452 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



November 



tell the world that there will be bloom 

 in that orchard on and after the 15th 

 of June." He was brutally frank, en- 

 tirely revealed himself, and I consid- 

 ered that nothing was to be gained by 

 further talk on that subject. He rep- 

 resents the view of at least a part of 

 the orchardists. But there is another 

 type. They belong to the tribe of 

 Joab. They salute you with: "Is it 

 well with thee, my brother?" But look 

 out for the steel blade concealed in 

 their cloaks. 



I am prepared to believe that there 

 is yet a third class, who rejoices when 

 we rejoice, who grieves at our mis- 

 fortunes, and who is "willing to live 

 and let live," but I have not found it. 



Ahead of the apiarist in the Yakima 

 Valley is the sign: "Keep off the 

 grass; your bees have no business 

 dallying with the daisies," and it is up 

 tc us either to move on or have our 

 rights defined and recognized by law. 



Washington. 



SIGN PAINTING 



How to Do It 



By A. F. Bonney 



As a rule, we are told to put up a 

 sign reading "Honey for Sale Here," 

 but the word "Honey" will do in a 

 pinch, if the reader fears to attempt 

 the four words; and supposing this to 

 be the case, I begin: 



Get a piece of white pine board a 

 foot wide and 42 inches long, planed, 

 and give it two coats of light col- 

 ored paint, white pink or cream, dry- 

 ing well between coats. Use a little 

 excess of turpentine so that the paint 

 will dry with a "flat" or dead surface. 



When the sign is dry, take a 

 straight-edge as long as the board 

 and, using a lead pencil, draw lines 

 two and a half inches from each edge, 

 marked AAAA in the drawing. Let 

 the lines be very faint. This will 

 give you a space seven inches wide 

 in which to put your letters, and let- 

 ters of this size will be seen from 

 afar. 



Next provide yourself with a strip 

 of thin board one and one-fourth 

 inches wide and about ten, inches 

 long, beveled on two edges. This is 

 your letter gruide. To use it, meas- 



1 



ure eight inches from the left hand 

 end of your sign to XI on the board, 

 place the letter guide to these marks 

 and draw a line on both sides the let- 

 ter guide, move the guide to the right 

 and make X3 and X4, then make the 

 bar of the letter H. 



This is the plain Gothic letter, and 

 is the basis of the many kinds in use. 

 The space between letters is the width 

 of the letter guide, while between 

 words it is one and a half to two 

 times the width of the guide. 



In the attached drawing I have 

 made the guide lines very faint ana 

 the outlines of the letters dark, for 

 the guide lines will soon disappear. 



The mixing of paint is a mystery to 

 many people, but is really very simple. 

 For our purpose secure a paper of 

 lamp black, a dime's worth of Japan 

 drier and a pint of raw linseed oil, 

 and putting a heaping tablespoonful 

 of the black in a dish add oil, stirring 

 constantly, until you have a mass as 

 thick as cream, when you add a tea- 

 spoonful of the drier. Stir well ana 

 the paint is ready to use. 



Using a No. 8 sable "pencil," which 

 is a brush, paint very carefully up to 

 the outlines of the letters until you 

 have a strip a quarter of an inch or 

 more wide the shape of the letter, 

 then, with a half-inch brush, fill in the 

 rest of the letters; let dry, and your 

 sign is ready to use. It will be as 

 well for the beginner to let the out- 

 lines to dry before filling in, but a 

 hand rest may be made — a sort of a 

 bridge — by using a piece of thin 

 board three inches wide and a foot 

 or more long. On one side of this, 

 across both ends, fasten thin strips 

 of wood, and it is ready to use. 



Leave the sign stand until it is dry, 

 then put it up, and as simple as it is, 

 it will attract a deal of attention. If 

 a larger sign is desired, all there is 

 to do is to widen the letter guide and 

 the sign board in proportion. If, for 

 instance, you want to make a sign 

 with letters a foot high, use a board 

 about five feet long and eighteen 

 inches wide, made of white pine floor- 

 ing, cleated together with strips on 

 the back, and make a letter guide two 

 inches wide, which will make a sign 

 that may be read a long distance. 



A person may, of course, use bright 

 colored paints in making signs, but to 

 my notion there is nothing bettor than 

 a neat black and white sign. 



Iowa. 



MOVING BEES SHORT DISTANCES 



On page 366, September Journal, 

 "New Hampshire" asks for a method 

 of moving bees without loss. Lang- 

 stroth Revised, page 308, latter part 

 of paragraph 572, gives the best 

 method I ever heard of: Moving the 

 strongest colonies first, letting the 

 bees that return strengthen the 

 weaker colonies, moving the weakest 

 last, thus equalizing their strength 

 and moving them without loss. 



I think this plan so good that it 

 ought to be published three or four 

 times a year until beekeepers are as 

 familiar with it as they are with the 

 Demaree system, clipping queens or 

 any other manipulation. 



In moving a single colony a short 

 distance, a good plan is to place on 

 the old stand a hive with a comb in it, 

 one with a little brood in it, if possi- 

 ble; leave it for two or three days, as 

 all the old bees do not return the first 

 day; then, at night, place the hive on 

 top of the colony where they belong 

 and let them unite through a news- 

 paper or bee escape. They will stay 

 "put." E. M. Cole. 



Iowa. 



(The only objection to that method 

 is the number of trips necessary to 

 move all the colonies. But, it will 

 work well in an instance such as is 

 mentioned on page 366. This scheme 

 was suggested by Mr. I-angstroth, 

 who wrote, in his first edition of the 

 "Hive and Honey Bee: 



"Selecting a pleasant day, I moved, 

 eai'ly in the morning, a portion of my 

 very best stocks. A considerable num- 

 ber of bees from these colonies re- 

 turned in the course of the day to the 

 familiar spot. After flying about for 

 some time, in search of th.Mr hives (if 

 the weather had been chilly many of 

 them would have pei'ished) they at 

 length entered those standing next to 

 their old homes. More of the sti'ong- 

 est were removed on the next pleas- 

 ant day; and this process was re- 

 peated till at last only one hive was 

 loft in the old apiary. This was then 

 removed, and only a few bees re- 

 turned to the old spot. I thus lost no 

 more bees in moving a number of 

 hives than I should have lost in mov- 

 ing one; and I conducted the process 

 so as to strengthen some of my feeble 

 stocks, instead of very seriously di- 

 minishing their scanty numbers." 



