XHE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



581 



ExplanaCory.— The Hgures before the 

 names iodicate the number of years that the 

 person has kept bees. Thoee after, show 

 the number of colonies the writer had in the 

 previous spring- and fall, or fall and spring, 

 as the time of the year may require. 



This mark O indicates that the apiarist is 

 located near tne center of the State named; 

 6 north of the center; ? south; O* east; 

 *0 west; and this 6 northeast; V3 northwest: 

 o» southeast; and ? southwest of the center 

 of the State mentioned. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Tlie Sun Wax-Extractor. 



G. W. DEMAREE. 



As it would require too much of my 

 time to auswer private letters de- 

 scribing the sun wax-extractor as I 

 employ it in my apiary, I will tiave to 

 ask the permission to publish a mi- 

 nute description of how to make and 

 use the apparatus. I claim nothing 

 in connection with the device except- 

 ing the trough-shape wax-pan, or bot- 

 tom of the wax-extractor. A con- 

 versation with Mr. O. O. Poppleton, 

 at the North American Convention in 

 1881, concerning its use, set me to in- 

 vestigating the matter, and after 

 some experimenting I became con- 

 vinced that a flat bottom did not 

 drain the wax from the refuse of old 

 and pollen-filled combs as cleanly as 

 ecouomy would dictate. But after 

 making an extractor with a hollow or 

 concave bottom, I found that this 

 objection was overcome and the de- 

 vice was practical for all purposes 

 connected with rendering wax. 



My plan of making it is as follows : 

 Make a plain box 19J^ inches wide, 14 

 inches deep, and 35J^ inches long, 

 inside measurement. Nail on a bot- 

 tom and have it bee-tight. Now nail 

 on some legs at the ends, and the box 

 is ready for the wax-pan, etc. To 

 make the wax or draining pan cut a 

 piece of sheet-iron (I prefer sheet-iron 

 to anything else) 24 inches wide and 

 28 inches long. To get the concave 

 shape of the pan, get out a board 

 from half-inch stuff, 5 inches wide 

 and 191.^ inches long, and cut one of 

 its edges to a true circle. Now bend 

 the sheet of metal around the circular 

 board and nail it closely. This gives 

 a concave pan 19^^ inches wide by 28 

 inches long, with one end closed and 

 the other end opened. 



To adjust the pan in the box or 

 frame-work, get out a board 7 or 8 

 inches wide, and 19"^ inches long, and 

 hollow out one of its edges to corres- 

 pond with the circular shape of the 

 pan, and nail it crosswise in the box, 

 so that wiien the open end of the pan 

 rests on it, the pan will project about 

 2 inches over the board and be about 

 6 inches above the bottom of the box. 

 This will give room for tlie wax 

 moulds under the drip end of the 



wax-pan. Two beveled strips of 

 wood 28 inches long, nailed one on 

 either side of the box, supports the 

 sides of the metal pan. 



When all is ready the wax-pan is 

 shoved down into the box or frame- 

 work until its open end rests in the 

 hollow board, and the sides of the 

 pan on the beveled strips. It is 

 secured in position by nailing through 

 the wooden head of the pan and into 

 the end piece of the box, and the 

 sides of the pan are nailed closely to 

 the beveled strips at the sides of the 

 box or frame-vi'ork. 



The sash is made like a shallow box 

 2 inches deep, rabbeted at the top to 

 receive three panes of glass 12x20 

 inches, and slides back and forward 

 between strips of wood at the sides 

 of the frame-work. Some pressed 

 pans 3 or 4 inches deep and 7 inches 

 wide at the top make good wax- 

 moulds. When one is filled it is 

 shoved aside and another put in its 

 place. The filled pans are left in the 

 box to cool gradually during the 

 night. My wax-extractor is left in 

 the apiary the year around. It has a 

 board cover for it when not in use. 



I hope that I have made the matter 

 plain to those who have written to 

 me for particulars, and also to others. 



Christiansburg,i5 Ky. 



For tbe American Bee JoumaL 



Cliapan Honey-Plant in Canada, 



W3I. F. CLAKKE. 



I believe mine is the only experi- 

 mental plantation of the above-named 

 honey-plant in tlie Dominion. Fifty 

 specimens were sent for trial to my- 

 self and to Mr. D. A. Jones, respec- 

 tively, but unfortunately those for- 

 warded to Mr. J. were overlooked, 

 owing to the carelessness of a team- 

 ster, and left in a shed until too late 

 to plant. 



My garden-plot being rather limited, 

 I consigned the plants to the care of 

 a friend who is an enthusiastic botan- 

 ist, and who was formerly a bee- 

 keeper. They have had the best of 

 care, have made a luxuriant growth, 

 and blossomed magnificently The 

 bees began to visit the plant on July 

 19, when only here and there a flower 

 had opened, and from that day on for 

 upwards of three weeks, frequented 

 it in increasing numbers. When at 

 its best, the blooms were crowded 

 with bees, both wild and tame. 



Of course one cannot give an opin- 

 ion as to the yield of honey from a 

 single season's trial with only a few 

 plauts. But we know that bees do 

 not assiduously visit flora out of idle 

 curiosity, and blossoms th;it are 

 crowded from dawn to dusk must re- 

 ward the honey- gathering visitants, 

 or they would certainly be deserted. 

 The plant is worthy a place in flower- 

 gardens, owing both to the beauty of 

 the leaf and the peculiar loveliness of 

 the blooms. Judging by its habit of 

 growth, I do not think it will give 

 trouble as a weed. So far as an opin- 

 ion can be formed on the data fur- 

 nished by a single season's observa- 



tion of a small number of plants, it 

 seems to me there is promise enough 

 to justify bee-keepers in going into 

 its culture, at any rate on a small 

 scale, and so subjecting it to a general 

 and thorough test. 

 Guelph, Ont. 



For the American Bee JonmaL 



Pecnliar Experience witli a Colony. 



MRS. H. A. CUNNINOnAM. 



Last July I had a colony made by 

 division, that failed to rear a queen 

 from the cell I gave it, and as 1 was 

 quite interested in the description of 

 the Syrio-Albino bees, I thought I 

 would try an untested queen of that 

 kind ; and accordingly on July 16 I 

 ordered one. On July 22 I received a 

 card stating that it would be shipped 

 on July 26. The colony had then 

 been for sometime without the means 

 of rearing a queen, and as the new 

 queen would not arrive for nearly a 

 week, and I wanted a young queen 

 to supersede an old one that I had in 

 another colony, I thought I would let 

 them occupy the time while waiting 

 by making some queen-cells for that 

 purpose. So I gave them a frame 

 containing eggs, and by July 2(; they 

 had several started and one sealed. I 

 then formed a nucleus by placing the 

 frame containing the queen-cells, and 

 one more with the adhering bees, in 

 another hive, and placed it about a 

 foot away. 



On July 28 the new queen arrived. 

 I immediately removed her to a cage 

 made of wire-netting rolled up, but I 

 was surprised on opening the hive 

 to put her in, at finding a number of 

 queen-cells, some containing eggs. I 

 cut them out, however, and left them 

 over night, with the caged queen in 

 the hive. I intended to keep her 

 caged two days, but on looking in the 

 next day she seemed so restless and 

 anxious to get out that I thought I 

 would let her out on a comb and see 

 how the bees seemed to feel toward 

 her, and if they acted hostile I could 

 cage her again. I did so, and watched 

 her nearly half an hour without see- 

 ing anv hostile demonstration ; so I 

 concluded that it would be safe to 

 leave her at liberty. 



After two or three hours I opened 

 the hive and found her balled ; a little 

 smoke dispersed the bees, and I found 

 her uninjured. I then watched her 

 crawl about for some time without 

 seeing anything to convince me 

 that they wanted to hurt her, but 

 after awhile I lost sight of her for a 

 moment, and then I saw a knot of 

 bees on the board on which a corner 

 of the frame was resting. This time 

 the smoke did not have much effect, 

 and I only got the bees separated in 

 time to s^e the poor queen receive her 

 death wound. 



I then looked and found that more 

 queen-cells had been started, which I 

 cut out and then shut up the hive. 

 Ttiey kept starting queen-cells, and I 

 kept cutting them out until Aug. 2, 

 when I put another caged queen into 

 the hive. They still regularly started 



