THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



97 



stands No. 1 where ever offered for sale, and 

 I have never heard one word of complaint 

 about the kind of foundation used, nor did 

 I myself ever detect any difference that 

 would justify a preference for any particu- 

 lar brand, except, I believe, that the B. Tay- 

 lor brand has this advantage, it is made by 

 needy labor on rainy days from twenty cent 

 wax into fifty cent foundation. See ":* 



No, friend H., you will easily see that, as 

 I have never been harmed by any of the 

 grades of foundation which I have used, I 

 cannot realize the im[)ortance of the great 

 amount of attention this question has re 

 ceived. A burnt child dreads the fire, but as 

 I have never had my fingers sorched by 

 any grade or make of foundation you will 

 excuse me for my indifference. 



Several years ago when I first began to 

 make foundation I imagined that every foun- 

 dation maker refined the wax extremely 

 fine, so I prepared to do likewise. Several 

 tall, slim, tin cans, with sligh'ly sloping 

 sides, were made and filled with melted wax 

 and set near the warm stove so it would cool 

 slowly and allow the impurities to settle. 

 That was the way the " bosses " ^'n the Vjooks 

 told me to do it. Well, it did settle, but not 

 clear enough so that I could see my face re- 

 Hected in a cake of the wax, and I feared it 

 would not do, and I began to look about for 

 improvement. I made a tight box five or 

 six feet long, two feet wide, and a little deep- 

 er than my cans, with a tight lid to cover 

 all. Then in the center of one side, at the 

 bottom, a square hole was cut, twelve inches 

 in size, and a tight door hinged in the place. 

 Several of the tall cans were then filled with 

 hot wax, and set in the box near the ends so 

 as to leave a vacant place in the middle of 

 the box near the door. In this space a single- 

 burner, hand, oil stove was set and lighted, 

 and it made heat enough to keep the wax 

 liquid any length of time. The wick was 

 turned up just enough to make the proper 

 heat, and the lamp refilled when empty, and 

 the thing kept brooding for several days. 

 Have I said I could see my face reflected in 

 this wax when cold ? No, but I do say that 

 the wax was very soft and clear. These tall 

 cakes of wax were cut in two in the middle, 

 the top iised for surplus and the bottom for 

 brodd foundation. And right here I may 

 say that nearly every thing I learned by vis- 

 iting a celebrated foundation manufactory 

 several years ago, was that the wax that I 

 was using for br od foundation was as good 



as the average used there for surplus. Now 

 I am not condemning said manufacturers, 

 for perhaps my wax was better than neces- 

 sary. However, I never noticed any bad re- 

 sults from it and it looked nice. 



Hereafter I shall have my sections for 

 white comb honey filled with drawn combs, 

 as I can double my white honey crop there- 

 by. I did so last year, and I can get the 

 testimony of an old dealer that it was < he 

 finest honey he ever saw. But I will use just 

 as much foundation as before, as I want full 

 sheets to have my surplus combs built 

 upon. 



[Tell us how you get the foundation drawn 

 out before the harvest ?— Ed.] 



When I first began foundation making I 

 used Bro. Root's outfit in which the long 

 dipping board was lowered into a deep nar- 

 row can of wax. The board was ha idled 

 from one end only, hut I was never pleased 

 with this way of dipping a long board into 

 hot wax. The first end of the board has to 

 be a much longer time in the wax than that 

 part at the top, the result is that it is hard to 

 get even sheets. I now dip the boards in 

 sidewise from both sides in a shallow trough 

 of wax kept at the right temperature by an 

 oil stove in nearly the same way as I purify 

 the wax In this way the wax need not be 

 quite so hot, and the sheets are even, soft 

 and nice. 



I see by Gleanimjs of February IHth, that 

 foundation makers are charged with adul- 

 terating with parafine. Truly this adulter- 

 ating business is getting to be a big elephant. 

 •Just when we thought we had the honey 

 adulterators by the horns, the Bee- Keepers' 

 Union seems likely to have to interfere to 

 save innocent men from persecution under 

 the laws we have had enacted to punish evil 

 uoers. Well, while the big "Boss Tweeds" 

 who are attending to Uncle Sam's business 

 at Washington are engaged in perpetrating 

 the greatest frauds ever recorded in liistory. 

 by running the nation f rther into debt in 

 this time of profound peace, for the purpose 

 of compelling our patriotic but easily gulled 

 people to pay more usury to the money 

 kings, it does seem like "straining at gnats 

 and swallowing camels " to fine or imprison 

 a poor devil because some one " having 

 authority " has decided that he has mixed a 

 little cane sugar with honey and then sold it 

 to old and young children to give them a 

 foretaste of future bliss by eating it on warm 

 flapjacks. I oftimes wonder if our boasted 



