ing statement after statement that is 



the exact reverse of the experience of 

 many of our leading apiarists in this 

 country. He talks about " pulling out 

 the wires :" yes. I thought of that once, 

 but I am now happy to say these wires 

 stick with a tenacity beyond all calcu- 

 lation, and that is a splendid point in 

 their favor. I would not have the wires 

 withdrawn from my combs for 50 cents 

 per hive. I know that a No. 36 tinned 

 wire sunk down level with the surf i 



■um. will cause no trouble what- 

 ever to bees or keeper. 



In your kind editorial remarks in re- 

 sard to the sheets and comb I sent you. 

 yon forgot to say that the comb con- 

 tained a large patch of eggs, and that 

 the wired cells were laid in regularly. 

 Perhaps you did not look at it. Please 

 observe and note the fact. 



I hope you will find out the trouble in 

 your last experiment, and make another, 

 which I fully believe will show up the 

 Given foundation in its true light I 

 feel enthusiastic over this invention. 

 and so will every honey producer who 

 knows the advantage of full sheets of 

 all-worker foundation, and never could 

 make such self-sustaining, where full 

 swarms were hived upon them and the 

 hive closed for ti e season if need be. 

 with any other device. 



Dowagiac, Mich.. Aug. 7. 1880. 



[True : what we want is the exact truth 

 on this, as well as every other subject, 

 as Mr. Heddon justly remarks— we have 

 no other thought or wish in the matter. 

 - very pleasant to agree with our 

 friends, but no honest man will sacrifice 

 truth to friendship, and we know Mr. 

 Heddon would scorn such an idea. We 

 do not quite arrive at the same conclu- 

 sions, yet it is none the less in the inter- 

 est of science, or of advantage to apiar- 

 ists, to have these experiments so inde- 

 pendently carried on. 



Our experiments with the Dunham 

 foundation, as well as the testimony of 

 others who have used it. proves conclus- 

 ively to us. that it will neither sag. warp 

 nor twist, after being properly fastened 

 in the frames. Some foundation has 

 been made and sold this season in which 

 the cells were pulled out of shape by 

 being made on an imperfect machine, 

 which was condemned and returned to 

 the manufacturer as imperfect— these 

 are the only ill-shaped cells we have 

 noticed. 



A large or double " swarm." being 

 fully charged with all the material nec- 

 essary, will accept anything in the line 

 of foundation, and build out the cells 

 very rapidly. Our experiments were 

 conducted in normal colonies, - 

 arrive at the facts under such conditions. 



In the Bee Journal for August. 

 -7 . page 341. while noticing a frame of 

 wired foundation sent us by Mess - 

 Blood, we stated that "the queen had 

 utilized nearly every cell by depositing 

 an egg in it.'" We have never doubted 

 that eggs are placed over the wires. 

 We unintentionally failed to state that 

 we noticed the eggs in the sample sheet 

 sent by Mr. Heddon. 



Of course we have made further ex- 

 periments, and the result may be found 

 in the editorial columns of this issue of 

 the Joukxal— Ed.] 



Honey itarucst. 



The Present and Prospective Crop. 



SPECIAL REPORTS. 



I have not had one pound of honey to 

 date, and no swarming. My bees have 

 struggled to live during the whole sum- 

 mer, which has been one of extremes- 

 wet, hot and cold. If buckwheat should 

 sive us no honey, then we will have to 

 feed largely to save our bees. I think 

 all the bees' in this part of the State are 

 in the same condition. For thirty years 

 a bee-keeper. I never had but one total 

 failure before this season : that was the 

 summer of 18 EL DART. 



Ripon, Wis.. Aug. 8, 1880. 



I put 31 colonies in fair condition in the 

 cellar late last fall, after preparing them 

 for winter. About the last of February 

 I hem out on the stands in their old 

 places : all alive, and all but 2 with con- 

 siderable brood. One of these had 

 reared a young queen, which had not 

 mated : l" killed her and united the bees 

 with the other colonies. The other was 

 almost out of honey, but had plenty of 

 moldy pollen. The bees were getting 

 dysentery, but a few feeds of loaf-sugar 

 syrup put them in order. I sold 1 colony 

 in May, which left 29to start the season 

 with. " I have at present 44 colonies, and 

 over 30 small nuclei, most of them with 



