102 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



mature bees you only changed the 

 battle field to the hive which caught 

 and was strengthened b}' the bees 

 drawn from the parent hive. The 

 season was not without its valuable 

 " lessons." I would succeed much 

 better another time. When I used 

 to keep bees to gratify a love for 

 the study of their habits and nat- 

 ural history, I would advise any 

 and everybody to "keep bees," 

 I have learned better now. It is 

 "murder" — of course I mean bee 

 murder — and murder to the bee 

 business too to advise men who 

 are utterly unfit for the bee busi- 

 ness to undertake it. To those, 

 however, who have the talent for 

 the apiary, and are in every way 

 adapted to the pursuit, I would 

 point out to them bee-culture as a 

 safe, agreeable, healthful, and pro- 

 fitable employment in the South. 

 It is true that there are many lo- 

 cations in Kentucky, generally on 

 the large water courses, and in the 

 mountainous districts that are so 

 exceptionally good that bees will 

 succeed in spite of ignorance and 

 barbarisms. In some of these 

 highly favored locations there are 

 men who support large families by 

 keeping bees in log "gums" and 

 boxes, following the barbarous 

 practice of gouging the honey from 

 the tops of the gums and boxes 

 and murdering the bees with the 

 fumes of sulphur, and in this way 

 put upon the markets barrels of 

 smashed, and strained honey. 

 The latter is sold at about a dollar 

 per gallon. Such a location — and 

 there are many of them — would 

 insure to any young man of talent 



and pluck all the independence 

 that this world's goods can give. 

 Christiansburg, Ky. 



ITEMS OF RECENT 

 EXPERIENCE. 



By E.E. Hasty. 



Some of my recent moves are in 

 the nature of " going back into 

 Egypt." In a few belated colonies 

 this summer, for the purpose of 

 getting some honey, where if I 

 did'nt look sharp I would get 

 nothing but fall honey, I resorted 

 to cutting out new comb from the 

 frames of the brood chamber, I 

 do not think anything was lost by 

 the proceeding, and I feel inclined 

 to experiment further in the same 

 direction. This taking wax and 

 honey both, would be wasteful if 

 there were any truth in the state- 

 ment that it takes twenty pounds 

 of the latter to make one of the 

 former ; but I haven't a particle of 

 faith in that assertion. In default 

 of anything I consider reliable I 

 venture a Yankee guess that a 

 pound of wax is the equivalent of 

 about three pounds of hone3^ 



UNBROKEN CAKES OF WAX, 



It isn't nice to have a pan of wax 

 divide through the middle with two 

 or three great seams, and stick 

 tight to the sides of the pan. Fold 

 a cloth in three or four thicknesses, 

 and lay it over the pan. This 

 compels it to cool from the sides 

 instead of from the top ; and the 



