1S07 



GLKANINGS IN REK CULTURE. 



703 



41 oi ]>uro hoiK^y to (.■ontaiii S jut ofut of 

 sucrose and ti") jht cent of reduciiii; sus^ar. 

 This sample was proven to be positively pure. 

 Now, Prof. Wiley uses the same word for 

 sucrose as cane siis^ar, and also says the words 

 are not us.hI synonymously in the commercial 

 world. Here is where the line mu.st be drawn, 

 and 1 repeat the professor's words: " It is 

 simply a question of terms." 



Now practically. In my visit to a larj^e 

 honey-producer I mentioned the fact that my 

 State, Pennsylvania, had a law that, if the 

 smallest per cent of commercial sugar was 

 detected in honey, there was a fine of ^50.00 

 for every store selling it. He said that, in the 

 fall, he fed a lot of granulated sugar. Most 

 of it had been consumed by the bees, and but 

 a very small per cent remained in the combs. 

 When fruit-bloom commenced he thought it 

 so small that he paid no attention to it, and 

 extracted it with the other frames in the first 

 extracting. This man is a good man, and I 

 am sure he meant to do no harm, as he had 

 seen the statement that all pure honey con- 

 tained a small per cent of cane sugar. 



Had any party from PennsAlvania bought 

 his honey and put it in bottles, marking it 

 " Pure," and sold it to twenty stores, it would 

 have cost the bottler SIOOO, and ruined him 

 for life. Will not Prof. Wiley pardon my 

 strong words in the light of these facts ? 



Philadelphia, Pa. W. A. Selser. 



[I am glad to note that there is no real dis- 

 agreement between Mr. Selser and Dr. Wiley; 

 and I am glad to note, also, that I\Ir. S. is per- 

 fectly ready to prove his faith by his works; 

 so, tiien. let the samples go in to him. We 

 will gladly give place to the results in these 

 columns. Send him not only sugared sam- 

 ples but glucosed samples; and when he sends 

 you the report, mail a copy of it to us, togeth- 

 er with a statement of ju.st how the honey 

 was originally "doctored." — Ed.] 



THE DEEP-CELL FOUNDATION. 



Condiiions Under Which Bees Build Heavier Comb. 

 BV F. A. SNELI^. 



I have eagerly read every thing that has ap- 

 peared in Gleanings on the above subject, 

 inasmuch as I think it a very important one. 

 If it proves what is hoped, it will have an im- 

 portant bearing on bee-keeping in the future, 

 so it seems to me. The importance of par- 

 tially drawn combs, especially in the central 

 sections of each super put on at the opening 

 of the honey harvest, is a conceded fact with 

 most bee-keepers. The drawn foundation will, 

 if in no other way objectionable, come into 

 general use in the sections. I think shallower 

 cells may be preferred by many after the first 

 super for each colony at the opening of the 

 harvest. The reports given of trials made 

 near the close of the honey-flow or during a 

 light flow, of heavy combs, or those having 

 more wax than some natural combs have, 

 could hardly have been expected to be other- 

 wise. Every close-observing Ijee-keeper has 



noticed, no doubt, that at different times the 

 thickness of combs varies much, dejjending 

 wholly, so far as I have observed for thirty 

 years, ui)on the honey-flow at the time the 

 comb is built. You mention this fact ; and 

 you will rememlier that I in a former article 

 took considerable space in calling the atten- 

 tion of apiarists to the matter of thickness of 

 combs, stating when the conditions and honey- 

 flow were right for the building of very light 

 combs, and the reverse. 



My experience with the deep-cell founda- 

 tion is very limited. I received a sample last 

 .spring ; and w^hen the bees were well at stor- 

 ing surplus I ])ut it in a section and placed it 

 next the glass side of the super. I watched 

 the bees closely. Work was commenced on 

 it at once, and the cells drawn out and finish- 

 ed. The weight of the comb is all that I 

 could ask for, and this one test impressed me 

 very favorably. Next season I hope to give 

 it quite a thorough trial, and I hope all who 

 have done so this season may give their expe- 

 rience through our journals. Even if the 

 new foundation be discarded in a few years, 

 the effort will not have been in vain. Much 

 useful knowledge will have been gained. I 

 think it has come to stay, and prove of value 

 to the bee-keeping fraternity. 



Milledgeville, 111. 



DRAWN COMBS AND DRAWN FOUNDATION. 



Friend Root : — Referring to my article on 

 page 560, August 1, regarding drawn combs, 

 I was not as clear as I should have been ; I 

 therefore explain that the drawn combs I used, 

 and which did not give this season as good 

 satisfaction as full sheets of foundation, were 

 leveled down by breaking the cells, in all cases 

 where they were over '4 inch in depth ; possi- 

 bly some were left deeper than that. What I 

 said would not reflect on the new drawn foun- 

 dation, which, I believe, will do all that is 

 claimed for it, and the finished product w-ill be 

 first class in every respect. This I hope to 

 demon.strate next year by actual experience. 

 But unfinished sections at the close of the sea- 

 son are like many other things. We shall 

 have them whether we like them or not. 



H. Lathrop. 



Browntown, Wis., Aug. 14. 



BEES ACCEPTED IT AT ONCE. 



I consider your drawn foundation a marvel 

 of workmanship. Bees accepted it at once. 

 I have not yet sampled the honey, but I have 

 no doubt it will be as tender as natural comb, 

 if not superior to it. C. S. Harris. 



Holly Hill, Fla., Aug. 30. 



THE NEW DEEP-CELL FOUNDATION AHEAD. 

 I have tested the drawn foundation you 

 sent me this summer as follows : I put the 

 pieces, which were in size 2x4, one in each 

 section, which made them half full, and put 

 them together in one corner of the surplus- 

 box. As the bees usualW begin to fill the sec- 

 tions in the center of the surplus-box, they 

 accepted your drawn foundation at once, and 



