178 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Dieu, stipulated for an annual rent of six 

 hundred pounds of wax, to be of good 

 merchantable quality, that the other party 

 was to bring to his house yearly on St. 

 John's day. 



Auf)ther deed, dated July 27, 1G68, 

 shows that the monks of the same monas- 

 tery rented to John Marel for six years 

 the revenues of the work room for the 

 payment of 120 pounds (about, $24) to be 

 paid in wax candles of first quality at ihe 

 rate of 18 sols (cents) per lb. 



It was about this time that, for reasons 

 of economy, they introduced in the 

 churclies the false candles coveied with 

 fine wax. 



For a long time wax candles had been 

 exclusively preserved for the use of the 

 church. Taliow candles, even, were quile 

 a luxury. The Duchess of Burgundy 

 never used any others, and in a letter 

 written to her son in 1422 she comj^lained 

 of their high price. Yet these candles 

 were only worth 4 sols 2 deniers (4^'^ 

 cents). The rich families employed oil 

 and did not even leave to the poor the 

 right to use the pine twigs. But comfort 

 and luxury were some day to invade 

 France. 



After the Venetians had taught us the 

 speedy bleaching of wax, rich people 

 preferred it to tallow. La Bruyere in his 

 "Caracteres" speaks strongly against 

 this luxury. " Our ancestors," said he, 

 " used not the wax candles, they were for 

 the altar and the Louvre." 



Soon the higher classes were no longer 

 the sole consumers of wax candles. This 

 habit soon became customary among the 

 well-to-do people of the small cities. 

 Traveling candle-makers made it a busi- 

 ness to melt the old wax and make it into 

 candles, so that each person could have 

 his or her own candles made right at home. 



The wax candle died on the day that 

 Chevreuil published his beautiful works 

 on fat substances; when wax and tallow 

 were replaced b3' stearine, in 1839.i 



Wax was also employed for ointments, 

 or plasters, of which our grandmothers 

 had the specialty. 



Diversely colored wax was in use in 

 chanceries in the middle ages, and our 

 national archives are full of deeds covered 

 with seals printed in wax. 



The liomans had employed wax for the 

 pictures of those who were in cvtrule mag- 

 istracy. In the seventeenth century the 

 fashion was again turned towards this. 

 Louis the Fourteenth had his picture 

 made in wax by the famous Benoit. 



Our readers will forgive us if we neg- 

 lect a number of ways of employing 

 wax. We believe that enough has been 

 said to show its importance. 



Although honey has to withstand the 

 competition of sugar, and wax that of 

 stcariue, still tliese products are both well 

 appreciated. 



Honey is still employed as sacchar- 

 ine matter in a host of pharmaceutic 

 preparations. It is utilized in the prep- 

 aration of the gingerbread of Rheinis. It 

 enters in the composition of metheglia 

 and of several alcoholic liquors. Lastly 

 it has been advantageously employed in 

 place of barley in the manufacture of 

 beer. 



Wax is used in many industries. The 

 joinei's and cabinet makers, the painters 

 and the sculptors use large quantities of 

 it. It is also employed in the prepara- 

 tion of some kinds of leather. 



Therefore we can see that if bee culture 

 was useful for our ancestors it should not 

 be abandoned now-adays. 



French bee keepers now sell thir- 

 teen million of francs of products. But 

 the number of hives could be much larger 

 than it is now. We should therefore en- 

 courage the culture of the bee and stimu- 

 late it by spreading the best methods of 

 culture. E. Faure. 



For the American Bee Journal, 

 The Attic as an Apiary, 



I noticed in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, for June, the inquiries of S., Madi- 

 son, Wis., with the remarks made in 

 answer. Some years since, residing in a 

 hired house with two windows in each 

 end of the attic, four in all, with little use 

 for the attic, I removed the windows and 

 placed a board in each window, darken- 

 ing the room. I then placed a hive 

 against the board in each window, so 

 that the bees could alight upon the win- 

 dow stool of each window, and enter the 

 hive. The entrance w^as directly into the 

 hive ; each hive had surplus boxes of say 

 5 lbs. capacity each box — an aggregate ca- 

 pacity of 100 lbs., or more. (It might be 

 constructed to reach 200 lbs. each hive.) 

 I placed a first swarm in each of the four 

 hives. They gave me as good returns as 

 any of my new swarms in the apiary. I 

 only had the opportunity of the trial one 

 season. They filled their hives well for 

 winter, and I should think averaged 40 to 

 50 lbs. of surplus each. 



I think such an attic would make a 

 very good bee house for as many colonies 

 as can be thus accommodated and every 

 farmer might have bees in his attic to 

 advantage, with little trouble. But to 

 have it in a neat surplus box for use is 

 better than to be cut otF from the comb 

 when wanted. 



What would be the actual expense per 

 pound, of honey, when one colony gives 

 100 lbs. per annum for ten years, selling 

 at 20 cts. per pound. 1000 lbs. costs |5.00, 

 the price of one colony of bees. That 

 amounts to 5 mills, one-half of one cent 

 per pound. We think that is not very 

 costly honey. Even if they average but 



