784 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



not melt the wax very much, and in this 

 way quite a quantity of rather inferior 

 honey was obtained, although it was 

 perfectly wholesome, and as clean as 

 any extracted honey. 



The idea has been advanced, and gone 

 into print, where a comparison of ex- 

 tracted and strained honey has been 

 made, that the former is the clear nec- 

 tar of flowers, free from all impurities, 

 etc., while the latter is a mixture of 

 filth and honey, obtained by mashing 

 dead bees, and bee-bread, together with 

 what brood there might happen to be in 

 the combs, till all was fine, and squeez- 

 ing the whole through a cloth. This 

 has been done to prejudice people in 

 favor of extracted honey ; but I do not 

 consider such things honorable, from 

 what I know of straining honey, for 

 from all the knowledge I have, I would 

 as soon risk the cleanliness of strained 

 honey as that of extracted ; for at our 

 house, nothing looking like dead bees, 

 brood, or filth, was ever allowed in the 

 sack from which the honey was strained, 

 while I have seen hundreds of disgust- 

 ing-looking larva} floating on a vessel of 

 honey where extracting was being done 

 from the brood-chamber of the hive. 

 But enongh of this. 



After a few years, the bees from the 

 first colony above referred to, had so 

 increased that a division was made, and 

 the neighbor took away what belonged 

 to him. I was now large enougli so I 

 could watch the bees, and during the 

 months of June and July, whenever I 

 was not at school, I was stationed near 

 the apiary from ten o'clock till three, to 

 look after swarms. 1 often became 

 tired of being thus confined, but as fath- 

 er thought that all should bear an equal 

 share of the burden of supporting the 

 family, I was kept at my post, instead 

 of being allowed to roam the streets and 

 fields with other boys. 



About this time, father concluded to 

 try to get his surplus honey by placing 

 large boxes, holding 15 to 20 pounds, 

 on the hives. These were placed on top 

 of the hive, or at the side, as he thought 

 best. On one occasion he hived two 

 swarms (which clustered together) in 

 one hive, placing one 20-pound box on 

 top, and two 15-pound boxes one at 

 each side. To place them at the side, 

 the hive was raised on half-inch blocks, 

 and a slot was cut in the bottom of the 

 boxes, 3^x8 inches, and these slotted 

 sides placed next to the hive. The re- 

 sult was, that he took four 15-pound 

 boxes at the sides, and one 20-pound 

 box from the top, making 80 pounds in 

 all. 



After this he " boxed " the most of the 

 hives at the sides, and I suppose it was 

 from this that I got the idea of side and 

 top boxes combined, by the use of wide 

 frames, as I used them for many years 

 when I first began bee-keeping. 



About this time, one morning when 

 father was about leaving home, a small 

 second-swarm came out, and as he was 

 in a hurry he said he v/ould give it to 

 me if I would hive it. Heretofore I had 

 never hived a swarm, and it took some 

 little courage for an eight-year-old boy 

 to climb to the top of a tree to get a 

 swarm of bees for the first time — so I 

 thought, at least. 



I hived them, and thought so much of 

 them that scarcely a day passed but 

 what I went to see them work, and 

 when fall arrived with cool nights, I 

 used to tap on the hive for the " Good 

 Morning " answer, which was always 

 sure to come. I went one morning, 

 tapped on the hive as usual, but no 

 response, the reason for which I soon 

 found by seeing the inside of the hive 

 empty upon tipping it up, while the 

 edges were charred, showing how the 

 bees had been killed with fire and smoke. 

 About this time that dreaded disease, 

 foul brood, broke out in the apiary, and 

 in two years no bees were left. 



My bee-keeping now came to an end 

 till I was 23 years old, yet during these 

 years I was always thinking more or 

 less about the bees, and trying to per- 

 suade father to get more bees. 



In the spring of 1869 I bought two 

 colonies, from which sprang my present 

 apiary. At this time I subscribed for 

 the Amekican Bee Journal, read Lang- 

 stroth's and Quinby's books on bees, and 

 contracted such a bee-fever that I never 

 became rid of it even to the present time. 

 While all else has seemed like work to 

 me, yet every moment spent in the bee- 

 yard is always play, and after 24 years 

 of this kind of play, I must say that to 

 me the bee-business is still the most fas- 

 cinating of anything in life. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



■ I ■ 



Correct Space Around Top-Bar8 



to Prevent Brace an<l 



Burr Combs. 



Written tor tlie American Bee Journal 

 BY O. G. EISLOW. 



In Oleanings for Oct. 1st there was 

 an article written by Dr. Miller, which 

 interested me more than any, as it was 

 about what space would be the most 

 correct between the top-bars ; and in 



