AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



401 



convenience in using ; and these points 

 can best be decided by practical use in 

 the apiary. To compare in this way the 

 two smokers that have perhaps the 

 highest repute of any, viz.: the Crane 

 and the Bingham, I procured one of 

 each of the largest size, and put them to 

 use in the apiary during the entire busy 

 season. 



So far as difficulty with soot was con- 

 cerned, neither one seemed to have any 

 decided advantage — eitherbeing entirely 

 satisfactory when proper fuel is used. 

 The fuel should be wood absolutely dry, 

 and but little decayed ; if fuel contain- 

 ing much dampness is used, soot will 

 collect sufficiently to cause some annoy- 

 ance. 



As to durability, one season is not 

 sufficient to enable one to form a judg- 

 ment. Barring accidents, the leather 

 used in making the bellows is, in an 

 otherwise first-class smoker, the first 

 part to fail, so that in such case the one 

 in which the best leather is used, would 

 generally prove to be the most durable. 

 In the two smokers in question, the 

 leather used appears so far to be equally 

 good. 



In point of convenience my assistant 

 decided that the Bingham had a decided 

 advantage, and in my judgment his de- 

 cision was right. The wire handle for 

 opening the fire-box in the Bingham was 

 found more effectual in securing the 

 hand from burning in the operation of 

 refilling; for the cap of the Crane, 

 though lined with asbestos, would often 

 become much too hot to be grasped by 

 the hand with impunity; but more im- 

 portant than this we considered the dif- 

 ference in the weight of the two smokers. 

 From the use of asbestos in the Crane 

 smoker, and the consequent doubling of 

 the metal, it is made much the heavier, 

 which made it a burden where much use 

 was to be made of it, and caused the 

 Bingham in such cases to receive the 

 preference. Where one has the man- 

 agement of but few colonies, a smoker 

 of one of the smaller sizes answers every 

 requirement. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH BEE-ESCAPES. 



For the purpose of experiment, I pro- 

 cured and put to extensive use in clear- 

 ing supers of bees, a dozen bee-escapes, 

 a part of which were those known as the 

 Porter, and the rest the Hastings. 

 There is no question that they are of 

 great utility for the purpose intended 

 at any time when the bees are not busy 

 gathering honey from the fields. As a 

 rule, about 24 hours were required to 

 substantially clear the supers of bees. 



and then there were generally a few 

 bees left in them, but not so many as to 

 be a serious objection. They were not 

 used until the honey season had about 

 closed, and it is very likely that they 

 had been employed during the time of 

 active work in the fields, their function 

 would have been much more rapidly per- 

 formed. 



Though no very great difference ap- 

 peared, yet of the two the Porter seemed 

 to operate the more satisfactorily. It 

 appears that the perforated plates have 

 the effect of making the bees contented 

 where they are, rather than hastening 

 their departure from the super. Great 

 caution should be exercised by the 

 novice in adjusting the escape in seeing 

 that the super is bee-proof, otherwise he 

 may discover later that he has instituted 

 a disagreeable case of robbing. 



BRACE AND BURR COMBS. 



For several years past there has been 

 much discussion of the question of the 

 prevention of brace and burr combs, and 

 for the purpose of such prevention 

 frames with heavy top-bars have found 

 much favor. During the past season, 

 being possessed of 15 or more colonies 

 upon such frames, I had a favorable op- 

 , portunity for judging of their effective- 

 ness. The top-bars of the frames I used 

 are 1 1/16 inches wide and 1 1/16 

 inches deep. I spaced them about J^ 

 inch apart, so that they were about 

 1 5/16 inches from center to center. 

 The results were very satisfactory, and, 

 unless seasons of more abundant honey- 

 flow produce different results, leave 

 nothing to be desired. There was 

 scarcely a sign of a burr-comb except 

 where a frame was improperly spaced. 



CLEANSING WAX WITH ACIDS. 



Having seen the use of sulphuric acid 

 recommended for the cleansing of wax, 

 I procured some in order to test its effi- 

 cacy. To do so, I brought the wax to a 

 hard boil, then dipped it into a wooden 

 vessel and added about a table-spoonful 

 of the acid to 12 pounds of wax. The 

 wax which before was very dark, was 

 astonishingly improved in appearance. 

 However, the process is one not to be 

 recommended unless in extreme cases. 



The bringing of the wax itself to the 

 required temperature demands extreme 

 care to avoid danger, and the acid is a 

 poison which must be handled with the 

 greatest caution ; and more than all 

 this, the wax is undoubtedly, as Dadant 

 points out, injured for the use of the 

 manufacturer of foundation, and the 



