118 



AMERICAN BEE JOURiSiA^. 



results were very satisfactory and en- 

 couraging, and this not because one 

 kind was sliown to be better than 

 another, but because it appeared that 

 a method had been hit upon by which 

 the relative value of foundations could 

 be practically determined. 



But this, it seems, is only a beginning. 

 Now that a door is open, many other 

 questions come up at the very threshold 

 and press for a solution. What makes 

 the difference amung foundations? Is 

 it the character of the machine used in 

 making, or the character of the wax? 

 or is it the method of dealing with the 

 wax? Then, if comb from foundation 

 is made as thin as the natural comb, is 

 it still more tenacious, or is it equally 

 friable and tender? 



Again, it is well understood that the 

 natural comb is not composed entirely of 

 wax, but that other substances are com- 

 bined with the wax. Can anything be 

 done to imitate the natural comb in 

 this, and so make foundation even less 

 subject to the charge of being an adul- 

 teration than it is at present ? This 

 suggests the matter of economy of wax 

 in the use of foundation thus : What is 

 the per cent, of wax wasted, not to say 

 worse than wasted, when so made into 

 foundation that the septa of comb re- 

 sulting is 60 per cent, thicker than the 

 septa of natural comb? or, to put it in 

 another way, if foundation whose septa 

 the bees will work down to a thinness of 

 90/10,000 of an inch is worth 60 

 cents, what is that worth whose septa 

 the bees will work down to a thickness 

 of 60/10,000 of an inch ? Probably 

 from 25 to 40 per cent. more. If a man 

 uses much foundation, this should touch 

 him at the tenderest point. 



i try not to be carried off my feet by 

 enthusiasm, perhaps, nevertheless, I 

 may be. What do bee-keepers who 

 stand off at arm's length think of the 

 value of such investigation ? 



It will not do to say it is better not to 

 agitate these and such like questions, it 

 will only call the attention of consumers 

 to the defects of comb honey as now 

 produced, and injure its sale. It can 

 hardly injure the sale of honey for con- 

 sumers to know that we are trying 

 earnestly to improve its quality, but if 

 on eating it a heavy wad of wax forms 

 in the mouth, that will do the work 

 though the eater may hardly know ex- 

 actly why. Nothing finds so ready a 

 market as goods that give a fine sensa- 

 tion to the palate in every particular. 

 We are bound to make our comb honey 

 equal in every respect to that produced 



by the bees unaided by foundation, if we 

 can. 



I can think of nothing that would 

 have a greater tendency to popularize 

 the work of the station, and to excite 

 the interest of the bee-keeping fraternity 

 in it, than to enlist as many as possible 

 in the matter of making suggestions as 

 to subjects and methods of experiment, 

 but more especially as to methods. Sub- 

 jects are plentiful and easily discovered, 

 but simple and satisfactory methods are 

 often slow to suggest themselves. I 

 meditated upon the matter all summer 

 before a practical plan for the compari- 

 son, of coaibs made from different foun- 

 dations presented itself ; to another 

 mind the first thought would have been 

 the right one. 



Now, I am at work endeavoring to 

 discover a method of procedure for de- 

 termining the cause of the wintering 

 trouble. I want it to be so plain that 

 every one will recognize it as the right 

 one, and be compelled to accept its ut- 

 terances as final. It is hardly necessary 

 to say that it is still undiscovered, but 

 perhaps our own journal, the Review, 

 might furnish us the key by means of a 

 symposium of numerous brief articles 

 addressed to this one point. 



Finally, as a closing paragraph, I 

 want to take this opportunity to make a 

 suggestion to the apicultural journals of 

 the country. I am no journalist — I 

 make no professions of knowing how to 

 conduct a journal, and, I am not going 

 to offer any advice on that point, but I 

 wonder if some of them without detri- 

 ment to themselves could not give a 

 little more active assistance in sustain- 

 ing the work by an effort to create a 

 more general interest in its behalf. For 

 that purpose, probably nothing could be 

 better than candid criticism. 



R. L. Taylok. 



At the close of the essay Pres. Taylor 

 remarked : " I suppose it is known that 

 no appropriation has been made to con- 

 tinue this work for more than one year, 

 and whether it is to be continued will 

 depend somewhat upon the action taken 

 by this meeting. It would also be well 

 to have a committee appointed to decide 

 in regard to the line of experiments that 

 are to be conducted." 



M. H. Hunt — In regard to the experi- 

 ments of foundation, I would suggest 

 that there is a great difference in wax, 

 and this alone might account for much 

 of the difference reported. 



Pres. Taylor — I know that there is a 

 difference in wax, but I could have all 

 of the foundation made from the same 



