752 



GLEANINGvS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



thousands who would use no other appropriate 

 remedies for the restoration of various bodily 

 functions. Their formulas are free to any 

 practicing physician who may apply to them, 

 with stamps to cover postage. Several of Dr. 



's compounds are extensively used by 



the medical fraternity. Not everybody can 

 follow a course of dietary self-treatment, as 

 yourself and I have been accustomed to do. 

 Not everybody employs a physician for incip- 

 ient disease. A great many trust to the use 

 of standard specifics that can be purchased 

 for half what a physician would charge for 

 prescribing. Many patent medicines are do- 

 ing a great deal of good, else their manufac- 

 ture would not be sustained by public demand. 

 This, however, is only my opinion. 

 Howardsville, Va., April 22. 



[Dr. Miller replies:] 



The plan of using foundation-splints is one 

 with regard to which I had no precedent, 

 having never heard of any one else having 

 tried it till after I had. It is, of course, by no 

 means certain that my plans may not be im- 

 proved, and I wish Mr. Averill had been a 

 little more explicit. He says my sticks are 

 too small, but does not say why it would be 

 better to have them larger ; neither does he 

 say why seven sticks would be better than 

 five or better than eight. He uses more than 

 four times as much lumber as I do in the sticks 

 of each frame. Without seeing any special 

 reason for the larger sticks, I should have 

 supposed that, if they would only accomplish 

 the purpose, the smaller the better. Certainly 

 it does not seem that larger sticks or more of 

 them can be needed for strength, for the five 

 small sticks I use hold the foundation so there 

 is no hint at sagging or getting out of place. 

 It seems to me that larger sticks would make 

 the comb a little ridgy, which is objectionable. 



He says the sticks need not be waxed ; but 

 until I waxed them the bees tore them down, 

 and I'm sorry to say that they still do so occa- 

 sionally, if but little honey is coming when 

 the foundation is given. It looks a little as if 

 the bees gnawed down some of his sticks, for 

 he says one or two missing sticks after the 

 combs are drawn out are immaterial. But I 

 find that, when they gnaw away the sticks, 

 they are inclined to gnaw away the founda- 

 tion too. 



I wish he would tell us what kind of wood 

 he uses, also what proportion of the comb is 

 built down solid to the bottom -bar so that no 

 passageway is between the comb and the 

 bottom-bar. If his way will make just as good 

 work as mine, I think it is less trouble ; and 

 as some are inquiring about the matter it is 

 worth while to know all about it. 



Perhaps I may be pardoned for saying a 

 word about patent medicines. Mr. Averill 

 mentions their being used by the medical 

 fraternity. If a physician knows the articles 

 therein contained, there is no reason he should 

 not use the compound. But does Mr. Averill 

 know of a reputable physician using a patent 

 medicine indiscriminately for all the various 

 ills it is recommended to heal ? Take any one 

 of the best articles in the materia medica that 



are used with best results by the profession, 

 and put it in the hands of one who thinks 

 himself ailing, and who believes that the said 

 medicine is such a cure-all as patent medicines 

 are in genera] represented to be, and the re- 

 sults would be mischievous. 



The large amount of medicines taken with- 

 out any intelligent notion as to their action 

 may be credited with much of the poor health 

 that prevails, and such medicines are usually 

 taken in some one of the proprietary forms. 



"Not every one employs a physician for 

 incipient disease. A great many trust to the 

 use of standard specifics," is a statement that 

 is, alas ! only too true. They might be better 

 off to let both physician and specific alone 

 than to swallow ignorantly the so-called stan- 

 dard specifics in such quantities. It is not 

 necessarily an argument in their favor to say 

 that such medicines can be bought " for one- 

 half what a physician would charge for pre- 

 scribing." If you save the money you would 

 pay to an intelligent physician, and spend 

 only half of it for patent medicine, and lose 

 your life thereby, you're not much the richer 

 for it. That vast amounts are paid yearly for 

 patent medicines must be easily believed by 

 any one who knows what thousands upon 

 thousands of dollars are spent in advertising 

 them. 



" Many patent medicines are doing a great 

 deal of good, else their manufacture would not 

 be sustained by public demand." If that sort 

 of logic is correct, then it is also true that 

 alcoholic liquors are doing a great deal of 

 good, else their manufacture would not be 

 sustained by public demand ! 



Marengo,' 111. C. C. MiiXER. 



HONEY IN 4 I 4X4 1 4 SECTIONS THE ONLY SIZE. 



The 4X5 vs. Square Sections ; Manufacturers who 

 have an Ax to Grind. 



BY E. D. OCHSNER. 



As a producer of comb honey I wish to de- 

 fend myself and brother bee-keepers against 

 such men as Mr. Percy Orton and Mr. Mas ,ie 

 for the part they have both taken in running 

 down the only good section we have on the 

 market, and as good as we ever shall have. 

 Now, I wish to answer Mr. Orton in his article 

 on page 679, where he went a little too far 

 when he said the 4^X4^ sections should be 

 taken to some swamp and stamped out of 

 sight in the mud ; also that the 4^X4X sec- 

 lion looks like a squatty old woman. He 

 must remember that squatty old women are 

 just as good as tall American ladies, and Mr. 

 Orton ought to be ashamed to speak in that 

 way of the fair sex, and that does not have 

 any thing to do with sections. 



Now, I can show just as fine 4^X4 '4. sec- 

 tions as Mr. Orton can with his 4x5, and will 

 compete with his any day that he wishes to 

 name ; and I can sell mine in the same market 

 with the 4X5, and at the same price ; also can 

 raise just as much honey to the colony. The 

 American people will naturally buy something 



