STATE bee-keepers' ASSOCIATION. 121 



that may come to you. In this particular it is the same 

 thing as before. If your foundation is full of holes, when 

 you put it under, the air will be in those and hold it up. 

 You have to be very particular to have the wax from your 

 foundation the same as your beeswax, if you want to make 

 a proper test. If you have a sample of paraffin it will 

 float, while the beeswax will go to the bottom. 



Mr. Dittmer — It seems to me that the statement that 

 Mr. Abbott has made, as to what Prof. Wiley said, puts 

 the comb-foundation manufacturers in the position of be- 

 ing guilty unless they are proved innocent. It seems to 

 me that is rather a poor predicament to find one's self in. 

 Personally, I am perfectly satisfied that neither the Da- 

 daiits nor the Roots use anything but what they know 

 to be pure beeswax. So far as I am concerned, I think 

 that my reputation with those who have used my founda- 

 tion will carry me through. I think that the foundation 

 manufacturers of this country have always had the repu- 

 tation of using nothing but what they honestly knew to be 

 pure beeswax; and as to taking the position of proving 

 otSrselves innocent, it seems to me that is the wrong posi- 

 tion. We should be first proved guilty, and then give us a 

 chance of saying something. But this idea of considering 

 a man guilty until he proves himself innocent is wrong. 



Dr. Miller — In Europe there are perhaps some 17,000 

 or more of the Rietsche presses in use; a large number of 

 the bee-keepers making their own foundation. In this 

 country I think there are not nearly so many bee-keepers 

 making their own foundation as there were 25 years ago. 

 I think the reason that so many of those Rietsche presses 

 are used in Europe, and that the making of foundation 

 has been simmered down to a small number of manufac- 

 turers, is that in Europe, they cannot buy pure founda- 

 tion as we can here. I don't have any thought at all about 

 the quality of foundation when I buy it; I know it is pure 

 almost as absolutely as if I had given it all three of the 

 tests mentioned by Mr. Dadant. I think Mr. Dittmer is 

 entirely right in saying every man should be supposed to 

 be innocent until proven guilty, and the burden of proof 

 should not lie upon the manufacturer to prove that he is 

 innocent. I think in the same way Wiley, if he has made 

 that mistake again, should be taught to believe that he 

 should not, after having made such a sad mistake before — 

 that he should certainly not make the third mistake, or 

 the bee-keepers of the country will resent it. 



Mr. Abbott — Of course, you are just taking this on 

 my say so, but I have the article and I suppose it is set up 

 in type now and will be in the Modern Farmer in the next 

 issue, and I cut it from the Rural New Yorker. This let- 

 ter is addressed to the editor of that paper, and signed by 

 Dr. Wiley. It seems the editor of the Rural New Yorker 

 asked for an article with regard to the matter of adul- 

 terated honey, and Dr. Wiley is endeavoring to set himself 

 right. It is in connection with the Ladies' Home Journal 



