1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



347 



JAKE SMITH'S LETTERS. 



THAT I.ECTKK. 



A. I. Oleeningn — 

 Ocer sir: — They was 

 a man in our naber- 

 hood a sellin a noo 

 patent bee-hive. He 

 give a leckter onto 

 bees in the skooi 

 house. He said he 

 vsi-' -sTfcB^w^a \ » wanted to insiruck 

 ^tl^^^^^^aH^^'W the peepel about the 



sweet ever concocted 

 by nature. But my 

 old woman sez he 

 wanted to sell hives. 

 I think Betsy izzent 

 fur wrong. He give you a short report of his 

 leckter. Leastways sum of it. It was as fol- 

 lows, viz: to- wit, namely: 



" Ladies & gentelmen, from time immemoreal 

 the hunny bee was di.-kuvvered ages ago. It 

 was 1st diskuvvered in the carcus of a lion. 

 The lion was ded. And no wonder, for a whole 

 swarm of bees was enuff to kill enny lion. 



"The best hunny is prodoost from a movable 

 hive. You see be four you a spessamen of the 

 movable hive. You see it has handles by 

 whitch you can pick it up and moveitenny- 

 where, and that's why it's called movable. 

 They is two kinds of movable hives. Them 

 whitch is made with handles in the 1st place is 

 jist called movable, but I can fix enny hive soze 

 to make it movable by puttin handles onto it, 

 and when ifs fi.xed that way it's called a fixed 

 hive. The handles is secured by a patent. 



"Improved bee-keepers keeps their bees in 

 out aperries. An out aperry is one whitch is 

 kep out doors. The free sirkellation of fresh 

 air out door is condoosive to the health of the 

 bees. 



" Much of the hunny nowadays is made by 

 contraction. The aperrist keeps a lot of mov- 

 able hives, and makes a contract with the 

 storekeeper for all his hunny at the beginnin of 

 the season, and by this means of contraction he 

 doant hev to trot round to sell his hunny to 

 Tom Dick & Harry, but sells it all by con- 

 traction.'" 



IZZKNT THEV SUM MITY FINK HUNNY PRODOOST 

 FKOM WHITE CLOVER? 



I hevvent lime to tell you all the rest of his 

 leckter; but svlien he got through he sed he 

 wood be glad to heer questions or remarks from 

 enny one. Then they all begun to holler out, 

 '■ Jake Smith 1 Jake Smith I " 



Then the man, he inquired was Mr. Smith in 

 the house, and I felt it was my dooty to res- 

 pond a reply. 1 coodent tock like the agent 

 did. for he was very smooth spoken, but I could 

 tell about how I hed dun. 



I sed, sez I, I haint only a farmer, sez I. and I 

 haint no improved bee-keeper, but I think 

 hunny is a grate invenshun. Sez I, I have al- 

 ways kep my bees in a out aperry, but I diddent 

 know befour that was the name. Idoan't keep 

 movable hives nor fixed hives, sez I, but jist 

 common hives or scaps, and one pallus. I never 

 practist contraction on the storekeeper, & most 

 generally my fokes eats up what hunny we 

 git, and most of you has tasted it. 



Sez 1. I haint nuthin to say agin the hunny 

 prodoost from a movable hive, but I want to 

 ask jist one question, izzent they sum mity fine 

 honey prodoost from white clover? sez I. And, 

 sez I, them handles may be secured by a patent, 

 but they look like they was secured with 

 screws. I jist sed that fer a joke, fer he ment 

 you dassent make handles when they was pat- 

 ented. But I doant think yude git mutch more 

 hunny with handles. Jake Smith. 



RECOLLECTIONS AND EXPERIENCES ; BY AN 

 OLD BEE-JOURNAL EDITOR. 



wax-kefining; a home-made boiler; how 



every foundation manufacturer may 



have good facilities at a trifling 



cost; a valuable article. 



While engaged in the manufacture of comb 

 foundation we accumulated a quantity of wax, 

 unfit for foundation, much of it being very dark 

 and filthy. Not only so, but we often made wax 

 into foundation that did not please us. and 

 which damaged our trade, but which, due to 

 first cost, must be turned into money. To be 

 able to rehne such wax has taeen a luxury: for, 

 to make the operation successful and expedi- 

 tious, considerable investment has been neces- 

 sary. 



Recently we wrote to a manufacturer of foun- 

 dation, asking his price for refining this stuff, 

 and we found the cost on .500 to 700 lbs. would 

 be quite an item. By correspondence we found 

 a better market for this wax, if I'etined, much 

 nearer home. As our time was not strictly val- 

 uable, we concluded to refine thi-< wax ourselves. 

 We applied to a manufacturer in town, to use 

 steam from his boiler, but found his charge per 

 hour would leave us little for our labor. 



Not yet discouraged, we concluded to con- 

 struct a boiler and do the work in our kitchen. 

 This is how we did it: 



We chanced to have on hand an iron pot that 

 was once used to cook food for poultry. This 

 pot holds about 12 quarts of water. The rim of 

 it fiared, funnel-shaped. -We concluded to turn 

 this pot into a boiler. We bored a jSg-inch hole 

 about one inch from the top. We filed a bright 

 surface all around the upper inside edge, and at 

 a point opposite the hole. This work was done 

 in about one hour. We next took it to our tin- 

 ner, and had two pieces of ^4-incii steam-pipe 

 cut: one piece (the one that goes into the pot) 

 3 feet long; and the other piece, to reach into 

 the barrel, 30 inches long. The horizontal piece 

 can be much longer, if you find it necessary. 

 To make a solid job we concluded to let the hor- 

 izonta.l pipe extend through the hole across to 

 the opposite inside of the pot, hence we tinned 

 the {'ud of this pipe, and at a point to corres- 

 pond with the hole. To let steam into the pipe 

 we sawed two V-shaped openings in one side, 

 near the inner end. it was nowwtll soldered 

 at the hole and at the end abutting the pot. 



A heavy galvanized-iron cover was fitted to 

 the top of the pot. Into this a hole was cut, 

 and a -'.i-inch coupling soldered. A plug closed 

 the coupling. Now the cover was carefully sol- 

 dered to the pot. An elbow on the screw end of 

 the horizontal pipe, and a square nut soldered 



