368 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



or perfect cell base. They try to leave 

 nothing- for the bees to do. Is it not 

 astonishing how man tries to supplant 

 nature ? I have seen persons in propa- 

 gating plants and trees try to do the 

 things the plants and trees ought to do 

 themselves. The reason the "fool" 

 boy could set the hens so much better 

 than his smart brother was because he 

 gave the hens their own way. He let 

 the hens manage the nest making. 

 My system of swarm control allows 

 the swarms to control affairs. We 

 read of bees being provided with new, 

 clean hives with nice, drawn combs 

 and such, but the bees do not stay in 

 such hives. The bees prefer an old, 

 weather worn box with no combs at 

 all. They take a nice hive and drawn 

 combs to be a huge joke. It has always 

 been my wonder that they did not learn 

 to come out and go to the woods with- 

 out ever stopping to alight. I do not 

 leave the foundation as perfectly 

 finished as some other systems of 

 foundation making, but the bees finish 

 it up more perfectly than any. That is 

 the kink. Do not make the sheets of 

 foundation so perfect as it is possible. 

 It makes very little difference with the 

 bees but it counts a whole lot in the 

 making. 



Here is another kink. I put the 

 sheets of wax into the mill or rolls from 

 the same side from which they are 

 withdrawn. The sheets are held 

 straight as they go in and withdrawn 

 straight. Some consider this working 

 backward. In comparison to a clothes 

 wringer it is backward, but if it is 

 compared to taking a proof of type on a 

 printing press it is working in the for- 

 ward direction. In order to make this 

 kink possible, the rolls must be 

 separated a space, and the pressure 

 applied after the sheet is put in be- 

 tween them. At first thought one 

 would think this operation would dis- 

 arrange the rolls so that the cell-form- 

 ing projections would become muti- 

 lated. But not so. The cog wheels at 



the ends govern the mesh of the rolls, 

 as they need to be separated only 

 one-eighth of an inch, while the cogs 

 are one-fourth inch deep and remain 

 in mesh all the time. 



In handling the sheets of wax it is 

 done with the "pulling out" gripper. 

 Picked up from off the pile with the 

 gripper. And the grip is not released 

 until after the sheet has been rolled. 

 That leaves a one-fourth inch strip 

 across one end of the sheets without in- 

 dentations (but not necessarily so) and 

 is to be cut off. Thus the end which 

 usually sticks to the rolls is picked up 

 before the sheet is put in. The great- 

 est drawback to foundation making is 

 entirely eliminated. The reason the 

 sheets run crooked when in the rolls, 

 break, stick, etc., b}' the old way, is 

 because the rolls wade through a great 

 surplus of wax. By my process every 

 part is reduced to an exactness and it 

 is easier (not to mention the certainty 

 of it) than guess work. There are no 

 slow, painstaking moves. They all 

 admit of lightning rapidity of working. 

 Yet it is all simple, inexpensive ma- 

 chinery. 



A FEW LAST WORDS ON "DIPPING." 



One more kink before closing this 

 already too lengthy description. About 

 dipping the sheets. My dipping boards 

 are 10 inches long. I use a five gallon 

 kerosene can which costs 5 cents for 

 a dipping tank. I have several spe- 

 cially made dipping tanks, but they 

 are out back of the barn in the weeds. 

 In good order. My frames are 13 

 inches long, and the 10-inch sheets roll 

 out to sufficient length. If I were to 

 start anew I would adopt a 12 inch top 

 bar. Not to be odd but for convenience 

 and utility. As the dipping tank is 

 14 inches deep, I can dip out 3 inches 

 in depth of wax. Then I drop into one 

 side of the tank a flat shaped can of 

 water. This raises the wax up to the 

 top again. If we put water into the 

 wax, the wax will get water logged. 

 If we put in more melted wax it dis- 



