1807 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



ivy, sjioomvooil, or calico-bush, are poisonous 

 to Tuaiiy auiiuals ; and the flesh of pheasants 

 which have feil on it is said to be deleterious 

 to man. A honey-like juice exudinjj; from 

 the flowers brings on phrenetic excitement." 



Can Prof. Cook enlitjhten us as to the prob- 

 al)le truth of the last statement? I'or myself, 

 I offer no settled o])inion on the subject; how- 

 ever, I am decidedly in favor of havini^ the 

 matter ventilated to its fullest. In a few days 

 I shall be in receipt of a new and up-to-date 

 reference library. This subject will be the 

 first looked into; and if I find any additional 

 light, or confirmation of what we have, I 

 promise to report. 



Niobrara, Neb. 



A FEW MORE FACTS LONCEKXIXG THE 

 HIETSCHE PRESS. 



BY K. h. THOMPSON. 



J/;-. A'oo/: — I will assinne that both of us 

 want to get at the exact truth concerning the 

 Rietsche press, and .so confide to your tender 

 mercies a few more facts. My two chief 

 points are, first, that we do not know enough 

 of the Rietsche machine ; second, that many 

 can not afford to Iniy foundation, and, if pos- 

 sible, something ought to be done for that 

 class. 



In the August number of La Revue Inicr- 

 fiatiouale is an article on the Rietsche press 

 from the manufacturers' point of view, by 

 Alf. de Trey. He says the fact that Rietsche 

 foundation is more rapidly worked by the 

 bees than factory foundation is simply due to 

 its greater thickness, and that he knows this 

 b}' experience. He also contends that this 

 greater thickness destroys the advantage of 

 cheapness, making a difference in value of 

 wax amounting to 1 franc for every 9 Dadant 

 frames ; and that the brittleness is so great, 

 since Rietsche foundation can not be handled 

 readih- below a temperature of 19° (apparently 

 centigrade = (tlf; F.), that a number of people 

 he knows have bean completely discouraged 

 by that fact. Ulrich Gubler comments on the 

 article by asking whether exposing the sheets 

 to the sun before using is more trouble than 

 to write to the manufacturer, wait some time 

 for the merchandise, and unpack it when it 

 comes; and that thickness is far from being a 

 fault; for if a swarm finds an extra pound of 

 wax in its sheets, it does not have to produce 

 it ; hence, six pounds of honey is saved, as 

 well as the time for gathering as nmcli more. 

 (This last argument seems to me rather singu- 

 lar. Under certain circumstances, and gen- 

 erally, I believe, bees build combs from foun- 

 dation without making all possible use of the 

 wax therein contained, or anywhere near it. 

 Still, there may be something in it. Did not 

 the report of the Ontario Station give an 

 account of an experiment with black founda- 

 tion, in which the completed cells showed a 

 regular gradation of tint from the septum to 

 the outer edges of the cells ? ) 



From the above one might conclude that 

 both sides agree Rietsche foundation is always 

 thicker than factory foundation; but this con- 



clusion would be at least dubious, for neither 

 of them says any thing about wire, and we 

 know that Rietsche foundation abroad is used 

 without wire, whatever may be the rea.son ; 

 hence the comparison may be between unwir- 

 ed Rietsche foundation ' and wired factory " 

 foundation, which would hardly be fair. 



I also ran across an old catalog of German 

 bee-supplies, which I did not know I had. 

 According to this, when a sheet measures 2-5 x 

 20 centimeters, 20 is the depth. I had sup- 

 posed these were full-depth dimensions, which 

 would have made the longer dimension verti- 

 cal. However, the fact that it was intended 

 to be used without wire is sufficient to account 

 for the weight of the sample you received. 

 The smallest jDress, 22 x 17 centimeters, costs, 

 wdtli packing, 10 marks, or 82.38; the largest, 

 4.")x.'i0, SS.15. I estimate the L. size would 



be about .So. 36. There are 10 sizes in all. A 



ty 

 The chief instruc- 



simple device does awav with anv necessity 

 for trimming the sheets.' "''-- -'•''" " 



tions are as follow.' 



"Apply to the plates with a brush a mix- 

 ture of one part honey, two parts water, and 

 three parts pure alcohol. Pour wax on the 

 under plate, and shut quickly. Shake the 

 surplus back into the wax vessel. Cool in 

 water, if necessary. Open and remove the 

 sheet. The time consumed for all this is 

 about one minute. The amount worked by 

 one man per hour is from one to three kilos, 

 according to the size of the press; consequent- 

 ly, a press soon pays for itself. The sheets 

 are thin or thick according to the temperature 

 of the wax and degree of cooling, so that thin 

 or thick sheets may be produced at pleasure. 

 After some practice it will be easy to make a 

 square meter of foundation with moderately 

 high cells out of a kilo of wax, or 1% square 

 meters with shallow cells. A surface of four- 

 fifths to one square meter is just enough to 

 be completely worked up out of the wax 

 given." 



Rietsche 's advertisements now say 150 sheets 

 an hour are made, with no brushing nor ex- 

 pense for lubricants; and, as you will recol- 

 lect, the thinnest made is 1.3-3 square meters 

 to the kilo, instead of 1.2.T, as above. The 

 chief point to be noted in the foregoing is the 

 manner of producing thin or thick sheets. 

 Perhaps this has a bearing on your experience 

 with the machine. 



It just struck me that the largest size of 

 press kept in stock (any .size may be ordered) 

 being 4.")x30 cm., hence'a trifle longer one way 

 than the L. size, which is 20x43 centimeters, 

 there would seem to be no practical obstacles 

 in the way of working a double L." size, 40x43, 

 and cutting the sheets in two afterward. 

 jyieii what would become of all your calcula- 

 tions? Whoopee! 



But, really, in my case at least, I would lay 

 very little stress one way or the other on the 

 number worked per hour, within reasonable 

 limits. It is that 41—2-5 = 16 cents per pomid 

 used that I want to get out of paying. 

 Montrose, Colo., Sept. 20. 

 [Perhaps our readers are already getting 

 tired of this discussion ; but we hope to have 

 the truth come out, let it strike where it may. 



