356 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



know it is unfortunate, making so many 

 changes. Here at the Home of the Honey- 

 bees we realize this, perhaps, more than any- 

 body else. It pains me more than I can tell 

 you to see the things I have spent so much 

 money and so many sleepless nights over, 

 thrown away or set aside for something new, 

 and, oftentimes, comparatively untried. 

 Sometimes I am right in thinking we had bet- 

 ter stick to the old ; but oftener the boys are 

 right in adopting new ideas and putting in 

 improvements. Let me give you an instance. 

 We had a job printing-press that was a model 

 of speed and good work when it was bought. 

 While it was still doing good work, Ernest 

 bought a new one and the old was pushed 

 aside. Perhaps I was not even consulted in 

 the matter, and may be I "grumbled " some. 

 But when the boy who ran the press told me 

 that it was making a saving of enough to pa}- 

 for itself in one year, and that we should 

 reallv make money to put the old one in the 

 scrap-heap (showing me the figures in regard 

 to its superior and rapid work ) I became good- 

 natured all at once, and was ready to apolo- 

 gize for my fault-finding. 



There has been considerable said about The 

 A. I. Root Co. and the "almighty dollar." 

 Dear friends, there is not one of us here who 

 would put a burden on our bee-keeping friends 

 for the sake of putting money into our pock- 

 ets. If we did, how could we consistently say 

 our prayers at night before going to sleep ? 

 We recommend changes or suggest changes 

 because we think it will benefit the honey- 

 producer. We may make mistakes, but we 

 certainly are not bad at heart, any of us. 



Just now we are so overburdened with busi- 

 ness that we have talked about stopping our 

 advertising. Mr. Calvert has told you some- 

 thing of this already. We are not greedy for 

 more jobs, nor are we introducing new-fangled 

 notions to get more money ; but we do try to 

 look ahead and study the best interests of the 

 honey - producers of the world. Our good 

 friend and old standby Doolittle runs up a lot 

 of figures until he gets to a million of dollars. 

 Now, if this million of dollars should be a bad 

 investment, it would certainly be a sad thing; 

 but suppose, on the other hand, the plain sec- 

 tion should be a benefit — at least a little bene- 

 fit — to each bee-keeper, this would throw the 

 million of dollars into the pockets of the bee- 

 keepers, instead of the way friend D. puts it. 

 We do not know positively how this thing will 

 turn out ; but, like new plants and new vege- 

 tables, those who want to be up with the times 

 should try these things on a small scale. I do 

 not think the plain section and fence are on a 

 parallel with the new fruits and vegetables, 

 for the former have been tried and are being 

 tried in different places, in Doolittle's native 

 State especially. The thing that commended 

 the plain section to my notice was that it is a 

 saving of lumber, and they are cheaper to 

 make, or will be cheaper. Now, do not call 

 me hard names because we do not now offer 

 them cheaper than the regular old style, for it 

 costs something to get up new advertising and 

 new machinery for new things, and at the 

 start they cost more than later on. If reports 



are as much in favor of the plain section as I 

 confidently expect them to be now in a very 

 few months, we give you our promise that the 

 plain section will be cheaper another season 

 than the old kind. 



There are other things I might explain, by 

 taking time ; in fact, I am ready to give our 

 reasons for any thing we do that looks incon- 

 sistent, whenever it is worth while to take the 

 space. We certainly are not trying to get 

 ahead of other supply-dealers, for we can not 

 take care of all the orders we have ; and at 

 present we are buying hives and sections of 

 almost all other supply-dealers who have any 

 to spare; and in order to fill orders promptly 

 we have bought goods by the carload ; and 

 where we could get no concession from retail 

 prices we have turned them over to bee-keepers 

 for exactly what they cost us. We like to see 

 business booming, and we would rather sup- 

 ply our customers promptly, even though we 

 do not make a copper in the transaction, than 

 to see them suffer loss by delay in getting 

 their goods. — A. I. R. 



TESTS OF COMB FOUNDATION ; MICROMETER 

 MEASUREMENTS OF THE BASES. 



R. L. Taylor, of Lapeer, Mich., has been 

 continuing his foundation experiments, and 

 in the Reviezv for April he gives the results. 

 Deep cell (or drawn) foundation, thin and 

 extra thin, of two different makes. Given and 

 the Bingham (or no-wall), were given com- 

 parative tests in the hive. In making these 

 tests Mr. Taylor had in mind three things ; 

 viz., "Which do the bees work most readily? 

 Into which will the bees put the most honey 

 in the same time, under like circumstances? 

 and which will they draw out the thinnest, or 

 most like natural comb?" The various grades 

 of foundation were placed in alternation, with 

 Given sections in a case, as near the center as 

 possible, and all the sections were worked 

 more or less. Mr. Taylor says the preferences 

 of the bees were readily discovered. He found 

 the drawn foundation " was used at once, 

 almost, for storing honey." " It appeared 

 then that it was ahead of the plain foundation. 



. at the end of the honey-flow . 

 it weighed only 7 per cent as much as the 

 Given;" and when measured as to thickness 

 of its base it was found to be 37 per cent 

 thicker than that of natural comb. Continu- 

 ing, he says : 



As to the other sorts of foundation, the two Root 

 samples were worked at about equal pace with the 

 Given— the kind qalled " thin " perhaps a little more 

 rapidl}'. The Lansing "thin " was behind the Given 

 in that respect; and the Bingham and the Lansing 

 extra thin were behind in a more marked degree. To 

 determine the thinness to which the bees worked 

 these foundations, pieces of the comb made from them 

 were cleaned and sent to Dr. Beal, of the Agricultural 

 College, for measurement. 



I will not attempt to give the tabulated 

 result, as many people either do not care to 

 study out an array of figures, or cottld not 

 properly interpret them if they did. It is 

 enough to state that the base of the extra thin 

 stands 56 ten-thousandths, and drawn or 

 deep-cell very nearly 100 ten-thousandths, or 

 twice as thick ; and the Bingham no-wall 



