112 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



for queen -rearing; but I fear you will have 

 to pull it up every winter, or the frost will 

 make havoc with it. It is an excellent plan, 

 nevertheless, to consider and discuss all 

 these matters; for it is the real practical 

 work of our favorite pursuit; how to handle 

 a ^reat number of colonies without hired 

 help is just what we all need to know. 



^■•■< 



FKIEND FOSTER'S FDN. MACHINE. 



THE NEW FOUXDATION MOLDS. 



^p\,EAIl EDITOR AND FRIENDS:— I hope that 

 WM your bees are all as comfortably packed this 

 — very cold winter as ours are. We are now 

 settled in our new home, and of cour e are perfect- 

 ly happy. 



I have been Improving the winter months by per- 

 fecting the method of making fdn. at one operation, 

 and have succeeded beyond my most sanguine ex- 

 pectations. By the way, friend Root, since the Faris 

 machine was described in every particular, save the 

 leather strap, away back in 18T8 (Aug., page 255), and 

 since friend Harrison's machine was the same thing 

 with two covers to his "book" instead of one, did 

 you not greatly misrepresent the matter on page 

 582, Dec, 1880? I originally Invented the machine in 

 1878, and there gave it to the public; therefore, any 

 patent issued upon the machine itself Is " null and 

 void." Take and use it freely; but please let's not 

 try to cover it with patents. 



^1 



MAKING FOUNDATION WITHOCT EITHER DIPPING OB 

 ROLLING. 



In my last article I contemplated a machine for 

 making wired fdn. at one operation. I now think 

 that wired fdn. will soon be a thing of the past, as 

 my experience for the past three years, with the un- 

 wired dipped fdn. in deep frames, has satisfied me 

 that it can be used as thin as desired with no danger 

 of its sagging even in the hottest weather. The ma- 

 chine as heretofore used has the following objec- 

 tions, which I have fully overcome:— 



1. It is so heavy, if made sufficiently strong, that 

 it is very tiresome to lift it from the wax to the wa- 

 ter and back again. 



2. We must wait until it stops dripping after dip- 

 ping, which consumes time. 



3. As both sides and all of the edges of one mold 

 and its frame go under wax, it is obvious, that the 

 wax is cooled and the water warmed twofold more 

 than they would be if the wax only touched where it 

 is to stay, thus consuming more wood and ice. 



4. It takes longer to cool the mold and clean off 

 the wax. 



5. Dipping both plates, as per friend Bonham, 

 page 26, partially obviates the difficulty; but "the 

 remedy is worse than the disease," as it makes two 

 sheets, which are imperfectly united, and takes 

 double the wax. 



6. The leather straps, as per friend Faris, prevent 

 the mold from opening wide, and make it difficult to 

 remove the fdn. 



7. If the face gets too wet, as it does by dipping, 

 the impression is imperfect. 



All of these dilBculties I have overcome in my new 

 fdn. mold, described as follows:— 



The frames are made of strips of wood ''8x2 in. 

 They must be very strong and thoroughly braced 

 with iron rods running through the casts, to prevent 

 the least warp or twist to which the plaster is in- 

 clined. The frames are hinged and tilled in the usu- 

 al way. They are each two inches deep for the 

 sake of strength, but the plates need be only ?^ or 1 

 in. thick. 



The molds. A, while open, lie flat on the surface of 

 the water in the tank, B, face up. The one at your 

 right is fastened in the tank with one inch between 

 its frame and sides of tank. The other turns on 

 the hinges, and, when resting upon a support in the 

 tank, the face of each plate is level with the other' 

 and about }i inch above the surface of the water all 

 around. The face keeps just wet enough by absorb- 

 tion, and is constantly cooling and moistening. The 

 wax is applied to the stationary plate by means of a 

 wax fountain, C, which distributes it perfectly in a 

 " twinkling," and the other plate coming down sends 

 the surplus wax, if any, right into the water. The 

 wax-fountain, C, is kept in the wax, D; it is taken 

 in the right hand when the mold is worked with the 

 left. It is placed in position over the lower plate. A, 

 the ends of the bar, E, resting on the edge of the 

 tank, B, upon which they slide, and which holds the 

 fountain level. By raising the handle, C, the wax 

 pours from the row of holes at F. It is drawn with 

 an easy motion across the plate, beginning at the 

 hinges. The moment it is off, the upper plate comes 

 down by the left hand. In a moment it is ready to 

 open, and a perfect sheet of fdn. lies before j'ou, 

 with only a slight margin. When this is removed, 

 all is ready for another. The edges of the lower 

 plates are slightly raised to prevent the wax from 

 overflowing, and the upper one fits over, something 

 like a Simplicity-hive cover, G, throwing the wax 

 down so that one can work in his " hi-oadcloth" if he 

 likes. As there is next to no cleaning up of scraps, 

 and no lifting, the work pushes right along. I think 

 J can make up 75 lbs. per day of perfect fdn., L. or 

 any other size. 



DIRECTIONS FOR USING FOSTER'S FDN. 5IACHINE. 



Place the tank on a box or stand, level with the 

 stove. The piece of tin on the edge of the tank 

 should project inside the wax-pan on the stove. Lay 

 the strips of wood across the ends of the large pan, 

 and rest the wax-pan on them. Use the fountain in 

 either side of wax-pan you like, the lumps of wax in 

 the other. The fount runs on the track both ways, 

 Avith the handle level when not "pouring." The 

 screw in the tank holds the bed-plate securely In 



