r'\I>ruary. loi. 



American l^ee Journal 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder. Cordele. Ga. 



Apiarian Opportunities 



As 1 go to and fro over the countVy 

 I look out through the car windows 

 with eager eyes and view it from a 

 standpoint of an energetic bee-keeper. 

 Then I drop my eyes, and from my en- 

 terprising spirit comes, "Oh! the 

 opportunities for our industry!" Thou- 

 sands of hustling men could be in the 

 field of apiculture, not only making 

 honest livings, and increasing their 

 business, but money besides. 



Truly, the golden opportunities of 

 our lovable industry are shining bright- 

 er than ever before, and it is up to iis 

 to embrace them. 



Viewing the situation of our indus- 

 try at present, I can only say that we 

 have made progress, but with the great 

 opportunities that are within our reacli. 

 I am proud of the future of bee-keep- 



Making and Keeping Good Resolutions 



It is rather late for Xew Year's reso- 

 lutions, but as the bee-keepers' busy 

 season is near they may be more ap- 

 propriate. I wish to state a resolution, 

 or whatever you may call it, which the 

 writer made once. 



When I was about 14 years old I at- 

 tended a country-cottage prayer-meet- 

 ing, and the leader read the 6th chap- 

 ter of St. Matthew, in which these 

 words of the Savior are recorded, in 

 the :33d verse : " But seek ye first the 

 kingdom of God and his righteousness, 

 and all these things shall he added un- 

 to you." Of couse, from the previous 

 verses I knew he meant temporal 

 things. 



.\fter reading the chapter we knelt 

 in prayer, and with these words fixed 

 in my memory, I prayed about thus, 

 secretly: 



"Lord. I have loved you ever since I can 

 remember, and I am a poor orphan boy. and 

 i need clothes, money, education, and every- 

 tliine this world can give me. and in tfiis 

 verse you have promised it all to me. And. 

 Lord, if you are going to fiiltill this promise 

 in my case, you had better go abouf it at 

 once, for I am right now seeking your king- 

 dom and righteousness, and it shall be mv 

 last effort on my dying bed." 



Well, that resolution has been kept, 

 and will be kept, and has been the 

 foremost thing in my life. 



But, what about the Lord's part of 

 it r .\bout 2ii of us country boys left 

 home about the same time, and went 

 into a wicked city to live. All of us 

 were about "Jl years old. But the rest 

 of the boys had a common school edu- 

 cation, such as they could obtain out 

 in the country in those days, but I had 

 none, not even enough to write my 

 name ; and. too, the rest of the boys 

 had far more sense than I had, and I 

 well knew it, but somehow they had 

 too much sense, or not enough of the 

 right kind to form or make a resolu- 

 tion and stick to it. Oh, the multiplied 



millions of young men today that are 

 lacking in this kind of sense! 



Well, ere long there was a way made 

 for me to start to school, and I went 4 

 years in succession, and at the end I 

 was ready for a business or vocation. 

 My continued prayer was, " Lord, don't 

 let my life be a failure." And I started 

 out with willing hands to work, and 

 have been advancing every since. Goil 

 be praised for what 1 have done, 

 whether it be little or much. 



The most of the other boys went into 

 wickness, lived unclean lives, and are 

 in their graves; and those living are 

 my juniors in business life. All be- 

 cause they did not anchor their lives in 

 some precious promise of the Lord's, 

 or resolve and stick to it. 



The Lord lias fulfilled his promise in 

 my case. 



Wilder's Comb Foundation Fastener for 

 Shallow and Deep Frames 



The cut herewith shows the founda- 

 tion fastener which I use for fastening 

 comb foundation in frames in chunk- 

 honey production. The cut shows the 

 device so plainly that it needs no ex- 

 planation. 



When I lirst began chunk-honey 

 production in a wholesale way, I used 

 only starters in the shallow frames, but 

 by experimenting I learned that full 

 sheets of comb foundation were far 



this was not satisfactory, but the bes 

 I could do. 



While thinking over this difficult 

 problem one night until nearly day, 

 this device came into my mind like a 

 Hash, and the next morning by sun-up 

 I had a rude model made, and was fast 

 ening in full sheets of foundation. I 

 soon found that it was a success, and 

 solved this difficult problem, so it has 

 been my only device for this purpose 

 for two seasons, and I have used only 

 full sheets of foundation since. 



Our chunk-honey supers are hxed up 

 ready for the bees, at the home apiary, 

 and hauled out on wagons over rough 

 roads, many of them for 30 miles, and 

 are removed from the wagon and 

 placed on the hives, and we rarely ever 

 have any trouble from foundation 

 breaking down. 



I wish to mention just two things 

 necessary in operating it in order to 

 give perfect satisfaction: When the 

 point of the lever touches the founda- 

 tion it mashes it to the bar, and as it 

 passes off the foundation it gives it a 

 smearing mash, and of course the foun- 

 dation must be warm enough to smear 

 and not break. Then with new frames 

 a piece of firm beeswax must be rubbed 

 heavily over the part of the bar that is 

 to receive the foundation. This fills 

 the pores of the wood and leaves a 

 well-waxed surface, and when the foun- 

 dation is properly applied with the 

 machine, it adheres tirmly to the top- 

 bar. It is not necessary to use any 

 wax on old frames, or frames that 

 have been used once. 



The machine is fastened down on a 

 table or work-bench by means of two 

 screws, and it is strong and durable, 

 and you can use as much muscle power 

 on it as you wish, but it is not neces- 

 sary. It works easily and rapidly. 



This is the onlv device I have ever 



WlI.IlKK'^ CoMl: I'm N|i.\ I liiN I'.\STKNKK H 



SllAI I.nW AMI DKKI' KK.\ME> 



better in these frames when they could 

 be fastened securely, but this was ;i 

 difficult task, much of the foundation 

 falling out in handling and hauling the 

 supers out, and the bees would break 

 it down by clustering on it heavily; 

 and on account of this no end of dis- 

 satisfaction arose even when we used 

 the greatest precaution, fastening it by 

 the melted-wax plan. So I almost 

 abandoned the use of full sheets in the 

 frames, and used mostly starters; but 



invented, and give it to the bee-keeping 

 world. 



Since the invention many bee-keep- 

 ers have tried the machine, and it has 

 been well tested and has given perfect 

 satisfaction. 



Granulated Comb Honey 



Many of the Dixie bee-keepers seem 

 to have been behind the past season in 



