1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



313 



strength of the sheet is very much greater 

 when hung the "wrong way" according to 

 our preconceived notions, than when hung the 

 right way. Or perhaps I should put it this 

 way. It is possible to so construct a mill that 

 the wall of the foundation will not be broken 

 in milling, as is the case when the foundation 

 comes from the ordinary rolls. Later I shall 

 be able to explain that more fully by a drawing. 



Well, he has not only been able to get foun- 

 dation having a base jg%^ inch thick, but he 

 thinks he has made a product that will stand 

 a far greater strain for the same weight. 



The test that Mr. Poppleton has already 

 made is very gratifying, in that the bees do 

 not tear down, as we know they are inclined 

 to do with the extra-thin article. If the foun- 

 dation had been hung the other way, we be- 

 lieve there would have been no sag. But sup- 

 pose it had been hung just as Mr. Weed de- 

 signed it to be, it is evident that, if a full sheet 

 will stretch slightly, a half-sheet or starter 

 will stretch imperceptibly. There, now, don't 

 you see we can make an article having bases 

 as thin as thin paper, and the walls be about 

 as heavy as the ordinary thin foundation? 

 This 18 feet-to-the pound wax is lighter than 

 the no-wall article, and, what is more, the 

 zual/s will pirz'6'tit lis ivarping. I feel satis- 

 fied that the walls will never cause the so- 

 called "fishbone." No, Bro. Hutchinson, 

 I've not changed my base on this point. 



WARMING A HIVE BY ELECTRICITY. 



That is what Mr. Weed is doing now with 

 an exeprimeutal coljny. Two wires run 

 down from one of our " mains " into a rheo- 

 stat coil in the hive. Just over the coiled re- 

 sistance wires that furnish the heat is a sheet 

 of glass; and under this a thermometer and 

 test s'aeets of foundation. 



When the temperature stands exactly at 

 100, the bees will work at comb-building; but 

 when it rises to 110 they desert the super en- 

 tirely. At first, when we lifted up the cush- 

 ion the bees would fly up and bump their 

 heads against the glass; but now they have 

 become accustomed to it, and keep on mind- 

 ing their own business when we take a ' ' peek. ' ' 

 FOUNDATION EXPERIMENTS. 



Electric heat can be varied at the will of the 

 operator, or even be kept at an absolutely uni- 

 form point. There, now, don't you see we 

 can carry on experiments in comb-building 

 and testing lighl-weight foundation right in 

 the early spring, when the nights are cool, 

 and the days, for that matter, are too cool for 

 the bees to fly ? As we are running night and 

 da}' we have current during this time. 



This reminds me that 18-feet-to-pound foun- 

 dation, in this hive, when hung as it should 

 be, and two inches wide, does not sag in the 

 sections, and the bees apparenth' accept it all 

 right. We will report later. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing we have 

 been trying 11, 13, and 18 foot-to-pound foun- 

 dation side by side. The first two are our reg- 

 ular thin and extra thin, and the last is the 

 special on Weed's last mill. Greatly to our 

 surprise, in this test at least, the 18-foot arti- 

 cle was accepted quicker and drawn out fur- 



ther than either of the other two. We can 

 explain it only on the ground that Mr. Weed 

 has taken nearly all the wax out of the bases 

 and put it in the walls, where our bees want it. 

 We shall not be able to supply this new ar- 

 ticle in quantity at present, but we will send 

 out a limited number of packages, six sheets 

 for two cents to pay postage, 2x4 inches, to 

 all those who apply and will promise to test 

 it and report. 



COST OF IMPROVEMENTS. 



F. L. Thompson, in the Americau Bee Jour- 

 nal, thinks the price of honey does not bear a 

 just proportion to the price of supplies ; and 

 then he goes on to give the cost of the fence 

 and plain sections. In regard to shipping- 

 cases, while he does not condemn the no-drip 

 style, he would like to have something sim- 

 pler, something that requires less labor to fix 

 up. I grant that there seems to be much of 

 truth in this. But let us look into the matter 

 from another standpoint. 



Although we may not at present seem to be 

 doing it, we are striving to save in every way 

 possible that one big item he refers to — labor 

 — on the part of the bee-keeper and cost of sup- 

 plies. Regarding this, compare prices of a 

 few years ago with those of to-day ; sections 

 esf)ecially have fallen. The new 18 foot-to-the- 

 Ib. foundation will be cheaper than the old 1 1 

 and 13 ft. to the lb. article. If plain sections 

 ever get to be popular, it ought to be patent to 

 any man who "can see through a ladder" that 

 they can be made cheaper, and will conse- 

 quently be sold for less money, than the old- 

 style sections using more timber, and requir- 

 ing more labor to make the)n. Plain sections, 

 of course, cost a little more than they will in 

 the future, because this is really their first 

 year in the market ; i. e., they have been push- 

 ed into prominence. It is hardly fair to com- 

 pare the cost of these things with that of other 

 separators and other sections that have met 

 the competition of the markets for years. 



Why, friend T., we are working as fast as 

 we can to avoid the expense of the extra 

 amount of lumber ; and, moreover, we hope 

 these new fads are going to save labor. The 

 old fads have done so, otherwise they would 

 not be in the market to-day. Friend Thomp- 

 son would not avoid improvements simply be- 

 cause they cost money at first. Smokers, 

 foundation, and extractors, for instance, were 

 costly improvements. 



TALL SECTIONS FOR ALL MARKETS. 

 I THINK it only fair to state that the tall 

 section may not be suitable for all markets. 

 I know it has a big demand in parts of York 

 State, in Washington, Maryland, and in quite 

 a number of the Eastern States. I know it is 

 also regarded with some favor in California. 

 But I am of the opinion that the Chicago mar- 

 ket will not tolerate any thing but a square 

 box. Right here I want to correct a misap- 

 prehension. One or two seem to have the 

 impression that I claimed that the tall sec- 

 tion would be better filled out than the square 

 one. Other conditions being the same, I 

 should not expect a particle of difference. 



