THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



145 



one. Within three or four weeks we ex- 

 amined the maturing brood and it was 

 black! As we had taken the necessary 

 precautions, were we not justified in ask- 

 ing redress? But on examination we 

 found that the queen had changed to a 

 very dark color and her wings which liad 

 been clipped had grown out to full length ! 

 Of course this queen was in the hive 

 when the Italian was introduced and had 

 probably been coaxed into the hive by 

 the bees when out on her bridal excursion 

 from a neighboring hive. 



We have just been trying one of Novice's 

 extractors, that is, running it without any 

 thing in it, and it certainly runs very 

 easily. It seems as if it would not be 

 hard to get up speed enough to throw out 

 honey, brood, and perhaps, bee-bread ! 

 After being accustomed to one without 

 gearing, we feel quite sure we should, 

 with the Novice machine, throw out some 

 brood before getting the hang of it. The 

 gearing is admirably arranged so that the 

 crank lifts off, being in one solid piece 

 with the larger cog wheel. This makes it 

 very easy to clean or oil the cogs. There 

 is no wood about it, and the whole thing 

 is so light that it can easily be carried 

 with one hand. It appears to us, it would 

 be troublesome to clean, as we see no way 

 of taking the frame work out of the can 

 without taking out four screws and these 

 would soon be getting rusty or loose. 

 Only Novice would have thought of the 

 night-cap arrangement of cotton cloth for 

 covering it. 



We have before us the new work of 

 Prof. A. J. Cook, entitled " Manual of the 

 Apiary," containing 60 pages of useful 

 matter, with 20 illustrations. As to the 

 mechanical execution of the work, it has 

 the appearance of a government pamphlet, 

 being a little more than 6x9 inches, and 

 contains much waste space. A smaller 

 page and thicker book would have been 

 far more convenient. Of course at so low 

 a price it has a paper cover. The type is 

 clear. Many of the cuts are neither 

 beautiful nor true. The beginner, who 

 has not one of the larger works, will ob- 

 tain in this, at a trifling expense, the pith 

 of what he wants. 



Artificial Comb-Foundation. 



The situation at present with regard to 

 Comb-Foundation is about as follows: 



"Novice" comes into the field again, 

 and says in May Gleanings: 



"I am now having another machine 

 made, as Mr. Perrine makes no progress 

 as yet towards filling orders, even at his 

 prices; ours will be 75 cents and $1.00 as 

 before, but I beg no one will send in 

 money until we announce being ready to 

 fill orders. If, after the machine is done, 

 our laws will sustain Mr. Perrine, you 

 and I will have to submit until his patent 

 runs out; we can do it pleasantly if 

 obliged to, can we not?" 



Mr. A. J. King announces in the May 

 B. K. Magazine, that he will furnish 

 machines for f 100 each. He says: 



" A considerable quantity of cheap ma- 

 terials, perfectly harmless, and acceptable 

 to the bees, is mixed with the wax, and to 

 a person owning a machine the complete 

 foundation-combs ought not to cost him 

 above 40 cents per lb. The materials 

 added to the bees-wax give it a stiffness 

 and tenacity very desirable in the breed- 

 ing department of the hive, and this is the 

 only place where artificial combs (except 

 thin strips for guides) should ever be 

 used." 



He furthermore offers to give his patent 

 for the benefit of the bee-keeping public, 

 providing Mr. Perrine will do the same. 



If anything but pure bees wax is used in 

 the production of foundations, we are 

 strongly of the opinion that the whole 

 thing will fall into deserved disrepute, 

 and damage the sale of comb honey. 



Meantime, Mr. Perrine has not receded 

 from his position, that no one else has a 

 right to make the foundations. If this 

 claim is sustained, then the only question 

 will be as to the profit of furnishing the 

 bees with foundations at Mr. Perrine's 

 prices; if the claim does not hold, then 

 the question will be whether to buy a 

 machine at $100 or the product at 75 cents 

 per tt). If it is true that the comb-founda- 

 tions (if they are to be much used, we 

 hope a shorter name will be invented) 

 should only be used in the breeding de- 

 partment and they can be made for 40 

 cents per lb; then it follows that only 

 those who want about 300 lbs will find it 

 profitable to pay $100 for a machine if 

 they can buy the foundations from Novice 

 at 75 cents per lb. 



