905- 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



203 



loes not prevent a lot of the stuff 

 oing into the honey that is sold. A 

 vspeptic who had bought honey at 

 lat place asked me why that honey 

 istressed him, while he could eat 

 line without trouble. Gleanings tells 

 s the sugar thus taken by the bees is 

 iverted; that may be true too. I do 

 ot just know what that means; but 

 le fact remains it is cane sugar just 

 le same and, if sold for honey, is a 

 aud. The only safe course to pur- 

 ue is to let sugar alone entirely. 

 Mr. J. E. Johnson gives our founda- 

 on makers a rather hard rub. I do 

 ot agree with him. I believe the 

 Dundation we get is pure. If it is 

 dulterated, it is done, I believe, 

 irough the wax being adulterated oy 

 le apiarist. It would be impossible for 

 le manufacturers to test all wax sent 

 lem, and, unless the adulterant is ad- 

 ed in very large amount it will pas^ 

 nnoticed. A few years ago a friend 

 f mine sent some wax to a manufac- 

 irer and a neighbor wanted to send 

 Dme with him to save freight. Word 

 ime back that the wax marked so and 

 3, contained tallow. My friend v.-ent 

 ) the neighbor and he frankly admit- 

 :d that one-fourth was beef tallow; 

 ut he did not suppose they would 

 i^er know. Mr. Johnson thinks that 

 is white foundation, that will not get 

 oit in the warmest weather, contains 

 oretty large amount of paraffine. It 

 light perhaps be done as some 

 araffine has a fusing point of 113 

 egrees and stearin of 1519 degrees; but 

 'hite or bleached wax is harder and 

 lore friable and has more resistance 

 ) heat than yellow wax, which melts 

 t about 140 degrees, wnile the bleach- 

 d wax melts at about 150 degrees, 

 hat is probably the reason why the 

 ees do not accept it as readily as the 

 ellow wax, which is much more pli- 

 ble. I did not see the statement that 

 rof. Wiley gave to the Rural New 

 orker in regard to paraffine being 

 lade use of in making comb base, 

 erhaps he did. If I had seen it, it 

 ould have had very little weight with 

 :ie, knowing where it came from. Is 

 however, not a fact, as Mr. Horn 

 tates in his article, "Politics in the 

 ipiary" that lots of our so-called sci- 

 ntific appointees get their appoint- 

 ments to pay off some political debt 

 nd are appointed without regard to 

 leir fitness or qualifications for the 

 ffice? Of course, they are supposed 

 3 do something for the public, who 

 Dots the bills, so they ascertain a lit- 



tle, presume a good deal and jump 

 at conclusions. The resulting theory 

 is given as a fact to the public; but 

 it remains for the practical man, by 

 his work, to prove or disprove this 

 theory. If it is correct, the scientist 

 grows big in the eyes of the world as 

 well as in his own estimation. If it 

 is wrong he remains right in his own 

 eyes as well in the eyes of a good 

 many others till the thing is forgot- 

 ten. This holds good in apiarian, ag- 

 ricultural, medical and all other pur- 

 suits. We have too great a tendency 

 to accept theories and ignore the prac- 

 tical workings of the every-day toiler, 

 whose daily observations are worth 

 a great deal more than the theory of 

 a "professor," who never does any 

 practical work, but to draw his salary. 



Our state has been singularly for- 

 tunate in the appointment of its foul 

 brood inspector, who is a very careful 

 and conscientious man; but I ag''i:e 

 with Mr. Horn if the foul brood law 

 in California works the way he says, 

 the inspector is to be feared more than 

 the disease. 



Waupaca, Wis., Sept. 9, 1905. 



THE FOLLY OF TINKERING 



WITH BEES FURTHER 



CONSIDERED. 



By T. K. Massie. 



r) N PAGE 138 of The American 

 ^"^ Bee-Keeper for July Mr. McNeal 

 says several things that need to be 

 further considered. I endorse all he 

 says on the folly of tinkering with 

 the bees until he conies down to his 

 plan of procedure. I would use a brood 

 chamber of larger capacity than the 

 ten-frame Langstroth hive. 



Large hives are certainly preferable. 

 I would use a double wall, divisible 

 brood chamber hive, capacity equal to 

 about 13 L. frames. Now I would like 

 to ask Mr. McNeal why go to the ex- 

 tra expense of providing a super of 

 six-inch combs and "fussing and tink- 

 ering" with them (the very thing he 

 tells us not to do) and that enamel 

 cloth? He tells us not to "tinker with 

 the bees," yet he goes to "tinkering" 

 with them in his manipulations of that 

 extra super. Why that honey board 

 which is fussed and tinkered with? 

 Combs in which brood has been reared, 

 like his 6-inch combs, are rather ob- 

 jectionable as extracting combs. I 

 want none of the coccoons (the "swad- 

 dling clothes") of the young bees 



