18S1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



113 



place. Be sure to let the mold tliorougMy soak (cov- 

 ered with water) before beginning, and if it gets too 

 dry bj- rapid work, sponge it off. Keep ice or snow 

 under the bed-plate. You can "hurry" the cooling 

 of tne marginal wax after pressure by dipping a 

 block or something into the water, thus raising the 

 surface to the face of mold. I would not let the 

 mold mold freeze while full of water. 



I hope soon to produce a machine with metal face 

 that will work this way. 1 will re-fill frames with 

 p' aster for f 1.00. 



I hereby make these inventions public property. 

 YmU can make the machines yourselves, or I can 

 f U' nish t hem as follows: — 



One pair of molds, $3.00; water-tank, $2 00; double 

 wax-boiler, $2.C0; wax fountain, $1.0). All com- 

 plete, packed in tank as shipping-box, $10 CO. Fdn., 

 per lb., 40c plus 10c for each package. Price is for 

 L. size. Oliver Foster. 



Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Jan. 22, 1881. 



We have the machine here with us, and it 

 is a success without question. The figure 

 at the upper left-hand corner is to show how 

 the plaster plates close together. AVell. after 

 the sheets are made, they have to be trimm- 

 ed, and the trimming takes more time 

 than to make the sheet. Mr. Gray took a 

 look at it, and soon made a pair of plates 

 with galvanized iron around the edges, so 

 that when the plates were closed, the surplus 

 wax could all be taken off clean, leaving the 

 sheet all ready to be put right into a wired 

 frame. The only trouble is now the frail 

 nature of these plaster plates. We have a 

 pair of metal ones, but they won't work, be- 

 cause they are not porous, like the plaster, 

 to hold water; also, we want to combine 

 this idea with that of the Given press. Do 

 you not see again, friends, how all this prog- 

 ress is the work of many hands and brains ? 

 It is but a few numbers back, that a suggest- 

 ed putting the wax on with a broad brush, 

 and Mr. said a year ago, that wax 



could be poured on the plates through a nar- 

 row slit. Friend Foster has invented the 

 fountain and the row of holes, and it works, 

 too, like a charm. I have placed to his cred- 

 it, for the same, $25.00, although I shall not 

 make any of the machines, and very likely 

 the whole may be laid aside in a few months 

 for something still better. 



THE PEET INTRODUCING CAGE, AS AVE 

 JTIAKE IT. 



fllE cut below will make the whole mat- 

 ter plain, almost without a description. 

 • The cage is about 2i,x4i inches. The 

 side pieces, are made of strips 7-32x9-16. The 

 side pieces are each 4* inches long. The end 

 pieces are each 2i long by i inch thick ; you 

 will see this brings the thickness of the ends 

 1-16 less than the sides, to let the tin slide 

 run over the ends. The end piece that holds 

 the candy is made from a piece IxU ; but 

 before nailing the box together, a place is 

 sawed out to receive the candy, so only about 

 i of an inch of wood is left on the bottom 

 and end. With a very fine saw, grooves are 

 made for the tin slide to run in ; this slide is 

 bent as shown, for convenience iii withdraw- 

 ing. A comer is clipped form the othef end, 



that the cage may be opened so one bee can 

 be put in at a time, when cagiug the bees 

 and queen. 



feet's intkoducixg and siiiphing cage. 



The tin points are for fastening the cage 

 securely into the comb. Directions for do- 

 ing this are pasted on the cover of the cage, 

 seen in the foreground. These are simply 

 pieces of basswood,of the cage, one of which 

 has the grain of the wood running crosswise, 

 to prevent the liability of damage in the 

 mails. The other little board we drop on 

 our grooving saws, to cut the ventilating 

 holes shown in the picture. When ready to 

 mail, the tin points are turned down, the lit- 

 tle boards placed on each side, and the whole 

 wrapped in stout flour-sack paper, after 

 which an opening is cut or torn right over 

 the ventilating slots. It will be observed we 

 have no bottle of water in this cage. The 

 reason is, that friend Viallon's candy seems 

 to hold moisture enough without it. We 

 will give the recipe for this candy again, as 

 it may not be familiar to some of our new 

 readers. 



Take 12 ounces of powdered white sngar, 4 ounces of Louisiana 

 brown sugar, one table-spoonful of flour, and two tablespoon- 

 fuls of honey, stir well together, and add just enough water to 

 make it like thick mush; then bring it to a boiling point, or If 

 too much is added, boil it a minute or two; then stir it well un- 

 til it Ijegins to thicken, and pour quickly a table-spoonful into 

 each cage. 



The peculiarity of this candy is, that it 

 never dries, but remains soft and pasty, but 

 yet not enough so to daub the bee. 



NEW TOOIiS. 



PLANEUS USED BY MANUFACTURERS OF 

 BEE-HIVES. 



fLAST month mentioned that we had 

 been enabled to substitute the Gem 

 — ' planer instead of the lilliputian, which 

 we have sold for the past few years. As 

 several inquiries have been made about this 

 and the Pony planer, I have thought best to 

 give you drawings of each. The cheapest 

 planer made is the Cigar-Box planer, shown 

 in our price list, and used, principally, to 

 plane stuff for sections. These planers are 

 designed for planing cigar- box lumber and 

 other kinds of planing where very smooth 

 planing is needed. The 9-inch is now offered 

 for §55.00 net. It planes only | in thickness . 

 The next and largest size Cigar-Box planer, 

 12-inch capacity, is S70.00 net. Counter- 

 shaft for either of the above is $12.00. It 



