614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



There is an excellent moral in your little 

 story ; and that is. that where oiie may be 

 working I'or even three long years against 

 seeming disadvantages, lie may be at the 

 same time schooling himself for futnre suc- 

 cesses. I have sometimes thought, of late, 

 that my former reverses and bad luck, as it 

 might be called, had, as it were, made a 

 good solid baekgnnuid or foundation to build 

 <m. Some of the bo\saiid gills lieie tliiiik, 

 sometimes, I am pretty vehement because 1 

 make such a fuss about a little bit of honey 

 being left around the factory where the bees 

 can get at it, and I presume it would be a 

 pretty hard matter to convince some of them 

 that I knew just what I was about. But it 

 is this very thing that enables me to steer 

 clear of mishaps ; and were it not for the 

 recollection of burnt lingers and heavy losses 

 of years ago I should never be able to do it. 



Priend II., I was much impressed when I 

 met you (although we had time for only a 

 fewbrief words), at your devotion, not only 

 to bee culture, but to the best interests of 

 our people at large, and especially your in- 

 terest in the recent developments in your 

 State. May God bless you and yoiu- work 

 among our Southern friends! I have been 

 wondering if it should be reallv my pleasure 

 to stand beneath that tropical foliage, and 

 have a chance to walk about in your pretty 

 apiaries. 



s:i 



MAKING FOUNDATION FROM ONE 

 CONTINUOUS SHEET. 



SOME SUGGESTIONS IN KEGAKD TO IJOING 

 WITHOUT EXPENSIVE MACHINERV. 



WAS 80 bu8j% when I last wrote, that I could not 

 describe, as fully as I wished, my method of 

 making- endless foundation, and will now ex- 

 plain more fully. 

 After trimming: my sheets of wax I take a 

 ss bottle and lay it in the soapsuds or starch solu- 

 tion. I dip the ends of the sheets in warm water, to 

 soften them, if the weather is a little cool; if sum- 

 mer weather, we can dispense with the warm water, 

 as sheets will be soft enough; flatten out wedge- 

 shaped each end of wax ; if any water is on them, 

 rub off with cloth ; take brush, dip it in melted wax, 

 brush it across the end of sheet quickly; put end 

 of other sheet down on the end brushed quickly; 

 j^ive the lap a stroke with brush. Now take your 

 bottle and press the ends firmly together. You can 

 Weld as many sheets together this way as can be 

 conveniently handled, or you can roll them around 

 a light drum, 18 or iO inches in diameter. You can 

 have in this way a roll of sheets as long- as a saw- 

 mill belt on the drum. The drum should be nicely 

 adjusted in rear of the machine, or the pull of the 

 machine will unwind the x-oll; or you can unwinds 

 or 10 feet, and let it lie on a long- plank; 4 or '> feet 

 at a time would be better. 



So much for the Sheets; now I will tell you how to 

 take the foundation from the machine in a roll. 

 Adjust a drum in front of the machine so that its 

 surface will be level with the point on the upper, 

 fi-om which you wish to pull foundation; have ends 

 of axle-drum to rest on beai-ings that will work on a 

 slide or groove in the upright pins that support 

 the drum, so that you can depress the drum in a 

 downward direction, in order to keep the toji sur- 



face level with the point on the roll at which foun- 

 dation is pulling off. A nicely tempered spring 

 should be adjusted at each end of axle, on side of 

 end, thus making the side-bearing press against the 

 spring, and the pull on the sheet equal and uni- 

 form. J. K. Park. 

 La Vergne, Tenn., Juno 7, 1884. 



I will explain to the friends, that the glass 

 bottle is used to press the ends of the sheets 

 together, because it is smooth and hard, and 

 leaves the wax freely, especially when lubri- 

 cated. ^Ve liave rolled fdn. in endless sheets 

 almost on the plan given above ; but where 

 the joint conies it is so very apt to separate, 

 and a part stick to one of the rolls, we have 

 linally laid it aside in favor of the plan now 

 given' in otu- A B V book ; namely, dipping 

 two lengths of sheets at once ; that is, dip- 

 ping hrst one end of the dipping-board, and 

 then the other. This makes the sheet about 

 as long as can be handled ct)nveniently ; and 

 when these sheets are piled up, and a board 

 of the proper size laid on them, we cut ac- 

 curately a pile of sheets very quickly. Many 

 thanks, however, friend P., for the sugges- 

 tions. 



PERTAINING TO BEE CULTURE. 



THE GOLDEN HIVE. 



fHERE has been a man in this neighborhood, 

 or, in fact, two or three of them, selling the 

 " Golden bee-hive." He (or they) have sold 

 dozens, pi'obably hundreds, of "farm 

 rights," for this hive, for $10.00 apiece. He 

 comes apparently well recommended. He comes 

 daring to be recommended by a certain A. I. Root, ed- 

 itor of a bee journal in Ohio, and shows in said paper 

 (a copy of March, I believe) a piece in Heads of 

 Grain where some one claims, or asserts, i-ather, 

 that the said Golden hive beats all creation and a 

 little more, to get honey from. I did not read the 

 piece; but if what he said is true, then this A. I. R. 

 had better bo a little careful about giving recom- 

 mends, even unintentionalli", to these chaps tt) carry 

 away hundreds, and perhaps thousands of dollars, 

 from the honest farmers who are seeking knowl- 

 edge in the matter. G. W. WiFjLI.ims. 

 Economy, Ind., July 19, 1884. 



Friend W., there has been a notice in 

 Heads of Grain, showing that bees will 

 store honey, even in the Golden bee-hive ; 

 and we have also given such notices from 

 Mitcheirs hive, and Mrs. Cotton's Controll- 

 able hive as well. The idea was to give 

 space for a good report from any hive, no 

 matter wiiose. These hives may be good to 

 keep bees in ; but we have endeavored to say 

 all along that there is no necessity for pay- 

 ing anybody for the privilege of using them, 

 or any combination containing principles 

 found in them. The man who showed the 

 copy of the journal took very great pains 

 that it should not be known what was said 

 of the Golden bee-hive in other places and 

 in other numbers. Tell us his name, and 

 we will give him a free advertisement. We 

 have searched the March number all the 

 way through, and can not find any recom- 

 mend in it for the (xolden hive. Can you or 

 any one else tell where it is ? 



