1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



427 



a few nowadays want thin top-bars with the 

 folded tin bai'S. 



Say! in order to be consistent would you have 

 us stick to old things and make no progress? 

 Is it a weakness to change V If we could have 

 adopted the present impi'oved appliances years 

 ago it would have been well. Why didn't the 

 mower and reaper manufacturers adopt the 

 self-binder in the first place, instead of coming 

 to it gradually ? Why do we give the prefer- 

 ence to the 8-frame width '? Because it is bet- 

 ter adapted to most bee-keepei's. and the ma- 

 jority demand it. 17>h may be able to winKM' 

 in a single-walled l()-frame hive with a dummy 

 on each side, and chatf on tctp: hut (til bee- 

 keepers can not. So they winter in the cellar, 

 and hence do not want a hive larger thiiii thev 

 need. You have given some good hints, but 

 thei'e are some things you have ovei-looked. 

 Consult t)ur ]8<)1 catalogues.] E. R. R.. or 



on(^ of the L".»-vear-old " bovs."' 



SOMETHING ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF GREAT 

 TRUSTS, COMPANIES, AND COMBINES. 



Tlil<: HAKTFORI) STKAM -KOILKK IN.SPHX'TION AND 

 INSURANCE COMPANY, TO PREVENT EX- 

 PLOSIONS. RTC. 



As we approach the twentieth century, every 

 little while I am sni'prised and astonished at 

 the great stride the world is making in being 

 heliifitl to one another. A few years ago our 

 great shops and factories were sliut uj) from 

 visitors, and a great many of them are now. 

 But T think the matter is changing. Tf the de- 

 mands of a certain business required sonn'thing 

 that the ])roprietor knew nothing about, he 

 might visit the large manufacturing (>stablish- 

 nu^nts in vain. He could not get the informa- 

 tion he de-iii'ed. We now have experts in steam- 

 engineering, in electric lighting, in erecting 

 waterworks, and. in short, in every line. E.\- 

 perts go from place to i)l'ice, and teach all that 

 is to be known about liiese new things. Of 

 course, they get their pay for it — that is, they 

 usually do sooner or lat(>r. But (>ven if they 

 do. I think it is just wonderful the way in 

 which the world is getting to be helpful. 'Our 

 con\'entions are a tremendous stride in this 

 line. Horticulturists meet in convention, and 

 spend valuable time in teaching green hands 

 free of charge, all that is to be known about 

 their husines-^. and so in almost all other de- 

 partments. The man who says lu^ knows 

 something valuable, but will not tell it unless 

 they raise a purse of *.50.00 for him, is away in 

 the background. At the present time he could 

 hardly get an audience of one. Now, these 

 teachers an^ sometimes keen for business, and 

 often work hard for trade: but if they tell the 

 truth and furnish good goods, I think' they are 

 public benefactors. In our business we are 

 continually extending our line of steam-power. 

 Two or three years ago I said to our boys, " Oh 

 I just wish we could have the advice of some 

 man who knows all about engines and boihM's. 

 and shafting and hangers, through all the dif- 

 ferent factories all over our land I I wish I 

 knew how the big establishments manage all 

 these problems." 



Well, it was not very long afterward before 

 Crod sent just such a 7nan to look over our es- 

 tablishment. You may think my expi'ession, 

 '"God sent him," a little off: but I Iwlieve that 

 is the right way to put it. This man who came 

 to us had been visiting pretty much all the 

 steam-plants in this and other States. He 

 knew exactly how every manufacturing estab- 

 lishment solved certain probhuns. He told us 

 how tall a chimney we needed, and how large 



inside. He told us all about the water we used 

 in our boilers—how to prevent scale. He knew 

 all about tines and flue-cleanens. He had been 

 inside of hundreds of boilers after they had 

 been used a term of years. He knew exactly 

 when a boilei' is unsafe. In fact, he was the 

 inspector for an insurance company who make 

 it a business of insuring boilers against explo- 

 sion. When he said their company wanted 

 one hundred dollars to look our i)lant all over 

 three times a year, and (juardntee tis against 

 loss from explosion for three yeiirs. I handed 

 him the money very quick, and just laughed 

 to think that I had found somebody who 

 could do what I wanted, nnd do it so cheaply. 

 When we got ready to build our great smoke- 

 stack, 90 feet high and 8 feet square at the base, 

 they sent us a beautiful mechanical drawing 

 so that an ordinary mason put u]). without any 

 trouble whatever. '^a great shaft of hrick that is 

 not only a blessing to [he eiKjiiicci', but an or- 

 nament to this jjart of the town. The drawings 

 and specifications wei'e sent free of cluvicje. 



Now. all of these men I have been mentioning 

 might be criticised in the same way our million- 

 aires and our tiMists and combines have been; 

 but by taking the view of it I have been giving 

 you. it is quite a different matter. Y'ou know, 

 of course. I do not beli(>vi' much in book-agents 

 and street-ijeddlers: but when a man comes as 

 a repn^sentative of a great institution for the 

 relief and safety of humanity, I am ready to 

 welcome him \\ ith extended hand, and to thank- 

 God for sending him. A. I. R. 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS 



THE WAX-SECKETION QUESTION: ANOTHER 

 TIIEOUY. 



GLEANiN(i.s for April 1.5 was a feast to me. I 

 havel)een interested in the secretion of wax for 

 over xwo years; and as the subject is being 

 discu.^sed now. I will set forth "my theory; 

 thinking pr()biil)ly all the big guns are through, 

 and won't indulge in a rehash. I shall be safe 

 in setting foi'th such an ab^nrditv. Vegetable 

 wax is naturally produced by a flow of sap or 

 water through some brolcen or natural tissue of 

 the structure of the iilant. Air absorbs the 

 moisture, and leaves th(> crystallized produc- 

 tion. Bees gather from blossoms, nectar dilut- 

 ed with water: carry it into the hive, and. if 

 they have no empty cells, they i-etain the same 

 by forcing the water through the wax-cells, it 

 being thus evaporated by the heat of the bees, 

 leaving a residue, or scale, of wax. When wax 

 is not ncMHled it is removed befor(> the scales are 

 crystallized, thei-eby giving the bee a chance to 

 continue field labor; also young bees can per- 

 form this duty before they are able to go to the 

 field. In this way bees produce honey from 

 nectar, and not merely by evaporating the wa- 

 tei' by a cui'rent of warm air being forced 

 through the hive, on the water-cure theory 

 that air circulation is to evaporate water from 

 the wax. Nectar gathered during a dearth has 

 but little water, and will produce Imt little wax. 

 If bees need wax and hav(> honey. I think they 

 can redissolve it and produce some wax. 



Humboldt, Neb. Henry Patterson. 



THE VALUE OF AN ANEHOID HAROMETER TO 

 A BEE-KEEPER. 



I notice what is said on page 298, Gleanings. 

 in regard to your anei'oid barometer. I wish to 

 ask if that is what I want, to foretell the 

 weather ingoing to my apiary five miles from 



