189(5 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



343 



ed in first class comb houey. As to 

 the expense it should not be very 

 much above foundation per square 

 inch. 



But suppose inventive genius does 

 not supply us with such an article ? I 

 believe it is possible to have the bees 

 make it t'or us out of season ready for 

 the flow of honey when it does come. 

 Mr. Otis and Mr. Baldridge, of Illi- 

 nois, have already been doing some- 

 thing in this line, and I understand 

 their crops of honey are larger than 

 those of their neighbors who work on 

 the old plan with simple foundation 

 in the sections. Under certain condi- 

 tions foundation can be drawn out, or 

 partly drawn out at least, in 48 hours. 

 If this drawing out is done out of 

 season feeding might have to be re- 

 sorted to. but I must confess I feel 

 that we need an invention that will 

 produce this partly drawn out comb 

 without the intervention of bees. If 

 we can create a demand inventive 

 genius will be likely to commence 

 work. The thought is father to the 

 deed. 



Now then, turning from the subject 

 of drawn c^mbs to possibilities along 

 the line of being able to produce comb 

 honey Avithout the necessity of scrap- 

 ing sections. Mr. Danzenbaker has 

 hit upon a plan that so far seems to 

 promise success. He places a sheet of 

 paraffined paper on top of his super of 

 sections. This is crowded down so as 

 to fit snugly by means of layers of 

 nevvspapers. Overall is placed a cov- 

 er. Bees dislike paraffine, and, more- 

 over, as Mr. Danzenbaker argues, this 

 paper, being impervious, retains the 

 heat of the super. If there is an op- 

 portunity for circulating currents of 

 air the bees, he explains, commence 



propolizing until these cracks through 

 which the heat escapes are sealed. 



Well, Mr, Danzenbaker produced on 

 this plan, in Michigan, (|uite a little 

 lot of honey and the same was exhibi- 

 ted at the recent Michigan State Fair. 

 Not a section of it had been scraped, 

 and yet notwithstanding this he secur- 

 ed the first prize. But perhaps you 

 ask, "How does he prevent the bees 

 from propolizing the upright edges of 

 the sections ? " He would have the 

 separators paraffined, and when the 

 whole super is made up there is very 

 little desire or opportunity for the bees 

 to deposit propolis, 



Mr. Geo. E. Hilton, a bee keeper in 

 Michigan whom I regard as not being 

 very enthusiastic regarding the value 

 of new things, after examining the 

 Danzenbaker S5^stem, I am informed, 

 spoke very highly of it. Indeed, he 

 expressed himself by saying he would 

 use the paper next season. While 

 Mr. Danzenbaker, almost in the same 

 vicinity, had found it unnecessary to 

 do any scraping at all, Mr. Hilton had 

 been obliged to do considerable of it. 



I have not yet tested paraffined pap- 

 er in the manner stated, but I believe 

 there is something in the idea, and I 

 therefore give it to you for what it is 

 worth. 



I might say in this connection, for 

 instance, that we found that bees dis- 

 like to have anything to do with par- 

 affine. The past summer in shipping 

 queens we used what is called the 

 "export cage." In this particular 

 cage a compartment is provided for 

 holding the little pieces of honey. 

 This honey is secured usually by 

 means of melted paraffine. To make 

 sure of keeping some of these pieces 

 of comb from leaking the cappiugs 



