THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



263 



[For the American Bee Jourual.] 



Cheap Paint for Hives. 



Mk. Editor : — Notking iu tlie Bee Journal 

 an inquiry for a clieap and useful substitute for 

 lead and oil paint, I -will give the following : 



Take half a bushel of nice uuslacked lime ; 

 slake it with boiling water, covering it during tlie 

 process to keep in the steam. Strain the liquid 

 through a tine sieve, and add tro it a peck of 

 clean salt previously well dissolved in warm 

 water ; half a pound of powdered Spanish whiting; 

 and a pound of clean glue previously dissolved 

 by first soaking it well and then hanging it over 

 a slow fiire in a small kettle, within a larger one 

 filled with water. Add five gallons of hot water 

 to the whole mixture ; Stir It well, and let it 

 stand for a few days, covered from dirt or dust. 

 Apply when hot, by keeping it over a fire. 



Spanish brown stirred in Avill make it red or 

 pink, according to quantity. Lampblack and 

 Spanish brown makes a reddish stone color. • 



It is quite a chore to prepare this properly, but 

 when it is ready you have an article that is hard 

 to beat. 



P. Young. 



Sharon, Wis. 



[For the American Bee Jourual. 



A Cheap Paint. 



Mr. Editor : — Several correspondents hav- 

 ing called for a paint receipt, the following from 

 the Florida Laud Kegister, may answer their 

 purpose. 



Durable Whitewash for Outside Work. — 

 Take one bushel of lime, mi-ved as usual for 

 whitewash ; then add and thoroughly mix twenty 

 pounds Spanish whiting, seventeen pounds rock 

 salt (Liverpool salt) twelve pounds brown sugar. 

 Apply tliiu, three coats, and it will remain longer 

 than white paint, will not wash otT, and cannot 

 be rubbed otf. — Solon Robinson. 



Mix in colors to suit. 



John M. Price. 



Buffalo Orove, Iowa. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Cheap Paint or Whitewash. 



Mr. Editor : — In the February number of the 

 Juuinal, Mr. Coggshall makes inquiry for a cheap 

 paint. 



Take fifty parts of white lime, six parts of 

 alum, twenty- five parts of curd cheese, made 

 from sour milk, and add a small portion of blue 

 vitriol. 



The milk should not be heated very hot, or the 

 curd wjjl be too lumpy. Mix all together, and 

 run it through a paint mil), and it is ready for 

 putting on. You can apply it with a paint brush 

 or a whitewash brush. Add any color you wish, 

 when you are ready to apply it ; or you can take 

 a little linseed oil and white lead, and add dif- 

 ferent colors and apply a coat on the above paint, 

 especially in front of the portico, so that tlie fronts 

 of your hives shall be of difl'ereut colors. 



When the above paint is mixed ready for tlie 

 paint mill, thin it down with sour milk to the 

 proper consistence of whitewash. Keep j^our 

 hives covered and it will last several years. Tlie 

 bee-moth is not apt to deposit eggs in the cracks 

 or crevices of hives, if filled with this paint. 

 The vitriol kills the larvfe. 



This whitewash is good to put on any outbuild- 

 ings. It preserves the boards from warping or 

 cracking in the sun, better than white lead and 

 linseed oil will. 



Alfred Chapman. 



New Cumberland, West Va. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Ventilation. 



Mr. Editor : — I would like to be informed, 

 through the columns of your interesting Journal, 

 what constitutes proper ventilation. There is 

 such a diversity of opinions, and so many ways 

 recommended, that one with little experience is 

 jjerplexed as to what mode to adopt. Some tell 

 }'ou that the summer passages must be kept open 

 or the bees will smother. Others say that they 

 shtnild be closed, to give a chance for the damp- 

 ness to pass off at the top of the hive. Now, if 

 there is danger of suffocation with the summer 

 passages closed, how is it that many beekeepers 

 in this^vicinity, as well as in other places, who do 

 not see their bees from fall to spring, permitting 

 the snow and ice to collect around the entrances, 

 still do not lose their bees? 



Some say there should not be a current of air 

 passing through the hive. Now, I woitld like to 

 ask, will there be a current passing througli the 

 hive, if the summer passages are open, and two 

 or three thickness of woollen cloth, or a good 

 covering of shavings, be placed over the frames, 

 after the honey-boards are removed ? And, also, 

 does a hive need upward ventilation in the height 

 of the breeding season, if it is shaded from the 

 hot sun ? 



Will any of our friends give us some light on 

 this subject, pointing out briefly and plainly 

 what is and what is not required according to 

 season and circumstances? 



A. Green. 



A)}iesburg, Mass. 



Evidently there does exist a line of demarka- 

 tion between distinct species, which only requires 

 to be diligently sought to be found, obscure as it 

 ma}^ appear to be, but which the insects them- 

 selves obey ; for however closely species may,: 

 seem to approximate, yet I do not believe that 

 they ever permanently coalesce, but that thej^ are 

 always as distinctly separate as arc assymptotes. 

 — Shuckard. 



The study of natural science has progressively 

 reached an extraordinary development, spreading 

 in every direction its innumerable tentacula ; to 

 which the perfection of the telescope and of the 

 microscope have still further added, by the dis- 

 covery of new worlds of wonder. 



