§S8 



GLfiAJflKGS ii^ n^^ ouLl'tJiit:, 



Am. 



tlie old woman's grease — it won't rub off when it 

 gets dry. Your article caused me to review 24 

 years of happy married life, and I saw, as I never 

 saw before, how verj' kind my husband had been in 

 thrusting upon me so many labor-saving machines, 

 and how loth I was to accept them on account of 

 the expense (for we were poor), and yet every one 

 of them has proved to be a benediction to me. How 

 slow — oh how slow! some of us are to see the point 

 as to what is best for us! 



A word about the bees, and then I will try to stop. 

 The fruit-bloom yield of honey was pretty good, 

 enabling the bees to bridge over to basswood (no 

 white-clover honey, as the old crop of clover was 

 frozen out); basswood of short duration. We are 

 not expecting any surplus this fall, unless we get 

 it from buckwheat. I am going to be satisfied with 

 past blessings in the honey line. 



Oh, yes ! I am not done yet. A word to sister Nel- 

 lie — I am going to wait and see what the elder 

 sister bee-keepers say on the Sunday bee-keeping 

 question; and if they do not answer you to suit me, 

 I will tell you a " real rooster story " that helped 

 me wonderfully on that line. 



Hilliard, O., July ;», 1885. Mrs. Jennie Cnr,p. 



My good friend, I am very glad that I have 

 succeeded in making you feel as if you want- 

 ed to answer back. 80 it was the sisters 

 who thotight I would do for president, was 

 itV May God give me strength and wisdom, 

 that they may not be disappointed —By all 

 means give us the rooster- story, Mrs. C. Why, 

 I can imagine one thousand or more juve- 

 niles clapping their hands. Just think of it, 

 little friends! JSIrs. C. is going to give us a 

 real rooster story, and it is something about 

 Sunday-schools too, I am pretty sine ; but 

 she must send it right along for next juve- 

 nile, and not wait for any of the elder sisters. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS AND CORREC- 

 TIONS FROM C. C. MILLER. 



CAH ADULT BEES SECRETE WAX? 



DON'T know; but I can hardly see that it is 

 proven on p. 536, as you, Mr. Hoot, seem to 

 agree. I see nothing in the facts stated, to 

 show that any wax was secreted, only worhed by 

 the old bees. Of course, you must have notic- 

 ed that, as a general rule, no freshly secreted wax is 

 used in making queen-cells. I think in all the thou- 

 sands of queen-cells that have come under my ob- 

 servation I never saw a light-colored one unless the 

 surrounding comb or combs were light. 



BEES USINP, OLD WAX OVER AGAIN. 



Indeed, I think bees use old wax over again much 

 more than most bee-keepers suppose. Tiie elder 

 Mr. Oatman once said to me that they thought seri- 

 ously of melting up their old combs and giving the 

 colonies fresh foundation, just because, with old 

 comb in the hive, they could not secure sections of 

 the purest whiteness. When I used wide frames I 

 practiced putting a brood-frame between two wide 

 frames, with no intervening separators; and when- 

 ever they were allowed to remain thus till the sec- 

 tions were sealed over, or partly so, the capping 

 was sure to be more or less dark. Sometimes the 

 capping was uniformly dark, sometimes mottled 

 with bits of white and dark, about half and half, 

 but easily distinguishable; but in no case do I rec- 



ollect a section of virgin whiteness sealed under 

 such conditions. In this case they must have car- 

 ried the old wax from one frame to another. Per- 

 haps it We want the whitest sections it will pay us 

 to i-emove the superfluous wax from top-bars and 

 elsewhere. I think I get whiter sections by using 

 Heddon's honey-board, perhaps because the bees 

 don't like to carry the old wax so far. 



A SUN WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



Don't be alarmed— nothing patented, complicated, 

 nor even original, only to show how easily it can be 

 done. As I run altogether for comb honey I don't 

 get much wax; but small quantities are always ac- 

 cumulating or wasting; and with no better conven- 

 ience than the sieve and pan it has been more or 

 less a nuisance. For some time I have been notic- 

 ing the advertisements, to know what kind of wax- 

 extractor to buy; but the trouble with all was, that 

 fire heat must be employed, and I wanted some- 

 thing that would take care of itself, by ray merely 

 throwing in the scraps. So the other day I gave 

 Charlie instructions to make one. He took a bo.x 2 

 ft. long. 3 ft. wide, 1(4 ft. deep (I don't think the size 

 essential, but he happened to And one of that size), 

 put a shelf in it on which was placed an old black 

 sheet-iron dripping-pan. One corner of the pan 

 was split open, and the pan (or, rather, the shelf) 

 very slightly slanted, so tliat, as the wax melted, it 

 would slowlj- run out of the open corner, and under 

 this corner was placed a stone crock holding one or 

 two gallons, and nearly tilled with water. The box 

 was made bee-tight, and covered by a window-sash 

 that had been lying idle in the cellar; and as the 

 sash was too large for the box. boards were nailed 

 on two sides of the sash, to make it fit. That's all 

 there is of it— an old box, dripping-pan, window- 

 sash, and stone crock. Not an ornamental thing, 

 by any means, but it does nice work. All that is 

 needed is to throw the scraps into the pan, and the 

 pure wax di'ojjs into the crock, leaving the sediment 

 on the bottom of the pan. It runs only in the mid- 

 dle of the day; but Charlie hastened it very much 

 one day bj' putting a looking-glass so as to reflect 

 the sun upon it. 1 don't know that it would do for 

 large quantities, but I have got three or four pounds 

 of very nice wax from it. 



GETTING WAX FROM OLD COMBS. 



One would almost infer from Mr. Swinson's exper- 

 iments on page 53.3, and your comments thereon, 

 that a frame of comb after being in use ten years 

 had absolutely less wax in it than when first made. 

 I doubt this. I don't think the wax evaporates; and 

 after the first cocoon is left in it, the bees can not 

 get at the wax to take it away, except at the edges 

 of the cells. 1 think less wax is usually obtained 

 from old comb than from new; but the wax may be 

 there for all that. Suppose you try this experi- 

 ment: Take an old black comb; cut or break it in 

 two; and when tolerably warm, mash up the one 

 piece into a solid ball, and, leaving the other piece 

 whole, place the two where they can have the full 

 benefit of the hot sun for some days, or give them a 

 slow fire heat. The piece left whole, if the heat has 

 been strong enough and long enough, will be found 

 scarcely any thing but dry cocoons, easily pulled 

 apart; whereas the other will still be a solid ball 

 with much wax In it, and I doubt if you can get it 

 out. Burn each in the fire, and see the difference. 

 C. C. MILLEH, 179-340. 



Mai-engo, McHenry Co., 111., Aug., 1885. 



Thanks, friend Miller, for your correction. 



