1S5)7 



CI.I'AMNCS IN U\-.K CUI/rURI'. 



has had this year a heavy run of business; and 

 Mr. I.eahy himself, havinii; worked many a 

 niijht up to I'J o'clock, to keep up with his 

 corresiiiMidenoe, found himself needin_n' rest 

 and a chanj^e. He accordingly sought the 

 scenes of his old lu)me hy the seaside. After 

 a gooil rest he started on his way westward, 

 visiting Doolittle. the \V. T. I'aiconer INIfg. 

 Co.. and finally .stojiping off at the Home of 

 the Honey-bees. I'Vom here he expected to 

 go to ISIr. Hutchin.son's; from there on to 

 Chicago to call on Mr. York, and thence 

 run on to the G. B. Lewis Co., the Page & 

 Lyon Mfg. Co., and other supply-dealers. 

 Mr. Leahy will, after his whirl over the 

 country, get a pretty good idea of the bee- 

 supply business. 



He started, not many years ago, with hardly 

 'i-') cents to his name, and is now treasurer 

 and general manager of the Leah}- Mfg. Co., 

 capitalized at !?24,00(). When Mr. Leahy start- 

 ed in, there were scores of other .small manu- 

 facturers, nearly all of whom have since given 

 up the business. By energy and perseverance 

 he has more than held his own, and has built 

 up a bu.siness of no small proportions. 



HOW BEK.S BUILD COMB, AG.\IN; CONDITIONS 

 UNDER WHICH THEY WILL MAKE MORE 

 MIDRIB IN COMB HONEY THAN 

 OTHERS. 

 SiNCiC our last issue, but before it reached 

 Mr. Doolittle, we have received a letter from 

 our Borodino correspondent, sending in his 

 report of the new drawn foundation. He finds 

 it no more quickly accepted by the bees than 

 foundation, nor finished any sooner, and that, 

 after being completed, it has a "resistance in 

 cutting far greater than that built on conmion 

 foimdation." He winds up, "Iliad hoped it 

 would be a boon to bee-keepers. " It will be 

 remembered that Mr. Doolittle was very fa- 

 vorably disposed toward the new article when 

 it was first introduced ; and, so far from be- 

 lieving it would work disaster to the industry, 

 he expressed himself as believing it would be 

 a great stride forward. 



As the results secured by Mr. Doolittle were 

 so different from those obtained by us. Dr. 

 Mason, Burt, Iper, and others,* we began a 

 careful and more thorough investigation. Mr. 

 Weed and I o\erhauled our sections contain- 

 ing comb honey that the bees had made off 

 from the new foundation; for it will be remem- 

 bered that, in our eating-tests on the tw'o 

 different lots fsee page ")2!l). no one of our 

 Medina folks could tell the difference between 

 combs of honey built from drawn foundation 

 and that from the ordinary product. We 

 knew Mr. Doolittle to be a very careful and 

 conscientious observer, and set about to dis- 

 cover u'/iy he should have such a different 

 result. The drawn foundation we sent to him 

 arrived near the close of his season ; or, at 

 least, Mr. Salisbury, li\-ing within thirty miles 

 of him, and to whom we sent a similar lot on 



♦since writing this we have heard from B. F. Onder- 

 donk. Mountain View, N. J., who .says: " Have tried a 

 section of the ;{-inch drawn fonndation, and find it 

 perfection to the palate, and >io gob." 



the same day, reported that the season was 

 fa.st waning. 



Well, in going over our sections of comb 

 honey from drawn fcnindation we finally found 

 some specimens that had heavier basjs or 

 midribs than some other lots that we had been 

 testing, and which seemed to be all right. In 

 order to get a better cro.ss-sectional view of 

 them they were placed in ]ilaster casts, as 

 were also pieces of worker comb built wholly 

 by the bees, natural-built drone comb, drawn 

 foundation brfoir it had been in the hive, and 

 another specimen after the bees had worked it 

 out. Cross-sections were taken of each, and 

 the results reproduced in half-tone. No. 1 

 shows natural worker comb without founda- 



tion of any sort; but it was when the honey- 

 flow was good. No. 2 is also a sample of 

 worker comb built wholly by the bees. But 



you will observe that its walls, .-ind especiallv 



its bases, are very much heavier than those of 

 No. 1. But No. 2 was built after the honey- 

 flow, and at a time when the bees had plenty 

 of leisure to put in a surplus of wax. No. 8 is 

 an ordinary specimen of drone comb built 



dtiring the flow of honey, and, as we have 

 before shown, the base and walls are consid- 

 erably heavier than in the case of No. 1. No. 

 4 is a .sample of deep-cell (or drawn) founda- 

 tion from the latest dies, before the bees had 

 done any work on it. No. o is the .same foun- 

 dation drawn out during the honey-flow. But 



