THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



159 



[For the American Bee Jounral.] 



To Get Bees Out of Honey Eoxes. 



I have never had much difficulty in getting 

 boxes tilled with nice honey; but I have had 

 great difficulty in getting the bees out of the 

 boxes after their removal from the hives. I 

 have taken off boxes early in the morning, at 

 mid-day, and late in the afternoon ; have set 

 ihem near the hive, and away from the hive, 

 covered and uncovered, with smoke and with- 

 out smoke; in short, have tried all sorts of ways. 

 Still, many bees, after leaving a box, would re- 

 turn for a second load of honey aud bring with 

 them a swarm of hungry robbers; so that it was 

 impossible to leave removed boxes until the 

 last bee had been driven or coaxed out, and 

 every hole covered. This took too much time, 

 and I sought a better plan. Why not set the 

 boxes on an empty hive, in some remote part of 

 the apiary ? That worked very well for a little 

 while, but the robbers soon saw through this 

 arrangement. Then I must have some kind of 

 door or outlet to the hive, through which the 

 bees could pass out, but not return. That was 

 soon devised. A piece of tin was placed over 

 the entrance, with four holes cut in the lower 

 edge, about the size of a bee, and each hole cov- 

 ered, on the outside, with a small isinglass door, 

 hung on a bit of fine wire, so as to woik with 

 the utmost freedom and with the least possible 

 friction. All the light admitted into the hive 

 must pass through these little isinglass doors, 

 and thither the bees within flocked. The 

 slightest push against one of these little doors 

 was sufficient to open it, the bee passed out, and 

 the door shut behind him. Hundreds of bees 

 followed him with the same result. This was 

 most satisfactory. But wait, here comes a bee 

 back for a second load. Now for the test. Can 

 he enter ? You may be sure he will try. He 

 does try every door — but fails. Bees are com- 

 ing out of one door while he is trying to enter 

 another. Presently one opens the door he is at, 

 and in goes our little thief. By this time half a 

 dozen have returned, and in ten minutes more 

 the experiment has proved a failure; for they 

 have in that time learned to push the doors to 

 one side, and without difficulty. This might 

 have been remedied by putting a pin at the sides 

 of the doors, to prevent their moving sideways. 

 But this plan wasabandoned for something else 

 that occurred to me just then, which I put in 

 practical operation with entire success. Not a bee 

 got back into the hive after that. I could leave 

 a hive with a dozen boxes (resting on slats put 

 across the frames,) go to dinner or downtown, 

 or leave it all day, and be certain all the time 

 that not a bee could enter it from the outside ; 

 and every bee Avithin could leave atany moment 

 with perfect freedom. The plan adopted was 

 simply that which is used in a certain kind of 

 rat-trap in common use, and the application 

 was made in this way. Through a cork bore a 

 ho:e large enough for a bee to pass through ; 

 cut ten or a dozen pieces of fine wire, say each 

 an inch and a half long, press one end of these 

 wires into the cork around the hole, and so near 



together that a bee cannot pass between them. 

 Let the outer ends of the wires converge to- 

 gether, leaving an opening at the ends just 

 large enough for a bee to pass out through it. 

 Put the cork to the entrance of the hive, with 

 the wires standing outward, and slanting up a 

 little from the alighting board so that the bees 

 from the outside cau pass under it, while trying 

 to get in. Close the entrance all round the cork, 

 so that all the light that enters the hive mu-t 

 pass through the hole in the cork. This will 

 bring eveiy bee within to this hole, for a pas- 

 sage out. I will guarrantee it to work perfectly. 



R. BlCKFOKD. 



Seneca Palls, N. Y., Oct. '1868. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



My Mode of Straining Honey and Wax. 



Last autumn I took up fifty old box hives, 

 from five to ten years old. As the combs 

 were mostly very thick and tough, I did not 

 consider them worth saving for future use, and 

 concluded to strain honey and wax from them. 

 This is by no means an easy task. The honey- 

 rendering machine would not work, as the 

 honey was too thick, even after warming it up. 

 If the combs are melted, the honey obtained has 

 always some taste of bee-bread, and is disliked 

 by many. I therefore concluded to make a new 

 experiment. The hives with the honey were 

 kept in a warm room for twenty-four hours, the 

 combs then cut out, and those containing honey 

 selected from the empty ones. They were next 

 put under a cider press, and the honey not 

 granulated was obtained free from the taste of 

 bee-bread, though somewhat mixed with parti- 

 cles of wax; but these could easily be removed 

 by straining through a course towel, after being 

 warmed up some. 



Very old brood combs are considered by most 

 bee-keepers as perfectly worthless, even for ob- 

 taining wax. This is by no means the case. I 

 prepared a bag from a strong coffee sack— using 

 the inner finer one, holding about a bushel. Into 

 this I poured the melted combs, and placed it 

 under the cider press. On turning and shifting 

 the bag several times, nearly every particle of 

 wax can be pressed out. This is to be collect ed iu 

 a washtub, and after cooling somewhat, taken 

 out in balls. After finishing the straining, the 

 crude wax obtained is to be again melted with 

 some water in an iron kettle, and then poured 

 into forms to cool. 



For melting the combs, I use a couple of iron 

 pots holding about ten quarts, adding about two 

 quarts of water to each kettleful; stirring it 

 well during the melting, and then pouring it 

 hot into the press-bag, and pressing ouly a bag- 

 ful at a time. With the assistance of one man, 

 I pressed out 163 pounds in a day aud a quarter; 

 but the rcmelting required nearly two days 

 more, for one person — not having pots enough 

 to melt more than 23 pounds at a time. 



A. Grimm. 

 Jefferson, Wis. 



