IS'.rJ 



(il.HANIMJS IN |:KK el I. 



KK. 



\:\'.i 



traoliiiii of siiii^is w ;is (lone alinosl iiistaiitaiK'- 

 (iiisly. ami lln' l>i'i' was iuumIv cnislicd oul of 

 .•xisti'm-f. ami possihlc pain, in anotlu'i' instant. 

 We (In not sec that we ucff incnnsisiciit Willi 

 iiiir piDlVssiiins or tlir iclincd smsc of liuinam' 

 tiratnii'nt of oni' ilnnili animals of tiic nirscni 

 day. Hy tin- way. tin- wiitiM' for t.li(( 'Irihunc 

 docs not sitrn lil.s nam*'. I)nt liidcs in liis attuck 

 under tln-i'ditoiial ■" we." If In- scofi'S anybody, 

 li't him si-ofc tlic junior editor. If a lU) worse 

 cliarue is ever entered against him. lie will he 

 happy. 



.MSril'ICl.M. ('.') IIOXKY-COMH \T I. .VST. 



On page KK? (»f our last, issm> we stated edito- 

 rially that thiM'e were rumors abroad to the 

 etieot that another chai) was about to place on 

 the market artiticial lioney-comh tilled with 

 •rliK'ose; and now samijjes are out. This morn- 

 intr. as we eame into the otTiee. one of the clerks 

 lianded \is a box and a letter, and added, w ith a 

 laconic smile. " Here goes yonr tlionsand dollars 

 as a reward for artilicial honey-coml)." As the 

 information struck ns from a pecuniary point 

 of view . wt' were inti'rested at once. Mi'fore we 

 tell you about the comb, we present you the 

 letter accomi)anyins the mysterious box. .lust 

 read: 



K.\NSAsCiTV, Feb. 1, 1893. 

 A I Rixit,- 



De:tr Si/:— I send you this day iiei- expce.ss. chaij^es 

 prepaid, sample or tlie artificial comb. One side is 

 re:idy for the liees to fill mill cap over, and tlie other 

 side "is tilled with pure lioiiey and capped over, so 

 yon see tliat I lie TliinK can lie done, antl is done. 

 My Idea is not so mucli to make artificial coml) lion- 

 ey, a> to siipplj' the l)ee-keepers witli artificial 

 honey-conil) so as to enalile tlieiii to produce just 

 six times more than they are now doing'; as some 

 .say that it takes T lbs. of honey t(j produce 1 U). of 

 wax. This making comljs is no exi)erinient, but a 

 fact, and they can l3e produced very eheai>. Tliis sam- 

 ple is some of tlie very fliNt turni'd out; and l:)y a lit- 

 tle more work and pains it can be produced so near 

 like wliat the bees make that you can not tell them 

 apart. I expect to hiivv mj' patent-papers in a few 

 (lays; and if you wish to manufacture tlie comti 

 under a i-oyalty, I sliould lie glad to figure with you. 

 as I shall devote this month to several concerns— 

 l)igr ones like your own — making' ari-aiigemeiits to 

 maimfacture under a royalty. This is a great in- 

 vention, and a long-needed want .soon supplied. 

 Now the liee-keepers will rejoice, and tlie piiiiiic 

 will rejoice, liecause they can get all the hone} they 

 want; and no doubt 1 shall receive the reward b.\ 

 return mail, of a New York exchange for ?1(1(J0, as 

 pulilished 1)\- you. 1 also send you a samjileof brood 

 coml). Witii best wishes 1 am 



Yours triilv. 



T 



Of all the Imngling attem|)ts made to imitate 

 artiticial honey-comb, this is the worst. A piece 

 of this imitation was inserted in an ordinary 

 pound section. We puslied the comb out (or. 

 rather, cake of wax with holes in it) and weigh- 

 ed it. By a little calculation we found that it 

 would take iibont 8 ounces of wax to hold a 

 pound of honey (a stnall fraction of an ounce of 

 imtiinti comb will hold a pound of honey): in 

 other words, it would take lo cents' worth of 

 wax made into this imitation'?) to hold a pound 

 of honey, and the very best coml) honey whole- 

 sales at from ]:.' to 1.') cents. But this \:, cents" 

 worth of wax does not include the cost of man- 

 nfactur(? and of royalties, and for these two 

 items we must add at least .5 cents more. This 

 makes 20 cents' worth of bogus honey-comb to 



hold a pound of honey: and yet Mr. T 



says it can be made very rheni). But. hold a 

 minute: The sides of the "cells, instead of being 

 2I7; of an inch thick, as in the natural comb, are 

 about ^. We are bee-keeper enough to know 

 that the bees would probably repudiate any such 

 imitation. We have tested very much better 

 samples of so-called artificial comb, hut the 



bees lltterlv refused til I'ecogni/e them. While 



the iuljacent combs were tilled with honey and 

 brood, the artiticial thing was left entirefy un- 

 touched. 



In the mvsterioiis box was anoihei- sample of 

 comb that contaim-d honey. One side of the 

 comb, we sii iiiniftc. was intended to represent 

 artiticial capping. The side was perfectly flat, 

 without corrugations or indentations, and re- 

 sembled very closely the side of an iiniiolished 

 marble slab more or less soiled with smoke and 

 dirt. We showed it to a number of the ein- 

 ployi'S, but they could hardly believe that any 

 one meant that for capped comb honey. 



The manufacturer of tlie adulterated product 

 above is evidently not a very skilled bee-keeper, 

 for he proposes to supply them with an article 

 that ■■ tcill ciKthh lliciii to iinxlucc just xi.r times 

 more tluDt tlicy (ire nnic tluiiKj." Even if the 

 comb could be made an exact duplicate of the 

 natural article, this statement could not possi- 

 bly be true. 



After making due allowance for the fact that 

 the sample was among the first made, we are 

 not in the least afraid of losing our thousand 

 dollars, i'erhaps it would be well to slate right 

 here that our otl'er covered comb honey manu- 

 factured by appropriate machinery— that is, 

 making the comb, tilling it with glucose. ;ind 

 capping it over, lint the candidate, in order to 

 be eligibh^ to the prize, must make his artilicial 

 stufT so iierfect that it would be mistake;!! foi' 

 the genuine article. If the sample .sent is the 

 acme of perfection, no doubt, if the senior editor 

 were heie. he would increase the ofTer to$20(X): 



but we piesume that, of course, Mi'. T 



means the last as a joke. 



It may appear to some that we are a little 



hard on Mr. T : but we wish it clearly 



understood how far shoit his artificial comb 

 comes of the genuine pioduct. The genei'al 

 public would not rejoice. Just imagine the 

 pater familkis sitting down at the table, taking 

 a bite of the stnflf, and, for every ounce of honey 

 that he swallows, spitting out half an ounce 

 of wax! Bee-keepers, so far fi'om rejoicing, 

 would only laugh in I'idicule at such a crude 



attempt. "Does Mr. T suppo.se that con- 



sumeis would eat this down as pni'e comb 

 honey? and does he suppose that they would 

 knowingly eat bogus comb honey? 



We can assiu'e oui' friend that there is no 

 nianufactui'ei' of supplies who would for a mo- 

 ment considei' the advisability of manufactur- 

 ing such stuff. W(! would advis(> him to place 

 samples of it in the hives, and .see how quickly 

 the hecs' will "doctor" them, and that will for 

 ever convince him, if what we have said is not 

 sufficient, that they ai'e exceedingly fastidious 

 as to the kind of honey -comb they have; in the 

 hive. They will accept the midrib, or embossed 

 wax sheets! or. as we bee-keepers term it,/ot<?j- 

 (httii)ii. and build it out into beautiful comb. 



Foundation can lie shipped, as it w(M'e. in the 

 flat: w hei'(>as artificial lioney-comb, or even 

 natural cotubs, would have to go at a high rate 

 of freight: and even if the artificial product 

 could be manufactur(>d so as to be iicceptable to 

 the bees, bee-keepeis could not alTord to use it, 

 on account of fieight rates. When it is remem- 

 bei'ed that foundation, in the height of the sea- 

 son, will be drawn out by the bees insid<> of 24 

 hours, it will be leadily seen that bee-keepers 

 have no need of foundation with full-depth 

 walls, as it were. Another thing, even if the 

 artificial comb could be made, it would have to 

 Ije sold for ivlutt it is. or else be under the'ban of 

 the law. If our friend has not already secured 

 a patent, we would suggest to him the wisdoin 

 of consulting two or three bee-keepers before 

 he wastes his money. We would name, for in- 

 stance, E. M. Uayhurst, of Kansas City. 



