THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



201 



skin away from about the liairs forms the 

 well-known "noose-ttcsli." Ikiiciith this 

 layer, which is known as tho reticulum, 

 because of its intercrossinn lihres, is the 

 papillary layer. This is the very inner 

 part of the skin. It takes its name from 

 the fact that little teat-like processes — pa- 

 pillai — push up ajiainst the outer part of 

 the skin. The riclijcs seen on the inside 

 of our hands are but the elevations of these 

 papilliB. Into these papillae from beneath 

 come nerves and I)lood-vessels. Thus 

 from here comes all nourishment to the 

 outer skin; and here is the sensitive part 

 of the skin. Thus, a l)ee to hurt us must 

 push its slinj; throiiji;h the cuticle and re- 

 ticulated part of the coriuni till it pierces 

 the papilla}, where the blood receives the 

 poison, and the nerves twinge with its 

 venom. 



Now, as we understand the anatomy of 

 the skin we can see now the stiny, if 

 broken off in the skin, is loosened and lib- 

 erated. The scaly or outer skin, is con- 

 stantly being worn oft'. When we bathe, 

 the water often is clouded witli these mi- 

 nute scales. The snake sheds its scales 

 once a year; but we are doing it all the 

 time. As these scales are constantly wear- 

 ing oft', any minute portion of sting which 

 is held in them is also worn oft' and sepa- 

 rated from the body. Even if a small por- 

 tion of a sting is caught by the reticulum, 

 tlie part would probably suppurate and 

 loosen the sting, as is done with slivers 

 that enter and are caught and held in the 

 skin. We thus see that a beekeeper is 

 not made up of stings, by any means. 



In case of porcupine quills, which are 

 barbed like a bee's sting, they are thrust 

 through into the muscle, so that every 

 move of the muscle pushes them ; and as 

 they cannot go back, they are pushed on. 

 Thus a porcupine quill may pass some 

 distance through the unlucky animal which 

 lyis caught them in its tissues. 



A. J. {'OOK. 



Agricxiltiiral College. 



Beeswax as hardware. 



"Why is it that the hardware stores han- 

 dle beeswax?" repeated a wholesale hard- 

 ware dealer of New York the other day 

 to a Scrfinlon drug store keeper who had 

 asked the question. "Well, I can tell you 

 in a very few words. All through the 

 South, where the most of our trade is, as 

 well as in other parts of the country, the 

 tin peddlers swap their wares for l)eesvvax, 

 which they get very cheap. They make 

 a nice profit on their tinware in the tratle, 

 and they also get a profit on the beeswax 



when they turn it over to the retailers in 

 hardware. The beeswax passes from them 

 to the wholesale hardware men in the cit- 

 ies, and they ship it in i)arreis to New York. 

 We often receive a notice from So-and- 

 So that he has shipped a certain nninl)er 

 of barrels of l)eeswax to apply on account. 

 Beeswax is always a staple article, and it 

 is just as good as the cash at all times, 

 for I never saw a time yet when we could 

 not get the cash for it. 



Of course it sometimes fluctuates in 

 price like inanj' other goods, but tiiere is 

 always a steady demand for it at the mar- 

 ket value. Bc'foie the patent hives i-nd 

 honeycombs came into use a few years 

 ago, the wholesale price of bcf'swax was 

 twenty-five cents a pound. Where lary;e 

 numbers of bees were kept the patent 

 comb was used, and the consequence was 

 that the bees did not have to mannraclure 

 any comb, and in the course ef a year the 

 production of wax decreased so much 

 that the price went up to seventy cents a 

 pound wholesale. It went even higher 

 than that for a while, and then it fell 

 again, but it has never got back to where 

 it was before the patents were adopted. 

 If it were not for the tens of thousands of 

 small beekeepers who ding to the old 

 style of handling bees, the price of bees- 

 wax would })e more than one dollar a 

 pound." — Ntto York Sun. 



Food for bees. 

 James Heddon of Dowagiac, Mich., in 

 the "Ohio Farmer," gives a formula for 

 preparing a food for bees which is highly 

 recommended. It is as follows : Into a 

 boiling pan put three pounds of water, 

 heat it until it boils, and with a wooden 

 paddle stir this l)oiling water as you sift 

 into it ten pounds of granulated sugar. 

 Wlien it is all dissolved, and the syrnp is 

 boiling, povir into it half a teacupful of 

 water, in which has previously been dis- 

 solved a large teaspnon level full of tar- 

 taric acid. Stir it a moment longer, and 

 then remove it from the fire. This syrup 

 will not crystallize if the acid is used in the 

 proportion mentioned, and is of full 

 strength, and the syrup is boiled as di- 

 rected. Such syrup, when cool, is of the 

 consistency of honej% and the bees store 

 and seal it as readily as they receive it. 



Saved by bees. 

 An exchange says: "Once when the 

 Turks had V)egun to scale the wall of a 

 church in Transylvania, a girl's wit saved 



