THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



this hive possesses many superior qual- 

 ities. It winters well ; will give double 

 the amount of comb honey, and does 

 away with the moisture in the hive, and 

 all dead bees. Mr. Root says there 

 ought to be no dead bees. Well, if he 

 can prevent dead bees from accumu- 

 lating in a hive in a protracted cold spell, 

 he might tell us so, ibr we have paid him 

 for it." 



Toledo, Oh'o. O. McNiel. 



PLANTING FOR HONEY. 



Prof. A. J. Cook of the Michigan 

 Agricultural College, assisted by the 

 Department of Agriculture at Washing- 

 ton, has been experimenting along this 

 line with a view of determining whether 

 it will pay to plant for honey alone and 

 this is what he says in a late number of 

 the Gleanings, as the conclusion arrived 

 at: 



"I think that our experiments have 

 shown that special planting for bees is 

 not advisable. If a plant can be found 

 that will surely grow, will secrete nectar 

 in all weathers, will self-grow, and hold 

 its own against weeds, etc, and needs 

 no cultivation, such a plant might pay 

 just for honey." Is there just such a 

 plant? I read the foregoing to a bee- 

 keeper present, and he said, "Yes, there 

 is such a plant and it is sweet clover, 

 Melilotus. It will grow on worn-out 

 lands and make them rich again in four 

 or five years. It embodies all the re- 

 quisites the professor desires. I've no- 

 ticed this plant growing on railroad cuts 

 and keeping the gravelly soil from wash- 

 ing." The professor further states : 

 "We have tried experiments this season 

 that show most conclusively that bees 

 are a blessing to the farmer and fruit 

 grower. These latter should either keep 

 bees or else beg the beekeeper to come. 

 I am sure all will be interested in experi- 

 ments that prove beyond peradventure 

 that bees are essential is nature's econ- 

 omy." 



FOUNDATION. 



FLAT-BOTTOM AXD WIRED FOUXDATION. 



Mr. Henry Alley, Dear Sir : — I 

 send samples of comb foundation by 

 this mail. An article in Apr, Vol. 9, 

 page 163, leads me to think you have 

 not taken any stock in the flat-bottom 

 comb foundation, or you would come 

 to.a different conclusion regarding the 

 use of full sheets in brood frames and 

 section boxes. We claim credit for in- 

 troducing wired foundation, and ask for 

 an unprejudiced trial (mind you it is not 

 wired frames with foundation rubbed 

 on) of our wired foundation, in which 

 every cell will be perfect and no sag- 

 ging— the only perfect brood founda- 

 tion in the world, and the thin, flat bot- 

 tom the only foundation that is always 

 free from fish bone in surplus honey 

 when used in slieets full size of box. 

 The use of /iea7>y foundation in full size 

 of box has injured the reputation of 

 comb honey more than the use of Thur- 

 ber's glucose in extracted honey. I 

 don't know what foundation Proctor 

 uses ; but you can always be sure our 

 flat-bottom foundation will not be ob- 

 jectionable in comb honey, when used 

 in sheets full size of section, and it adds 

 largely to the yield and uniform appear- 

 ance of the honey. You can advise the 

 use of full size sheets of our foundation 

 in brood and sections, and we will 

 shoulder the curses. The making of thin 

 foundation on the natural bottom ma- 

 chine is so tedious that very little of it 

 is made lighter than seven to nine feet 

 to the pound, while ours is always 

 twelve to fourteen feet to the pound, and 

 the only wax that is perfectly cleansed 

 that I have ever seen. 



J. Van Deusen. 

 Spvu^ Brook, N. V. 



Iliave us2Cl VanDenssu wired foiuida- 

 tion and consider it tlie best mad3 ol any 

 brand. If I desired to use wired founda- 

 tion tlie Van Deusen wonld be the kind 

 selected. Tlie thin, flat-bottomed founda- 

 tion cannot be excelled by any other in the 

 Avorld. I mean jiist what I say. No taffy 

 in this. — Ed.] 



