. I have never seen foundation of 

 the same weight go so far into comb ; 

 you can see by the frame of comb sent 

 you, how far the wax was utilized, and 

 we made it about 6% feet to the lb. 

 The secret is, the wax is nearly all in 

 the line, the base being very thin. We 

 are at present conducting a series of ex- 

 periments with Given, Dunham and 

 Root foundation in boxes. We have 

 both the old and the new thin Root 

 foundation. Of course this is thin all 

 over, line and all, and does not go far as 

 a comb maker. 



I send for the Museum a sample of 

 Given foundation — about 10 feet to the 

 lb.— and you will see that the base is so 

 thin that there is considerable wax in 

 the lines. I notice that in boxes the 

 bees work first on that foundation that 

 has the most line. I have some extra 

 thin base and high side-wall (or line) 

 Dunham foundation that I am testing 

 with the Given. About all the differ- 

 ence that I can see in their comparative 

 merits, is that when drawn out the Giv- 

 en presents the least fish-bone. I have 

 cut several combs that not even an ex- 

 pert can detect. 1 claim that the value 

 of all foundation consists in its thinness 



of base and weight of line. The press 

 will make foundation 12 feet to the lb. 

 readily. The sheets do not stick as 

 to the rolls, and we could run off thin 

 foundation for boxes faster on the press 

 than on the roller machine. The reason 

 the wax does not stick to the dies is no 

 doubt because the line is low and heavy, 

 instead of high and sharp. I think this 

 is the best way to have it, as it then 

 works off the machine readily, having 

 a thin base, and the line is all drawn 

 out by the bees. Of course they will 

 draw out all of any line, as they do 

 sometimes, also, though rarely, thin the 

 base or septum. 



Wired foundation (not in frames) can 

 be made rapidly on this press. I send 

 you one out of a dozen samples I made. 

 I have had the second generation 

 hatched over these wires, and all came 

 out in perfect order. I saw a young bee 

 emerge from a wired cell. Though it 

 was the second from that cell, the wire 

 was plainly to be seen, and this bee was 

 perfect as far as I could detect with my 

 microscope. Why should it not be, 

 when the wire is down smooth with the 

 surface of the septum on either side 

 and tinned to prevent corroding V 



There is not so much difference in the 

 style of all the foundations, as in the 

 methods of applying them successfully 

 in the brood chamber. 



I have sold some 15 sets of these 

 foundationed frames to farmers about 

 here, and every one who sees them feels 

 that success is stamped upon them. I 

 believe it is safe to say that 2 days on 

 these sheets puts the colony where 8 

 days are required without them. This 

 should give us 1 ; { more surplus, and I 

 shall charge one dollar more for colonies 

 with the Given foundation than for any 

 others, because they have all worker 

 combs, which are firmly secured in the 

 frames, and are better for extracting 

 from, transporting, etc., and because 

 the combs are straight and uniform. 

 Another feature : of all the swarms we 

 have hived this season, not one has de- 

 serted where this foundation was used. 



Mr. Betsinger offers $50 for a solid 

 foot of wired foundation with no vacant 

 cells. Would Mr. B. withhold the bonus 

 if there were some cells empty, provided 

 all the wired ones were occupied with 

 brood V By putting a prolific queen and 

 numerous attendants on 4 large combs, 

 his square foot could be quickly pro- 

 duced, provided these wired frames of 

 foundation were made on the Given 

 press. As no truly honest man wants 

 his money without giving him some 

 equivalent, his unaccepted offer proves 

 nothing. Wagers and blows are not 

 proof, nor even arguments, but are used 



