Si2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



Italian queens with drones of this race, and bred 

 the hybrids inter sc, for several years, in an apiary 

 by themselves, and the same tendency to assume 

 the color of the German bee prevails here as else- 

 where. 



These mongrels, notwithstanding- they are % 

 Italian according- to the Dzierzon theory, persist in 

 looking- and acting as much like the natives as they 

 do like the Italians. The power of reversion to the 

 color and habits of the primordial species, augment- 

 ed as it is in the offspring- of two races when cross- 

 ed, is not sulliciently strong to account for the spee- 

 dy return, when bred inter 8«, of the hybrids of these 

 two races. Jerome Wiltse. 



Rulo, Nebraska, May, 1880. 



PARIS FDN. MACHINE. 



MAKING FDN. BY THE ONE OPERATION OF 

 DIPPING ONLY. 



raRIEND FARIS arrived with his machine 

 nin +1> ° 11t)i lie is a tall, slim Virgin- 



on the 11th. 

 ^ ian, and his honest, quaint ways re- 

 mind one of the rugged mountains of his 

 own native state. The apparatus that he 

 hrought with him is shown at iig. 2, below. 



ed with plaster, pour on enough to fill the 

 whole frame. As the plaster sets quickly, 

 you will want some one to help you. Friend 

 Faris says his wife helps him, and very like- 

 ly he would never have succeeded at all, had 

 it not been for this partner of his in the bee 

 business. Fill it up, and smooth it off nice- 

 ly while it is soft, and then, when it is hard 

 enough, say in 20 or 80 minutes, turn the 

 whole over, take out the board, and fill the 

 other side in the same way. Now let it dry 

 several hours. Perhaps a whole day will be 

 better. When dry, pry it open carefully, 

 and peal off the sheet of fdn. Attach some 

 leather strips so that the machine cannot 

 open, only about as far as shown in the cut. 

 Fig. 3 shows a similar machine for making 

 starters. Perhaps you would better try your 

 hand on a small one first. I omitted to say 

 that the grooves in the frame that ordinarily 

 hold the slate, are to hold the plaster plates. 

 The grooves in the large frame should be 

 about -}- inch square. 



THE DIPPING BOILER. 



This is shown in Fig. 1. It is a tight box 

 two feet square and 10 in. deep inside. Mr. 

 Gray made one out of pine boards that would 



MAKING FOUNDATION' WITHOUT ROLLS. 



THE DIPPING PLATES. 



It is simply two frames of wood, exactly 

 like two slate frames; in fact, I do not know 

 but two slate frames will answer the pur- 

 pose as well as any thing you can make. 

 They are to lie hinged together, with two 

 common hinges as shown in the cut. After 

 they are hinged, fit a board into the lower 

 one, so as to be just even with the lower 

 frame. On this lay a imeet of fdn., large 

 enough to project all around. Now shut 

 down your other frame against it, and clamp 

 it so it cannot move. You are now ready to 

 fill in the plaster of Paris on one side. To 

 make it adhere and leave no air holes, the 

 fdn. must be thoroughly wet with water. 

 This is not so easy a job, as you may imagine. 

 Friend F. has a novel way of doing it, by fil- 

 ling his mouth with water and blowing it 

 out in a spray. lie will do this almost as 

 well as a fountain pump. When the sheet 

 of fdn. is perfectly wetted, stir up your plas- 

 ter in the usual way, and after you have 

 spread it on thinly with a spoon, force it per- 

 fectly to the bottom of every cell, with a thin 

 stick, spatula, or piece of tin, as may come 

 handy. When you are sure every ceil is fill- 



not leak a drop, without any waxing; and 

 he made it after dark too. If you can do it, 

 you are a pretty good carpenter. This box 

 is to hold hot water. We keep the water 

 hot, by running a steam pipe down into it ; 

 but you can do it by having the bottom 

 made of tin, and setting it on the stove, if 

 you choose. Inside of this box is one to hold 

 the melted wax. This can be made all of 

 tin, and be held in its place by a board 

 ^across each end of it. These end boards 

 must be nailed into the box very securely. 

 Under this tin box there is a space of per- 

 haps two inches for the hot water, to keep 

 the wax melted. 



HOW r TO WORK THE MACHINE. 



This one little item, how to use it, is the 



main point of Mr. Faris' discovery. Set a 



tub of cold water close up to your box (Fig. 



1). Take the machine by the upper lid, and 



I set it in the box of melted wax. Let the 



[ lower plate, while in a perfectly level posi- 



I tion, sink just beneath the surface. Now 



lift it out, still keeping it level, and swing it 



I one-quarter round, so it will sit securely on 



I the sides of the inner box. Now shut down 



I the upper plate, and do it so quickly that the 



