,04. THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 251 



BEE AS A SIGN PAINTER. withdrawn from the hive and that 



may be emptied of their honey by a 



/ork Directed So As to Form Let- centrifugal machine. A pure and lim- 



ters of the Honey-comb. pid honey is thus obtained with sur- 

 prising rapidity and without breaking 



Occasionally there is to be seen at the combs, which are replaced in the 



jricultural fairs and similar institu- hives to be filled anew by the bees, 



ons honeycomb worked into the It is sufficient, then, to suspend these 



lape of inscriptions or other designs, sheets of wax in a hive to cause the 



.ccording to a French journal de- bees to utilize them as a foundation 



3ted to natural science, the letters for the lateral cell-walls. They must, 



lat form these inscriptions are really however, be made of absolutely pure 



lade entirely by the bees, and are wax; if not, they are torn to pieces 



lied with honey by them only. But by the bees and thrown out of the 



ley are not proof either of art or of hive. This custom of bees, of follow- 



itelligence, for the bees blindly fol- ing the bee-keeper's indications, is 



)wed the will of their master, to utilized to make them build their 



'horn the entire credit is due. He combs in all sorts of odd shapes. It 



nderstood how to choose the mo- is necessary only to fix strips of mold- 



lent when they felt the imperative ed wax perpendicularly on a plank, 



FIG. A. 



FIG. B. 



FIG. C. 



eed of building cells to hold their 

 recious product, and to oblige them 

 ly an adroit trick to give to their con- 

 tructions the shape that he wished to 

 mpose. It is by the use of molded 

 ax that this is done; but what is 

 nolded wax? It is wax in thin sheets 

 m which are stamped impressions 

 laving the shape of the bottoms of 

 loneycombed cells (generally known 

 ,s "comb-foundation" or simply 

 'foundation"). This wax has done 

 nuch for the progress of modern api- 

 :ulture. It was invented in 1857 after 

 tiany trials by Jean Mehring, a Ba- 

 varian bee-keeper. * * ^ Since 

 ne of its greatest advantages is that 

 l obliges the bee to build cells ac- 

 ;ording to the indications that it gives, 

 t. may be used to make straight and 

 )arallel combs that can easily be 



fastening them with strong glue or 

 melted wax. They are then surround- 

 ed with a sort of mold, which leaves 

 just space enough for the bee to build 

 its cells and move about. The most 

 convenient size to give to this space 

 is indicated by the usual space left 

 between the combs in a bee-hive. The 

 whole is placed in a hive upside down 

 — that is, with the plank on top; and 

 the bees go to work on it without de- 

 lay. Fig. A shows the plank with its 

 strips of comb foundation. In B we 

 see the guide and at C the whole mold 

 at the end ot the bees' work. — News- 

 paper. 



One dollar will pay for The Bee- 

 Keeper from this date until Decem- 

 ber, IQ07. 



