THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



63 



noticed that they would draw out the Given 

 much sooner than they would the rolled, and 

 that after it had been dra n out the Given 

 seemed to be much thinner than the other ; 

 also, at different times, 1 have taken two 

 sections of comb honey, one made from 

 Given and one from rolled foundafon, and 

 placed them on the tea taljle and told my 

 tamily to 'test it and let me know if there was 

 any difference in the amount of wax con- 

 tained ia their mouth after eating the honey, 

 they not knowing which was Given or which 

 was not ; and, invariably, they hav^ given 

 prefernce to that made from Given founda- 

 tion. The only reason 1 can give for the 

 bees making thinner comb from the Given 

 is the same as I think has been given before, 

 that is, that the wax in both base and side 

 walls of the Given i s much softer, therefore 

 being mora pliable than that made by rolls. 



I think it is Dr. Miller asks the question, 

 or at least tries to explain the reason that the 

 wax in the Given is the softest, and then 

 goes on to tell how the melted wax is thrown 

 into press, etc., and then you, Mr. Editor, 

 undertake to correct the Dr. by telling him 

 it is not made in that way. Now while the 

 Dr. is wrong he is also partly right We do 

 not throw the melted wax on the dies, to be 

 sure, but after it is sheeted, and before it 

 gets cold, the sheets are put in the dies and 

 pressed : and pressing it in the warm state 

 leaves the wax much softer than it does to 

 let the wax get cooled before pressing. 



Some one might ask why not run the sheets 

 through the rolls while in this warm state. 

 It can hardly be done, it sticks to the rolls 

 so. Th se who are accustomed to making 

 foundation on rolls know that the wax works 

 much better when it has been dipped some 

 time and allowed to anneal, as some call it. 



Now while I think the above has something 

 to do with the consistency of the wax in the 

 two kinds of foundation, I also think there 

 are other things that help to make this dif- 

 ference. The rolls squeeze the wax much 

 harder than it is possible to do with the 

 press. For insta^^ce, take a piece of woolen 

 cloth and soak it in water then put it in the 

 die book and put on all the pressure the 

 press will stand, and wiieu the cloth is taken 

 out it will be quite wet, soak the cloth again 

 and run it through the rolls at the same 

 pressure as we would use for ordinary brood 

 foundation and the cloth will come through 

 quite dry, showing that the pressure of the 

 rolls is much greater than that of the press. 



I think Dr. Miller is wrong in stating that 

 Given foundation cannot be made of even 

 thickness ; if the sheets are dipped right 

 there is nothing in the pressing of them to 

 make it uneven. But I do agree with him 

 when he says he doubts if as nice looking 

 foundation can ever come from a Given 

 press as from a mill. I think this is where 

 the Given has lost ground and nearly gone 

 int i obscurity. The bee-keepers of America, 

 like all other people, seem to have a great 

 eye for the beautiful, hence the demand for 

 golden Italian queens, polished sections, 

 etc., and while I am one of the greatest ad- 

 vo(!ates of Given foundation I must admit 

 th t in regard to looks it cannot be com- 

 pared to that made on rolls ; the greater 

 pressure of the rolls makes a clearer base 

 and puts a mucn finer looking polish on the 

 wax, thus making it much nicer looking. 



There is also some weight in what friend 

 Heddon says with regard to great advt rtis- 

 iug facilities being able to introduce and sell 

 an inferior article. I am not sure, but I 

 think it was yourself, or Ernest Root, that 

 stated that you thought the reason that 

 Given foundation was not kept for sale by 

 dealers now was because it was much slower 

 making Given than rolled. I don't agree 

 with you. Having made thousands of 

 pounds of both kinds, I am free to say I can 

 m ke a great many more pounds ou the press 

 than I can on the rolls in the same amount 

 of time. One of my men and I have tried a 

 number of times to see which was the mos 

 speedy way of making foundation. He would 

 work on the rolls and I on the press for sev- 

 eral hours and 1 would make a considerably 

 larger amount than he ; then he would take 

 the press and I the mill and we would work 

 several hours thus and at the end o: the time 

 he would have quite a number of pounds 

 more than I had. So that I am pretty sure 

 that this is not one of the hindrances to its 

 being kepf for sale. 



There is one other thing which I think is 

 against the sale of Given foundation, that is, 

 there is no lubricant will make it come off 

 the dies as easily as strong lye. I think it 

 was James Heddon that first gave this to the 

 public. Starch, soap, or any other of the lu- 

 bricants usually used on rolls seem to be of 

 very little use on the dies. Well, when lye is 

 used, as it becomes dry, it percipitates leav^ 

 ing a white powder on the foundation ; the 

 more lye used the more powder will be left 

 ou the wax. While this does no harm either 



