18114 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



153 



thors and some of the leading bee-keepers of 

 the country. It also contains engravings of a 

 large number of honey-exhibits at the World's 

 Fair. Bro. York is to be congratulated upon 

 its fine appearance. Price 25cts..and can be 

 obtained of Geo. W. York .t Co., .W Fifth Ave., 

 Chicago, III. 



The symposium in this issue will bear care- 

 ful reading— the whole of it. We would call 

 attention particularly to the articles by J. E. 

 Crane and Allen Pringle. As some of Prof. 

 Cook's evidence i3 questioned a little bit by the 

 negative, we shall be glad to have him reply. 

 With this exception we believe it would be bet- 

 ter to bring the discussion to a close until fall. 



The evidence we have collected in the two 

 journals will be put in pamphlet form, and will 

 make Ki pages like this. We shall be glad to 

 furnish them to bee-keepers at the cost of pa- 

 per and printing; namely, one cent each. The 

 distribution of these pamphlets, where ignorant 

 prejudice has been making trouble, will do a 

 world of good. Next fall we will revise it. 



BASSWOOD HOXEY AND BASSWOOD TISFBER FOR 

 THE RISING GENERATION. 



We Hre just now getting in some of the nicest 

 and whitest basswood plank that we ever had; 

 and by way of explanation the farmers who are 

 bringing it in say that it is from young timber 

 that started up from the stumps where they cut 

 down basswoods for us 12 or 1.5 years ago; and 

 we think it is true, that basswoods are of that 

 peculiar nature that, when an old trunk is cut 

 off. and the sprouts are given half a chance, a 

 basswood forest will be perpetual. The whole 

 strength of the mighty stock of roots is given 

 to the young shoots. Who has not seen them 

 start up, and in a few months attain the size of 

 a hoe-handle or larger? One of the conditions 

 is. that stock be kept out of the woodland, and 

 the growth of underbrush be encouraged so 

 that it will be damp and shady where the 

 young shoots start oi]t. A low wet piece of 

 ground is. as a rule, also more favorable. A 

 little observation will show you what is needed 

 to grow in this way basswoods for honey and 

 for timber. 



PARAFFINE AND FOUNDATION. 



Our attention has just been called to the fact 

 that a representative of the Standard Oil Co. 

 (a Mr. Schumacher) called upon the Goold, 

 Shapley ct Muir Co., of Brantford, Ont., and 

 endeavored to sell them refined parafifine wax 

 for the purpose of making foundation, and rep- 

 resented that the leading manufacturers of 

 comb foundation in the United States were us- 

 ing the article. When further questioned about 

 it he promised to send a letter giving the names. 

 He did so; and the Goold, Shapley & Muir Co. 

 kindly sent us the letter from the Standard Oil 

 Co., under date of Feb. 7, 18'.i4, from Cleveland, 

 0., in which it is intimated that we use paraffine 

 wax for that purpose, and that we bought of 



them. They did not state it as a positive fact, 

 but say they think we do, thougli they have not 

 looked up the records. The facts are, we do 

 purchase of that company, about once in three 

 or four years, a small case of parafTine wax — 

 about 300 lbs. We advertise and sell it to melt 

 in small (luantities for paraffining barrels for 

 shipping honey; and we also use small quanti- 

 ties ourselves for paraffining the candy-holes in 

 queen-cages. The melting-point of paraffine 

 being much lower than that of beeswax, it is 

 much better for that purpose, but we never sell 

 it for foundation purposes. 



Now, replying to that charge we would say 

 we have not used any paraHine in foundation 

 for nearly twenty years, and even then in a very 

 small way. We soon found, as did others at the 

 time, that it was entirely unsuited for the hive. 

 As to the otlier manufacturers of comb founda- 

 tion in this country, we can speak quite as posi- 

 tively for them as for ourselves that we know 

 they do not use any paraffine in foundation. 



The representations of the Standard Oil Co., 

 through Mr. Schumacher, amount to little less 

 than libel, and we have written to them for an 

 explanation. Messrs. Dadant & Son, ]\Ir. Hunt, 

 and the W. T. Falconer Manufacturing Co., we 

 feel quite sure, when they know it, will not feel 

 disposed to treat the matter lightly. 



DIPPING three sheets OF WAX AT A TIME. 



When Mr. S. J. Baldwin, of Bromley, Eng- 

 land, a supply-dealer, was here at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees on a visit, we naturally talked 

 over many of the kinks of the trade. When 

 going through our wax-room he suggested to us 

 using a counterbalance for dipping-boards in 

 making the wax sheets for foundation. Up to 

 the time of his visit we had been using dipping- 

 boards some 30 inches long, dipping the same 

 endwise into a deep vat of wax. only one board 

 at a time. Mr. Baldwin told us that he used 

 two and three at a time. With the counter- 

 balance, the plan is this: 



A common small pulley is attached to the 

 ceiling, just over the dipping-tank. Through 

 this is passed a rope fastened to a sort of grip- 

 per that holds three boards at a time, and spac- 

 ed about an inch apart. The other end of the 

 rope is passed through another pulley, some 

 four or five feet away, attached to a counter- 

 balance, or weight, that is just equal to the 

 weight of the thr(>e boards and gripper. The 

 reader will readily catch the idea. Gravity is 

 completely overcome, and all the operator has 

 to do is to plunge three boards, without weight, 

 as it were, simultaneously into a deep tank of 

 wax. We immediately put the sciieme into 

 practice, and find that we can now dip six 

 sheets of wax in nearly the same time that we 

 could formerly dip two, and with considerably 

 less labor. We have been using two of these 

 arrangements for a couple of months, and the 

 women-folks do considerable scolding if they 



