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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Aug. 20, 



Now, there are localitleg where fairs will not be held 

 close enough to attend. In such localities it is a most excel- 

 lent plan to take a team with a light spring wagon and a load 

 of honey, and go right through the country and small villages. 

 Get acquainted with your more distant neighbors, and you will 

 be surprised to find how much you can sell, and how much 

 pleasure you will receive. I like to get all the pleasure I can 

 out of my work ; it shortens the hours and lessens the burden 

 very materially. 



Perhaps some of you will object to this latter plan be- 

 cause it savors too much of peddling ; but after trying it you 

 will find it a real pleasure and a rest from the regular rou- 

 tine of work. You are doing good in teaching the people the 

 uses of honey, and at the same time are disposing of your 

 honey at home and at remunerative prices, and every year 

 you will find the demand for your product increasing. 



By the time this is read the heavier part of the honey-flow 

 will be over, and you should begin to crowd the bees down by 

 removing all the finished sections from each of the two supers 

 you now have on the hives, and putting all the unfinished 

 ones into one super with a view of getting them finished, and 

 avoid earring over too many unfinished sections. I should 

 prefer not to have any, and begin each spring with new sec- 

 tions and new foundation. I once thought these unfinished 

 sections just the thing to entice the bees into the supers In 

 the spring, and while they may be Induced to enter sooner 

 with them, I find they will draw new foundation, ripen the 

 honey, and cap it sooner than they will these old combs; and 

 then its color and general appearance is much superior to 

 that stored in the drawn combs. 



This crowding the bees down also has a tendency to cause 

 them to store abundance in the brood department of the hive 

 for their consumption during the coming winter and spring 

 months, or until honey comes In again. It may seem a little 

 early, but my experience is, that it Is the only safe way, as we 

 are liable to get early frosts, and unless the winter stores are 

 well ripened and capped over, your bees are not likely to win- 

 ter well, and unless you have full combs in reserve In case 

 your colonies are short of stores, it Is an unpleasant job to 

 feed for winter. 



There are a few bee-keepers who extract all the honey, - 

 then feed sugar syrup for winter stores, but I cannot endorse 

 this plan. If I find, on preparing my colonies for winter 

 (which I do early), they are short of supplies, they are fed 

 extracted honey or given full frames of honey that have been 

 set aside for this purpose. If sugar syrup never came nearer 

 the apiary than the kitchen or dining-room, I am confident we 

 should hear less about adulterated honey.— Michigan Farmer. 



Newaygo Co., Mich. 



Fifteen Years' Experience in Bee-Keeping. 



BY MRS. 8ALLIE E. SHERMAN. 

 (Continued from page 517.) 



I had my comb foundation made, never having purchased 

 a mill of my own. I furnished the wax, and had all my 

 heavy foundation made from it, by a man in Austin, Tex., 

 but he could not make the thin to compare to the Dadants, so 

 for all the section honey I produced, I purchased the Dadant 

 thin foundation. 



I had, at one of our county fairs 87 pounds of bright, 

 beautiful wax of my own making, built up in a pyramidal 

 shape. It attracted a great deal of attention and favorable 

 comment. I always captured the premiums on wax at all the 

 fairs at which I exhibited. 



There were a great many droll questions asked me about 

 the various bee-implements I had on exhibition. For instance, 

 one asked me if that was the shape it was in when I extracted 

 It? Another wanted to know if I put the extractor inside of 



the hive ? Seeing a crowd of dusky maidens examining my 

 large 4-frame extractor, I walked over and asked them how 

 they liked the new-fashioned washing machine ? Taking hold 

 of the handle I turned it rapidly, showing them how fast 

 it wo uld sling the dirt out of the soiled clothes, then opening 

 the faucet to show how the dirty suds could be drawn off, and 

 fresh, clean water poured In ai. the top. By this time there 

 was quite a crowd around the new-fangled "washing ma- 

 chine," to which I had to explain that it was all a joke, and 

 no washing machine at all, but a honey-extractor instead. 

 You may be sure I had lots of questions to answer, and ex- 

 planations to make. It seemed to attract more attention than 

 anything In the hall. 



A nice way to make a small cake of wax for exhibition 

 purposes is to save all the bright capplngs by themselves, and 

 when you have enough to make about a four-pound cake just 

 melt and cool It in a cake-pan with ridged or scalloped sides, 

 with a good-sized stem in the middle, which, of course, leaves 

 a hole in the center. If you will first put extracted honey In 

 the pan and see that It Is covered all over, then turn bottom 

 upwards to drain, this will cause the wax to come out nicely. 

 Mould two cakes in the same pan and let them cool slowly, so 

 there will be no cracks In the wax, then have a smooth, large 

 tin pan on the stove, warm, put first one and then the other of 

 these cakes, large side down, until they are warm, tUen place 

 them together, being very exact about getting the ridges or 

 scallops to fit and match nicely. Then just rub with the 

 fingers around where they join, so as to make a nice job. If 

 you are careful, you can join them so nicely that it looks as if 

 It was all in one mould — you cannot tell where they join. I 

 have been asked dozens of questions about how I moulded the 

 wax In that shape, etc. 



Then have a small pan to mould a little one, that just fits 

 nicely over the top of the hole, which gives it a nice finish, 

 unless you want to put a little flag on top ; if so, just Insert 

 the staff in the hole, and it Is there to stay. 



In Georgia, when I was a child, I used to help ray mother 

 bleech wax that we used In making wax-flowers. We had 

 large moulds made on purpose for sheeting the wax prepara- 

 tory to bleeching, but after a thorough trial they were dis- 

 carded in favor of common, long-handled gourds that we used 

 for drinking purposes. The moulds would get warmed 

 through, and could not be so readily cooled as the gourds, for 

 the reason that we could dip them full of cold water, as well 

 as let them remain in it, which, of course, caused them to cool 

 much more rapidly, and the wax would slip off them much 

 better than off the wooden moulds. We had to have the wax 

 melted just right, for if it was a little too hot it would not 

 stick properly, and If a little too cool the sheets were too 

 thick, and it would not bleech so readily. The gourds, of 

 course, had been well soaked beforehand, then dip them first 

 In the water and then Into the wax and back again Into the 

 water, when It would slip off nicely. Oh ! such fun as we 

 children did have, sheeting the wax ! 



It was then laid on nice, clean sheets, and put out to 

 bleech. Of course. If we saw that a shower of rain was com- 

 ing up, it had to be brought in, that Is, If It was put out on 

 the ground or grass to bleech, as mother preferred and 

 thought best ; but some times she had It puton top the piazza, 

 In which event the rain did no harm, as, of course, there was 

 no dirt that could beat upon it as it would out on the ground. 

 It, of course, had to be watched and turned occasionally, so 

 the yellowest part would be towards the sunshine. In favor- 

 able weather it only took a few days and nights (for the dew 

 seemed to be as essential as the sunshine) to bleech it to snowy 

 whiteness. 



After two seasons' trial of qneen-excludlng honey-boards, 

 I discarded them as a nuisance. I didn't care to be bothered 

 with them. 



