THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



85 



they call hives. A year or so has 

 found most of this class of hives 

 in use as "hens' nests ;" and the 

 originators, settling down on some 

 old standard hive, watch the 

 next generation of beginners do 

 exactly the same thing only to be 

 repeated ad infinitum. Why waste 

 time and money ?~ It is the experi- 

 enced who are competent to give 

 us good ideas in this direction. 

 Large crops may be secured from 

 almost any of the hives in gen- 

 eral use. I use the L. hive and 

 frame because it is best adapted to 

 my wants. I would not use a 

 shallower hive on account of win- 

 tering and I get more surface on 

 top for boxes than I would if I 

 used a deep frame, and if I wish 

 to buy or sell I have the hive and 

 frame that is more widely used than 

 any other. It costs too much to 

 change a whole apiar3^ for every new 

 scheme that comes up. Experi- 

 ment with a few at a time. The 

 market price of honey has declined, 

 the cost of producing must keep 

 pace. In choosing a hive, avoid as 

 much as possible all loose blocks, 

 wedges or anything easily lost. 



The brood chamber should be 

 variable in size, ranging from the 

 wants of a one-frame nucleus to 

 the full working force of two strong 

 colonies united in one, and in 

 either case everything must be 

 snug and warm. 



I use a single-walled hive and 

 winter in the cellar. If I wintered 

 out-of-doors I should use a chaff 

 hive by all means, and I am not 

 sure but I should build a hive cal- 

 culated to winter two stocks in 

 and be packed with chaff besides. 

 I want a hive that is equally well 

 adapted to the production of comb 

 and extracted honey. At present 

 our market demands comb honey, 

 but occasionally a colony will be 

 obstinate ; then we take ofl' all box- 

 es and arrange for extracting. 



Thorn HilL N. Y. 



FOREIGN NOTES. 

 By Arthur Todd. 



L'Apiculteiir for February con- 

 tains a description illustrated by 

 wood cuts, of a comb foundation 

 machine, which was exhibited at 

 the late conference at Milan, Italy, 

 and which obtained a medal. It 

 is extremely simple in construct- 

 tion, and suitable for the manu- 

 facture at home of the foundation 

 one would require for an ordinary 

 apiary. There are two metallic 

 plates, one side of each being en- 

 graved, the same as the present 

 comb foundation machines. 



These engraved surfaces are set 

 opposite each other, and the two 

 plates hinged together so as to 

 close up ; the one against the other, 

 more or less, as thick or thin foun- 

 dation is required. To each plate, 

 at the side farthest from the hinge, 

 is attached a handle by means of 

 which the plates can be readily 

 moved on the hinges. They then 

 remind one forcibly of a set of 

 waffle irons. A bath of melted 

 wax is prepared large and deep 

 enough to permit of these hinged 

 plates being plunged therein while 

 kept apart by the handles. The 

 plates, previous to plunging in the 

 wax bath, are plunged in starchy 

 water while in the wax bath, the 

 two handles are brought together, 

 which action, by closing together 

 the plates, encloses between them 

 a film of melted wax. While kept 

 closed the plates are lifted from 

 the wax bath and plunged into a 

 bath of ice-cold starchy water. 

 When sufficiently cold the plates 

 are separated, and the sheet of 

 comb foundation is found between. 



The present cost of such a ma- 

 chine seems to be not much over 

 $4.00. 



The use of the plates is not new, 

 nor is even the hinging of them, 

 but the addition of the handles, 



