1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



269 



mammoth Italians. Mr. Marks is more san- 

 guine than I am of the vahie of these bees in 

 the way of fertihzing certain fruit flora of the 

 country that is now inaccessible to the ordi- 

 nary honey-bee by reason of the depth of the 

 flowerets or pollen cavities which they can not 

 reach. 



NO - \VAI.L FOUNDATION, AND FOUNDATION 

 WITH WAIvt, RUNNING 18 FEET TO 

 THE POUND. 



Quite a little has been said of late in sever- 

 al of the bee-journals in regard to the no-wall 

 foundation. Our readers will remember that, 

 at the Michigan convention a year ago, the 

 members contributed toward the purchase of 

 a machine that would make that article. We 

 made the mill, and subsequently no- wall foun- 

 dation was made from it running 15 or 16 feet 

 to the pound. This has been tested by .several 

 of the Michigan bee-keepers, prominently 

 among whom was Mr. T. F. Bingham, of smo- 

 ker fame. They found bees would accept it, 

 and in their judgment there was less of fish- 

 bone than with the ordinary foundation hav- 

 ing walls. But all experienced one difficulty 

 with it; namely, that it curled up or warped 

 somewhat during the process of drawing out 

 by the bees. In a recent article in the Aiiier- 

 ican Bee Journal, Mr. Dadant attributes this 

 curling to the manner of nulling the wax, 

 saying that sheets should leave one roll in- 

 stead of parting from both rolls at one and the 

 same time. 



Somehow, our own experiments lead me to 

 believe that no-wall foundation can not be 

 made a success as compared with the light- 

 weight wax with wall. We are satisfied that, 

 in the near future, we shall be able to turn 

 out foundation with walls running iS feet to 

 the pound, and beating all our previous rec- 

 ords. Indeed, we have already milled a con- 

 siderable quantity of it running at that weight. 

 If we were to eliminate the wall, the wax 

 might run 20 or 22 feet to the pound; but in 

 my opinion the wall is necessary to prevent 

 sagging and curling of wax so light as this, 

 no matter how the sheets are milled, or, rather, 

 how they come off the rolls. The machine on 

 which this very light weight foundation is 

 made is constructed on an entirely different 

 principle. But more anon. 



On a similar machine embodying the same 

 principle of construction, we hope to make a 

 brood foundation fully as strong as the ordi- 

 nary brood running 9 to 10 feet to the pound. 

 But the bases of this new foundation are as 

 thin as the bees make them; namely, jo^'go of 

 an inch, instead of is'do of an inch as in the 

 old brood foundation. The no- wall founda- 

 tion that came off from the mill that we made, 

 running 15 to 16 feet to the pound, had bases 

 about ^\%^ of an inch thick. It will be seen 

 that this is three times as thick as that which 

 has walls running 18 feet to the pound, off 

 from our latest mill. But this is not all. Our 

 experiments show that the bees will not thin 

 the bases, but they will reduce the walls. If 

 they will thin the walls, however thick, to 

 natural thickness, don't you see that the re- 

 sulting comb will will be as light as natural 



built? But if they will not thin the ba.se of 

 the no-wall foundation , J||„ thick then I don't 

 see but that the result will be fishbone in the 

 comb. 



N. B. — We are not ready to sell 18-ft. foun- 

 dation in quantities, nor mills for making the 

 same. 



What's the matter with bee-keepers this 

 year that they are going in so heavily for sup- 

 plies ? Beyond the fact that bees have win- 

 tered well, there is no indication that the sea- 

 son will prove to be any thing remarkable. 



REPRESENTATIVES OF THE U. S. B. K. U. AT 

 THE PURE-FOOD CONGRESS. 



Editor Abbott, of the Busy Bee, who was 

 one of the delegates, together with Eugene 

 Secor, appointed V)y the Executive Committee 

 of the U. S. B. K. U. to attend the pure-food 

 Congress at Washington, March 2, has this to 

 say concerning the result of their visit : 



There were nearly 'lOO people in attendance, and 

 almost every leading productive industry of the land 

 was represented. The writer and General Manager 

 Secor went as delegates, at the request of the President 

 and Board of Directors, to represent the United States 

 Bee-keepers' Union As there was con.siderable ex- 

 pense attached to such a long trip I had some doubt 

 at first about the propriety of .sending delegates; but 

 the moment I reached Washington, and saw the class 

 of men there present, and the indu.stries which were 

 represented, all doubt was dispelled. One of the lead- 

 ing ideas of our I'nion is to " prevent the adulteration 

 of honey," and more was done at Washington in co- 

 operation with other industries in two days than we 

 could do in years working alone. What we want and 

 need is a national pure-food law covering every article 

 of human consumption for either food or medicine, 

 and we seem now to be in a fair way to get it; and the 

 members of the United States Bee-keepers' Union can 

 feel that they have had a hand in the making of it. 

 Your delegates received the fullest recognition on the 

 floor of the congress, and bee-keeping at once took its 

 place along by the side of other trades and industries, 

 and was recognized as a part of the great movement 

 for pure food and common honesty, which is sweep- 

 ing over the countrj' from Maine to California. Mr. 

 Secor was placed on the committee on credentials, 

 and the v riter was made a member of the committee 

 on permanent organization, and was subsequently 

 elected chairman. I.ater Mr. Secor was appointecl 

 a member of the committee on resolutions, and mj'self 

 a member of the legislative committee of 2.5 to con- 

 sider the " Brosius bill," and report to the congress. 

 We were also made vice-presidents for our respective 

 States. I do not mention these things to bring my.self 

 and Mr. .Secor into prominence, but to let the bee- 

 keepers know that our union received full recognition 

 by the other indu.stries. 



The congre.ss elected Mr. Blackburn, the present 

 food commissioner of Ohio, and a gentleman of ster- 

 ling worth and wide experience in oure-food legisla- 

 tion, its permanent president; and I take pride in say- 

 ing that, as a member of the committee on permanent 

 organization, I had a hand in presenting his name to 

 the congress. He proved to be the right man in the 

 right place. 



I have not the space to give a full account of the 

 meeting, but will say that the unanimity of sentiment 

 and feeling manifested by the representatives of the 

 various indu.stries of the country on the subject of 

 pure food points to the fact that a powerful influence 

 will be brought to bear on the Congress of the United 

 States, when the bill comes before it, for its immediate 

 pas.sage. The reader can help to swell this influence 

 by writing to his Congrc-sman and the members of 

 the Senate from his State, saving that their constitu- 

 ents ask that, when the bill recommended by the 

 pure-food congress comes up for passage, they give it 

 their hearty support. 



I do not believe that any member of the 

 Union will begrudge the money expended, in 

 view of the fact that we have secured the 

 recognition we have. Abbott and Secor are 

 active workers — the former is bound to make 



