1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



121 



of the stuff when melting would fairly knock 

 a man down at ten rods. I was very sick 

 with malaria shortly after. Some thought I 

 caught it from that bad-smelling boiling mix- 

 ture. The wax I did get out of it was all right. 

 I had to use the press to iinish up. No more 

 jobs like that for me. I can take cakes of wax 

 that come to me dark, and, after rendering, 

 they will be a nice yellow color. You simply 

 want to melt them in the acidulated water, 

 cover the barrel over tight, and throw an old 

 horse-blanket over the whole: let it stand five 

 Ixours, and then dip out in pans carefully, so as 

 not to disturb the dirt at the bottom. Save all 

 the refuse from scraiMng the bottom of cakes, 

 and put through the same process. 



F. A. Salisbuisv. 

 Syracuse. N. Y., Dec. 5. 1890. 



[Thanks for your valuable article. When I 

 visited the Uadants a few weeks ago I learned 

 that they treated their refuse, that would not 

 refine by ordinary methods, with sulphuric 

 acid. I do not remember just exactly the pro- 

 portion of suljjhuric acid they use with the 

 water, but I think their method and plan was 

 very similar to the one you describe. If 1 am 

 wrong they will please correct. Mr. Dadant 

 told me when they first used sulphuric acid, the 

 man who used it earned for them S'Ta the first 

 day. and a smaller amount the second day, un- 

 til all the cast-away wax refuse which could 

 not be refined by ordinary methods was used 

 up. The price at which wax now sells renders 

 this a very important matter. Mr. C. P. Da- 

 dant told me not to throw away old refuse; that 

 a great deal of fii'St quality of wax can be got- 

 ten from it by the use of the solar wax-extract- 

 or and sulphuric acid. The action of the acid 

 seems to be to rot or disintegrate the cocoons 

 and other matter, so as to free the wax.] E. R. 



MANUM'S VILLAGE APIARY, 



HOW FHIEND MANUM MANAGES TO AVOID HAV- 

 ING HIS BKES TKOUULE HIS NEIGHBORS. 



Mr. Editor:— Kaving often been asked by 

 bee-keepers and others whether my bees in the 

 village were ti-oublesome to my neighbors. I 

 will give you a little of my experience in this 

 respect, as related to my friend J. H. Larrabee. 

 in answer to his questions while visiting me. 



" Manum. do your neighbors ever complain 

 that your bees are troublesome here in the vil- 

 lage'?'" asked Mr. Larrabee. 



"No. not very much. In fact, nearly all seem 

 to be interested in the success of my business. 

 and they show a very friendly disposition to- 

 ward the bees. There ai"e times, however, 

 when I have to be on my guard to prevent any 

 annoyance to my nearest neighbors. Forim- 

 stance. in the spring of the year, when the bees 

 have their first flight, if it ha])pens to be on 

 a washing-day, the ladies in the vicinity of the 

 apiary scold a little if their clothes get spotted, 

 as they most certainly will if put out to dry 

 when bees are flying: but many of them have 

 learned to wait until the bees have had their 

 flight, before putting out their clothes. especial- 

 ly those who have had their clothes soiled once 

 to the extent that they were obliged to wash 

 over again." 



•'Suppose they are thoughtless, and do put 

 out their clothes, and they get spotted : how do 

 vou manage an amicable settlement?" asks 

 jSIr. L. 



"Oh I that is quite a simple matter. When- 

 ever I learn that my bees have soiled my neigh- 

 bors' clothes, or annoyed them in any way. I 

 just present them with a few boxes of honey. 



which has never as yet failed to sweeten and 

 harmonize their natures." 



"I notice one of your neighbors has a nice 

 lot of fruit-ti-ees just over the fence from your 

 apiarv. Does he ever complain that the bees 

 annoy him?" 



"No: he has never complained of being an- 

 noyed; but when I first started in the business, 

 and when an occasional swarm would cluster 

 on some of his fruit-trees, he would watch— 

 from a distance— and request me not to cut 

 limbs unnecessarily: but when he found that I 

 never cut a limb nor branch he became quite 

 interested in the bees; and now. whenever he 

 finds a swarm clustered he notifies me of the 

 fact, but I never fail to present him with honey 

 in such a case." 



" Do your neighbors ever complain that your 

 bees injure fruit, especially grapes?" 



" Y^es, a few years ago I had two neighbors 

 who had a nice lot of grapes; and it being a 

 very dry season, the grapes cracked open when 

 ripening: and there being a dearth of honey 

 at the time, the bees visited the grapes in large 

 numbers, and were really a great annoyance. 

 One of these men once spoke to me about 

 it, asking me if I could not fasten my bees in 

 their hives until after his grapes ripened and 

 were gathered; but a few words of explanation 

 convinced him that it would not be best for me 

 to do so. He thought the bees punctured the 

 grapes: and all I could say on that subject 

 failed to convince him that they did not. I final- 

 ly went with him into his grapery, where we 

 watched: and by much watching and experi- 

 menting. I succeeded in convincing him that 

 the bees worked on only such grapes as were 

 already punctured or cracked open, caused by 

 the severe drouth. I told him that if we could 

 only have a shower, the trouble would be ended; 

 and it so happened that it did rain the very 

 next day. and sure enough the bees did not vis- 

 it the grapes any more that season. This man 

 is now a friend of the bees, and has never been 

 troubled that way since, owing to the fact that 

 we have not since happened to have a drought 

 at that season of the year. The other neigh- 

 bor, who. by the way. is of a very difl'erent tem- 

 perament, said nothing to me about the bees 

 working on his grapes, but tried to get even 

 with the bees by destroying them. One morn- 

 ing he called to his nearest neighbor, 'Hill, 

 come over here; I want to show you something! 

 There. See those boards there? Well, now, 

 you just keep quiet and I will show you how I 

 fix Manum's bees that are eating up my 

 grapes.' He had two hoards, each four feet 

 long, arranged fly-trap fashion, the inside of 

 which was covered with syrup to attract the 

 bees: and, slam went the boards: and then 

 with a shingle he scraped off the bees. 'There." 

 he says to Hill. I shall keep that trap at work 

 till I kill every bee Manum has got, unless they 

 let my grapes alone.' It happened that Hill 

 knew something about bees, and he laughed at 

 this good man for his folly, telling him that, 

 instead of doing me an injury, he was doing me 

 a good service; because, as the honey season 

 was over, I had many more bees in each hive 

 than I wanted, and that those he was killing 

 were the old ones that I wanted to get rid of, 

 and. besides, that young bees were hatching 

 much faster than he could kill the old ones. 

 He advised him to talk with me on the subject. 

 That day I chanced to meet Mr. Hill, when he 

 told me what he had witnessed, and we had a 

 good laugh over it. But I called on mv good 

 friend and tried to settle with him for the dam- 

 age the bees had done, but he would take noth- 

 ing. I explained to him as well as I could the 

 condition of things, and related my experiment 

 with the other neighbor that very morning. 



