132 



THE AMEKICAN BEE JOUKNAL. 



[Dec, 



side ; but since I adopted the above described 

 device, I have not had one crooked comb built. 

 It has the merit of being easily made and put 

 on, and the greater merit of being invariably 

 successful. 



Generally, I do not put guides on the side 

 bars, as the bees are not apt to build combs 

 crooked, if they get started straight ; but the 

 guides on the sides of the frame aid iu holding 

 the combs in their places while they are being 

 handled, as the bees build over the guide, 

 so that it fits into the comb as a tongue into a 

 groove. Guides on the side bars should not be 

 quite as wide as on the top bars. 



M. Malm. 



New Castle, Henry Co., Indiana. 



Letter from Eansau. * 



Editor Journal : — We have seen nothing in 

 the Journal from Kansas for a long time. It is 

 probably unfortunate for the bee interests of our 

 State that we have no Novice or Gallup to keep 

 the bee-keeping fraternity informed that there is 

 such a place. 



In attending several fairs this fall, we had op- 

 portunity to gather some information in the bee 

 line. We found that, excepting a few localities, 

 this has been a very poor honey season, although 

 bees have generally enough to winter on. In 

 some localities a surplus was reported. We 

 found quite an interest being awakened in bee- 

 keeping. Even more than we expected. Mrs. 

 Tupper's example will be followed by a good 

 many women of Kansas. We saw several at our 

 State Fair that said they cared nothing for a bee 

 sting. When you meet such a person, whether 

 male or female, if they will put their attention 

 to the business, they will succeed. But where 

 you meet a person that lives in mortal dread of 

 a bee sting, it will do to advice them to try some 

 other occupation. 



At our late State Fair we had a separate class 

 for things in the bee business. This was secured 

 by a committee appointed by the Douglas County 

 Beekeeper's Association. 



This brought out quite a display in the bee- 

 keeper's line. Many were astonished at seeing 

 so much honey, and wanted to know if it was 

 all made in Kansas. But the wonder of all was 

 the honey extractor. The crowd was not able 

 to determine whether it was a churn or washing 

 machine, and as it is allowable for to mention 

 in the Journal meritorious articles, we would 

 say right here that we had on exhibition a honey 

 extractor of our own make that is far ahead of 

 anything that we have seen or heard of iu that 

 line. As a matter of economy, we thought it 

 best to send in this notice ourself, rather than 

 to give some one an extractor to make it for us. 

 The superiority of our machine is that it will 

 sell readily for churn, bee-hive, washing machine, 

 and machine for taking hairs out of butter. 

 When it has proved to work well for all those 

 purposes, we intend to get it patented, we will 

 have the hole that the honey runs out patented, 

 and if that has already been patented, we will 



have a combination of two holes, and possibly 

 three. Now there need no one send a dollar for 

 a description, as we cannot spend our time in 

 writing descriptions. But when we get a patent, 

 then we will have valuable territory for sale. But 

 to tell the whole story, our wonderful machine 

 did not take the premium. The reason was that 

 we did not have the selecting of the awarding 

 committee. That makes a "right smart" differ- 

 ence you know. We afterwards exhibited our 

 extractor at a prominent fair in Missouri. Here 

 the officers promised us practical bee men for 

 committee. And here, what do you think, after 

 examining three extractors and a two-story 

 Twining bee-hive (which had by some mistake 

 been entered as an extractor), the blue ribbon 

 was tied to the hive as the best extractor. Here 

 again, you see that it is all in the make of the 

 committee. Poor Twining never dreamed of his 

 hive being the best honey extractor, and labored 

 while he lived to make people believe it the best 

 moth trap in existence. But as he has now gone 

 to his "long home," I would be out of place to 

 mention his faults. 



We now come to the last patent on bee-hives, 

 a Kansas inventor has the honor. F. Grabbee, 

 of North Topeka, has secured letters patent on 

 what he calls "the Kansas bee-hive." Now, as 

 this inventor intends to push things, it might be 

 well to let the beekeepers of the country know 

 something about this new candidate for public 

 favor. As for ouself, we do not regard the patent 

 as much of a " Grab." This. Kansas hive is on 

 the style of the Thomas hive, set up on the cor- 

 ner. It is a four side opener, this will certainly 

 meet the requirements of the most fastidious 

 side-opener advocate. The patentee thinks it a 

 "big thing." The hive can be opened as easy 

 as the peel can be taken off an orange, one quar- 

 ter section at a time. But the patented feature 

 is the most curious. He first applied for a three 

 side opener, but was refused because it infringed 

 on other patents. Then he makes application 

 for a four side opener and obtained a patent, so 

 it turns out that he has a patent on what he 

 considered himself an unnecessary addition. 

 The question is now who wants the quadruple 

 side-opener patent? Only five dollars for farm- 

 right, don't all speak at once ; be sure and have 

 the four sides to open, or you will not get the 

 worth of your money. Now, Mr. Editor and 

 beekeepers, we have not been bribed to give this 

 notice of the Kansas hive. 



At our State Fair there was one D. R. Keid, 

 one of those wiseacres in the mysteries of bees, 

 that seems to have inherited the wonderful six 

 secrets of the lamented Twining. He seems to 

 have made a great improvement on the Twining 

 hive, and daubed it with a new name, " Common 

 Sense Hive." We saw a notice in the Journal 

 that this same man was at the Iowa State Fair 

 last year. We were glad to see there was not 

 as many fools to be caught as formerly. This 

 man Keid is not very dangerous, his shallow pre- 

 tensions show at once that he knows nothing 

 practically of bee-culture, and although he man- 

 ages to carry a few bees in his hat, he stands 

 trembling in his boots lest the bees make a raid 

 on his physiognomy. 



