;i.KANIN(JS IN liEE CULTURE. 



ilnncn (or deep oi'll) artii-li>\v;is a>^ ofliMi acci^pt- 

 (Hi. A vory notii-oablo fact is that, when the 

 now product i.< put into the bivo, it is transpar- 

 ent. After iho bees have had it for 24 hours tlie 

 new transparent cell walls seem to as.xuuie the 

 color of natural comb or appearance of ground 

 class. The bees began immediately, it seems, 

 to thin down the walls to their natural thick- 

 ness, and in doing so they seem to take olT thin 

 scales of wax, and add them on to the ring of 

 wax at the top of the cells. While tin- new 

 product is accepted at once, it seems to be all 

 worked over with the e.xception of th(- base, 

 which is flat, and apparently untouched, so far 

 as thickness is concerned. 



From experiments Mr. Weed has conducted, 

 it would appear, although we may be mistaken, 

 ihattho bees do not generally, at least, straddle 

 the cells of common foundation with their man- 

 dibles, and continue this proce.ss of pinching un- 

 til the cell is elongated, but. on the contrary, 

 take ofl little minute films of wax at the point 

 where it is not needed, and add it to the thick 

 ened ring at the lop of the cell. It would ap- 

 pear that, in natural-comb building, the comb 

 itself is made up of small particles pressed and 

 kneaded together into a perfect comb; so, then, 

 when we give them the new drawn foundation 

 they reduce the thickness of the wall by taking 

 off small particles and adding them to the top 

 of the cells. This process of scooping off the 

 minute film, and adding it to another point, 

 gives the cell walls a sort of .scraped or scooped 

 ground -glass appearance to the naked eye. tak- 

 ing away that delicate transparency that is so 

 noticeably characteristic of the new Weed 

 drawn foundation. If the bees build their comb 

 in this way, as we have reason to believe they 

 do, then we can account for the flaky condition 

 that Mr. Hutchinson describes; and it is possi- 

 ble that by "flaky" he meant — well, easily 

 crushable comb, not brittle, as the term would 

 seem to indicate. If this is a desirable charac- 

 teristic it will be just as marked in the new 

 drawn foundation as in the ordinary product. 



In the experiments Mr. Weed has been con- 

 ducting, it seems to be apparent that bees take 

 the new drawn foundation quicker when the 

 cell walls are somewhat defective or broken 

 than when they are perfect, because they seem 

 to regard the broken article as their own prod- 

 uct that has been damaged, and must, of course, 

 be repaired at once. 



We are now sending out hundreds of samples 

 of the new product; and I hope others will ex- 

 periment. If the new thing can not stand the 

 examination of impartial critics then it is not 

 fit to stand. I say " impartial," because I am 

 fully aware of the fact that there are those who 

 show by their very writings that they have no 

 disposition to give the new article a fair test. 

 Fair criticism we are prepared to meet, but 

 don't care to waste time on anything else. 



Ai-is i)()i:sata; a sr iikmk to gkt tiiksk hkks 



IMI'OKTKI) INTO AMKKICA ATA SIJGHT COST. 



Wio have just had a very pleasant visit from 

 Mr. W. K Rambo. at present located at Hiram, 

 O., but who has been until recently a mission- 

 ary at Damoh. India. He is now recuperating 

 in this country, but expects to go back to his 

 mission field this fall to take charge o-f a boys' 

 orphanage and industrial school. While here 

 he is posting hirasiMf up on various industries, 

 wiih the view of introducing them into his new 

 work among the boys. He has been a subscrib- 

 er to Gi-eanings for a year or so, and in the 

 mean time has been reading and studying so 

 that he may be competent to teach bee-keep- 

 ing. 



When I learned that he was a missionary 

 from India, a subscriber to Gleanings, and an 

 enthusiastic bee-keeper, the suggestion of Mr. 

 W. A. .Stilson, of the Nebraska Bee keeper, 

 flashed through my mind. You will remember 

 how he showed up the folly of sending a man 

 over to India, at an enormous expense on the 

 part of the general government, to secure Apis 

 dorsata. He urged that, if these bees were 

 really desirable, and could be domesticated, 

 they should be obtained through missionaries 

 already in the field, at a very slight cost. 



After talking with Mr. Rambo in regard to 

 the famine in India, the general climate, the 

 characteristics of the people, of tigers (especial- 

 ly the man eating kind), we began to discuss 

 the feasibility of importing Apis dorsata and 

 Apis Indlca from that country to this. He 

 described to me a small bee that seemed to be 

 vtry common in his vicinity, and which I feel 

 very sure is Apis Indica. They build a single 

 comb under the limb of a tree, and their nests 

 are very common. He has also seen what he 

 believes to have been the Apis dorsata, and 

 the nests themselves. 



The upshot of the whole matter was that we 

 are to equip hith with hives, material, etc., 

 necessary to test Apis dorsata right-in its own 

 climate— in other words, determine whether 

 they can be domesticated at home. He was, 

 however, of the opinion that neither race I 

 have mentioned could be confined to a hive; 

 but if they could he was sure that he and his 

 native helpers, who are quite familiar with the 

 bees, could do so just as well as and far more 

 cheaply than Uncle Sam by sending a man 

 over. 



When Mr. Rambo leaves this country in Sep- 

 tember we expect, of course, to send along with 

 the general shipment some mailing-cages as 

 well as some small boxes for express shipment. 

 Arrangements can be made to have the bees 

 shipped to some beekeeper' in England, where 

 they can have a cleansing flight, and. after a 

 few days, be forwarded to the United States. 



There, now, don't you see we can get dorsata, 

 if it can be kept in hives at home, at an infini- 



