1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



205 



er than we expected to make in the future; and 

 later on (page 129) I stated that the walls were 

 nearly three times as heavy as cell-walls of 

 natural comb, but that bees would thin it down 

 and make it as thin as the natural. Further 

 on, Mr. Leahy believes the product will sound 

 the death-knell of comb honey; that there is no 

 advantage in the new article except to the 

 manufacturers. In the first instance I have 

 shown that Mr. Leahy has set up a man of 

 straw, and, of course, knocked it over. In the 

 second instance he has put forth fancy rather 

 than fact. Practically the same claim was 

 made in regard to foundation, and yet the foun- 

 dation business has not hurt the honey business, 

 but has been of great benefit to it. 



In the same issue of the Progressive Bee- 

 heeper, Mr. Doolittle editorially speaks in high 

 praise of the new article, and winds up by say- 

 ing: "Nor do I believe the Roots will risk their 

 reputation on any thing which will injure the 

 honey markets by pushing it to the front," and 

 Mr. Hutchinson in the Bee Journal gives ex- 

 pression to the same sentiment. 



In the^merica?i Bee Journal friend Bing- 

 ham says of the new product: "Allow me to 

 enter a protest against more wax in comb hon- 

 ey." Mr. Bingham had probably not seen what 

 we published on p. 129, wherein we stated clear- 

 ly that our object in the new product was to get 

 Jess wax in comb honey. I don't believe he 

 meant to accuse us of trying to do things that 

 we are not ; and further on Mr. Bingham says: 

 " No one can blame the mixers for mixing low- 

 grade honey; neither can they be blamed for 

 buying drawn combs to put in bottles of honey. 

 It would be no worse to put combs made of 

 beeswax in honey than to put honey in such 

 combs. As to such combs doing away with 

 adulteration, nothing can so add to it." Mr. 

 Bingham has fallen into the error of believing 

 that the new article is drawn-out comb, and 

 that it can not be distinguished from natural 

 bee-comb. It is, in fact, nothing but deep-cell 

 foundation with flat bases. The walls in any 

 case will be less than half depth. The regular 

 mixers would hardly think of putting such an 

 article in honey, for it could be detected at a 

 glance, and a transparent fraud won't pass. 



In the same issue of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal Mr. Hutchinson still insists that, without 

 trying.it, the new deep-cell foundation is going 

 to make a great " gob " in the mouth, and says: 

 "I feel absolutely certain that its use will great- 

 ly impair the eating quality of comb honey; " 

 that "the article will be tough and leathery." 

 Why does Mr. Hutchinson speak so positively 

 when he has not tried the comb from it? 



Elsewhere in the same article he goes on and 

 describes how he thinks the new foundation is 

 made, detailing Mr. W.'s old experiment— how 

 the cell walls are formed, and how the base is 

 attached in some manner. Mr. Weed's original 



method of making the article is very different 

 from his present one. He now uses a press, 

 similar in principle to the old Given machine, 

 but uses hydraulic pressure instead. If the 

 cell walls were formed, and the base stuck on, 

 very likely it would make a "gob" in the 

 mouth. And here I don't believe, either, that 

 Mr. Hutchinson meant to cast discredit on a 

 thing by attributing to it certain qualities 

 which it had not, and by telling how it was 

 made when he didn't know any thing about it. 

 Further on Mr. Hutchinson says, and very tru- 

 ly, " Great was the kick against comb founda- 

 tion when it was first introduced." Exactly; 

 and it looks as if history were going to repeat 

 itself on a small scale. 



The brethren must not forget that we had 

 been experimenting with this thing for about a 

 year before we made it public. The quality 

 of the comb honey, and the manner in which 

 the bees accept the comb, have led us to put 

 into it hundreds of dollars. We do not even 

 now claim that we shall be able to put it on the 

 market at such prices as will be within the 

 reach of bee keepers — the future will have to 

 decide that; but we are in hopes we can. And 

 please remember, too, that we consulted before- 

 hand, some of the brightest and most intelligent 

 bee-keepers in the country, to whom we sub- 

 mitted samples. Among them I may mention 

 such men as G. M. Doolittle, R. F. Holtermann, 

 P. H. Elwood, Dr. C. C. Miller, Hon. George E. 

 Hilton. M. H. Mendleson, Byron Walker, Geo. 

 W. York, E. Whitcomb, besides all our local 

 bee-keepers. Some of the men saw the ma- 

 chinery, and saw the product in the hives, and 

 the product after it came out. 



You may depend upon it, brethren, that we 

 shall not put upon the market any thing that 

 will in any way injure the comb-honey busi- 

 ness ; and friends Hutchinson and Doolittle 

 have our thanks for backing up the statement. 

 If we were to do so we should be doing our- 

 selves more injury than any one else — mark 

 that. 



IMBEDDING FOUNDATION ON WIRES BY MEANS 

 OF ELECTRICITY. 



Having recently made some improvements 

 in our electrical imbeddingoutfit, and having 

 prepared new directions and new engravings, 

 we thought our readers generally might like to 

 see how the job is done. The work is executed 

 very much better and more rapidly than by the 

 old-fashioned tracing-wheel plan. 



DIRECTIONS FOR OPERATING BATTERY FOR IMBED- 

 DING WIRES IN FOUNDATION. 



Into a wooden pail pour about two gallons of boil- 

 ing- water, and empty tne aci'ompanying' packag-e 

 (1 lb. bichromate of potash). Stir it well, and allow 

 It to become dissolved. This may take several 

 hours; then pour in half a pint of sulphuric acid. 

 In pouring- this in, be careful to pour slowly, and 

 do not get any of the acid on the fingers or cloth- 

 ing'. It is hardly safe to ship this, and you will, 

 therefore, have to get it at y ur nearest drugstore. 

 Now procure a couple of gallon crocks, such as are 

 used for holding butter. As these can be bought 



