484 



enterprise of this gentleman, Mr. 

 Thomson, Blantyre; Mr. Young, Perth, 

 and others that Scotland owes the rapid 

 advancement in bee-culture that has 

 been made of late years. Mr. Steele's 

 collection of bee furniture was quite a 

 museum. It contained, amongst its 30 

 articles, a comb foundation machine, 

 hives of all sorts and sizes, supers, 

 honey extractors, &c. One of the best 

 articles in the tent was the extractor 

 belonging to this collection. This is 

 evidently the extractor of the future. 

 Instead of having one large cylinder as 

 hitherto, the new machine is composed 

 of the ordinary central gearing, round 

 which revolves two elliptical cases for 

 receiving the combs. These cases may 

 be turned on their own axes, so that the 

 combs do not require to be withdrawn 

 and re- inserted before both sides are 

 emptied of honey. In this extractor 

 the current of air which was previously 

 so destructive to the young brood is 

 altogether done away with ; whilst the 

 instrument is so constructed that it can 

 easily be taken to pieces and packed 

 away in a small space. The display of 

 honey, especially the 23 lb. super, made 

 up of lib. sections, was very creditable. 



A " manipulation " tent was erected 

 adjoining the exhibition, where from 

 time to time during each day interest- 

 ing manipulations with live bees were 

 carried on, by which the uninitiated are 

 acquainted with the method of taking 

 the honey without resorting to the des- 

 truction of bees. A gauze screen 

 through which the whole operations can 

 be witnessed, protects the vistors from 

 the attacks of the busy little creatures. 



On Friday a competition for driving 

 bees took place for a silver medal 

 offered by the Highland and Agricul- 

 tural Society, The prize was for the 

 one wiio performed the operation in the 

 shortest time and neatest manner, and 

 was awarded to Mr. James Johnson,who 

 drove the bees and captured the queen 

 in less than 7 minutes. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Comb Foundation. 



W. J. WILLARD. 



I disagree with Mr. G. M. Doolittle on 

 the comb foundation question. Two 

 years ago I bought 10 lbs. of comb foun- 

 dation from Mr. A. I. Root ; out of that 

 lot 5 sheets broke down for me and 2 

 sagged ; the breaking down was my own 

 fault (as I have since found out), and 

 the sagging was the fault of those par- 

 ticular sheets. Last year I bought 10 

 lbs. of Mr. Chas. Dadant ; none broke 



down, and there was no sagging. This- 

 summer I sent Mr. Dadant some wax 

 (it was dark), and the foundation which 

 I received has been used both in the 

 brood chamber and in the surplus boxes 

 (1 and 2 lb.), what has been the result ? 

 Simply this : I have had neither sagging, 

 bulging nor " fish-bone," and the foun- 

 dation was very heavy, not more than 5 

 feet to the lb. 



I really think that I can make a suc- 

 cess of any good, pure, yellow wax 

 foundation, excepting the wired. If 

 wires will not do in foundation with loz- 

 enge-shaped cells, I certainly do not 

 want them in foundation. I have tried 

 them to the above extent. 



Would it not be better for bee-keep- 

 ers to make some allowance for latitude, 

 longitude and season V I hardly think 

 Mr. Doolittle has done himself justice 

 in his criticism on comb foundation. 

 But I have made several dollars out of 

 what I learned from some of Mr. D.'s» 

 articles. 



Jonesboro. 111., Sept. 5, 1880. 



Translated from the Germant 



Healing Power of the Bee Sting. 



The Augsburg Abend- Zeitung has the 

 following: We have related to our 

 readers how a severe attack of the gout 

 was cured by the sting of bees, and we 

 owe it now to them, to further state, 

 that our patient was a brewer from 

 Markle— has enjoyed the best of health 

 since that sting cure. Having been 

 confined to his bed for weeks in the 

 month of April, he has been up to this 

 hour perfectly healthy after receiving 

 those seven bee-stings ! 



A further confirmation of the curative 

 power of bee-stings is found in the ex- 

 periment that was made in the mean- 

 while at Rettenbach, in the upper Pala- 

 tine, and which has since then been 

 vouched for as true in every respect. 

 The inn-keeper of that place, G. Hirl, 

 had adopted sometime ago a poor, lame 

 girl, of 8 or 9 years (Magdalen Kuhn 

 was her name), who could not even 

 stand upon her feet. After all remedies 

 had proven themselves fruitless, they, 

 following the advice of a physician, 

 took refuge to bee-stings, and lo ! im- 

 mediately after the first stings, an im- 

 provement took place in her condition 

 which increased after repeated applica- 

 tions quite rapidly, so that the child 

 now not only stands up without assist- 

 ance, but can also run around at 

 pleasure, and consequently we may 

 assume, that a perfect and perhaps a 

 lasting cure lias been accomplished. 



Augsburg, Germany. 



