STATE bee-keepers' ASSOCIATION. 133 



Mr. Hutchinson — Not only Mr. Dadant but all other 

 comb-foundation manufacturers are affected if these state- 

 ments go out in the Rural New Yorker all over to the 

 reading community that buy honey; it prejudices them against 

 our product. 



Mr. Dadant — In that case, don't ask him to prove it but 

 simply state that it is not so. If you ask him to prove it 

 when he has made the statement he will prove it in some 

 way if he has to manufacture something in order to prove 

 it in one single instance. That will be sufficient for him, and 

 sufficient to hurt your business that much more. 



Mr. Colburn — I wanted to ask if anybody here knows 

 whether bees will work on foundation that is made partially 

 of paraffin? 



Dr. Miller — Yes, they will. 



Mr. Colburn — What proportion ? 



Dr. Miller — I don't know. 



Mr. Wilcox — ^What causes the difference in foundation 

 with regard to some being very hard and others very soft at 

 the same temperature? 



' Mr. Dadant — Beeswax is a little like iron; you can cast 

 iron and make it malleable, and it is the same way with bees- 

 wax. Pour beeswax into a mould and the cake will be brit- 

 tle. It will break readily and you can't stretch it. But put 

 that cake of beeswax under the roller and it will become mal- 

 leable; that is, warm it to a certain temperature. There are 

 a good many points concerning beeswax that it is impossible 

 for the general public to know. In regard to the adultera- 

 tion of beeswax with tallow, it may be well to inform you 

 as to the way of detecting tallow. It is very easily detected; 

 it makes the beeswax softer, and when you have a cake which 

 you suspect of having tallow at the ordinary temperature, 

 run your fingernail over the cake. If it is pure beeswax it 

 will make ripples in the cake; if it is tallow it will make 

 a dull-looking streak in the cake. 



INCREASING THE CIRCULATION OF BEE-PAPERS. 



Pres. York — Here is a question that I didn't ask myself, 

 but I would like to know the answer. "What can be done 

 to increase the circulation of bee-papers?" 



Mr. Moore — Advertise. 



Mr. Abbott — I do not think that that ought to be passed 

 by. I am not saying that because I am interested in papers ; 

 I don't publish a bee-paper; I publish a farm paper. But it 

 does seem to me that there is not enough pride among bee- 

 keepers in our industry. I asked that question and I asked 

 it because I wanted to say something. You take the poultry 

 people, and there are in the United States something like 

 15 or 20 poultry papers that have a circulation ranging from 

 25,000 to 75,000. They all have good circulation, and every 

 poultry keeper swears by his poultry paper. Every poultry 

 keeper has a pride in his industry and therefore he reads 

 carefully his poultry paper. They do not all take the same 



