AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



735 



Beeswax and Its Uses. 



Many tons of beeswax are imported to 

 this city from tropical and sub-tropical 

 parts of this continent, and from Spain. 

 Much of this comes from Cuba, where a 

 tropical vegetation supports and employes 

 an enormous number of bees. Much of 

 the Cuban wax comes in great masses, 

 shaped like the frustum of a pyramid, 

 and weighing from 65 to 70 pounds 

 each. In the fact that various substi- 

 tutes for wax have been discovered, it is 

 still used in great quantities in the 

 manufacture of candles, especially for 

 ecclesiastical use. Much of it, too, is 

 used in the manufacture of wax lay 

 figures, not only for museums and the 

 like, but for milliners and mantua- 

 makers. — New York Sun. 



Perfection in Bee-Culture. 



It is true the bee-industry has made 

 great progress in the last 25 years, but 

 perfection is still in the dim future. 

 While working with the honey, is a good 

 time to do some hard thinking, and pre- 

 vent some more hard work next year. 



By using wooden separators as wide 

 as the sections, we have overcome one 

 difficulty to a great extent that used to 

 trouble us a good deal ; that is, in get- 

 ting nearly all the sections entirely 

 finished. In the old Heddon supers 

 without separators — and the old tin T's 

 are but little better — sometimes whole 

 cases would come off the hives at the 

 end of the season, without a single sec- 

 tion being finished, and of course un- 

 marketable. No doubt in such cases 

 the bee-keeper was much 'to blame in 

 giving too much room, but it is not 

 always easy to determine just how much 

 room is needed. 



Now a case or super divided into com- 

 partments for each section by wooden 

 partitions, which experience shows the 

 bees will finish up, although the very 

 next section may be left entirely un- 



touched, is certainly an advantage. 

 Then the slatted bottom and top strips 

 of our new super, keeping the entire 

 outside of the section free from propolis, 

 is a great consideration. 



It is very gratifying to us to be occa- 

 sionally told by grocerymen that our 

 honey is the cleanest and nicest that 

 they handle. We have sometimes doubted 

 whether it really " paid " to go to so 

 much trouble to have our honey in nearly 

 perfect shape, while slouchy bee-men 

 seemed to sell theirs for about the same 

 price, but I guess that good work will be 

 appreciated in this as well as all other 

 occupations.— C. H. Dibbekn, in Western 

 Plowman. 



A Butterfly Farm. 



One of the oddest industries in the 

 State of Pennsylvania is a butterfly farm 

 near Montrose. Frederick Newhart, 

 who is a man 60 years old, has at least 

 80,000 butterflies. He has a quarter 

 of an acre of ground enclosed with a fine 

 wire-netting, 8 feet high. This is one 

 huge flower-bed, only with patches of 

 grass here and there, and several large 

 pools of shallow water with wide, muddy 

 edges. Here the great army of bright- 

 winged butterflies are kept. There are 

 many varieties, probably 50 different 

 kinds. In one corner of the garden is 

 a glass house for winter quarter's. Mr. 

 Newhart lives alone, and having consid- 

 erable property, keeps butterflies as a 

 mere fad. — Exchange. 



Conditions for Honey Secretion. 



The conditions necessary for the secre- 

 tion of honey are peculiar, and not well 

 understood. There have been days 

 when we thought everything was right, 

 yet the bees were idle. The nights have 

 been warm, followed by hot days and a 

 moist, balmy atmosphere, with plenty of 

 bloom in the fields, yet there was no 

 honey gathered. The why is a mystery. 

 There must have been some element 

 wanting, or nectar would have been 

 secreted. And how do bees know when 

 it is secreted ? They may be at home 

 one day, with very few bees leaving the 

 hive for water, or any other purpose, yet 

 the following day by day-break they are 

 leaving on the double quick, and all is 

 hurry and activity. Who told them 

 there was honey '? Do they scent it in 

 the air ? — Field and Farm. 



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