68 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 



is now here making fdn. mills for us, tells 

 that there is a man in Fond du Lac, Wis., 

 who keeps hees to raise wax, and nolhini^ 

 else. As fast as they get a lot ot comb in 

 their hives he pulls it out and makes tlie lit- 

 tle ''itisex " build more, and so on ad hifuii- 

 tuni, or until the honey stops. I don't know 

 what he does when winter comes. Well, T 

 have several times, in feeding bees, had 

 them secrete wax at an astonishing rate, yet 

 I didn't know enough about it, and don't 

 uow, 10 tell whether it was food, or something 

 else, i riend Viallon demonstrated several 

 years ago, and has recently verified it again, 

 that common brown sugar produces much 

 more wax than white or granulated. J3y the 

 way, friend K., I don't believe we can liiake 

 Tery much at it by buying sugar, if it is true 

 that it takes from 15 to 20 lbs. of sugar to 

 make 1 lb. of wax ; and come to think of it, 

 as honey is worth twice as much, I don't see 

 how we can get it by feeding honey either ; 

 but we must have the wax somehow, and, 

 in fact, we've " got to have it," as the boy 

 #iid. Some time I will tell you about the 

 boy, if you never heard of him. 



THE NEW FOlINDATION-MILiLS. 



MADE roa THE FIRST TIME IN OUR OWN FACTORY. 



IjltlEND OLM came with his machinery 

 about the first of the year. His plan 

 of making fdn. mills is quite a little 

 different from the one pursued by Mr. Wash- 

 burn. Instead of driving the metal into 

 shape with proper punches, our sturdy Ger- 

 man friend conceived the idea of a machine 

 that would cut the metal out of each cell, 

 one by one. He made it work, and the ma- 

 chine is now in operation day by day in our 

 building. It is a sort of automatic machine, 

 and a tool much like an engraver's graver 

 goes down into the metal of which the roll 

 is made, and makes a cut. After it has 

 passed out of the way, another similar one 

 goes down at just the right angle, and just 

 Far enough to take out the chip made by the 

 first. The same machine moves the roller 

 along just the right distance for the next 

 cell, and so on until the roll needs turning 

 for another cell. The metal used ou all our 

 former mills was something similar to tin- 

 ner's solder, being largely composed of lead. 

 These mills are made of a composition of 

 copper, tin, and zinc, similar to hard Bab- 

 bitt metal, and contain no lead at all. The 

 metal is so hard it would not bear raising 

 the cells, as our old mills were madje. It is 

 a little interesting to note how two ingen- 

 ious inventors like JSIr. Washburn and j\Ir. 

 Olm each worked out the problem, inde- 

 pendently of the other, of making honey- 

 comb in metal rollers. 



While we use Ulm's engines for cutting 

 out the metal, we have adopted the machines 

 we bought of Mr. Washburn, for stamping 

 the walls. I wish to state here, before leav- 

 ing the subject of roll-making that our rolls 

 made of this hard Babbitt metal are not as 

 handsome as the mills we have previously 

 sent out made of the softer metal ; neither 

 is the fdn. made on them as smooth and 



pleasing to the eye, but it is better worked 

 out by the bees, and comes from the rolls in 

 a way the old kind never did. If you want 

 handsome fdn., you will be disappointed; 

 but if you want it for busine.ss, either brood- 

 comb or starters, you will surely be pleased. 

 I lay much stress on this because some of our 

 English friends have complained pretty bit- 

 terly because the new mills did not make as 

 handsome work as the old. 



Another thing: We have entirely dis- 

 pensed with the back-gear, because we found 

 by experiment that even our girls could turn 

 the rolls of the new mills with ease, with the 

 crank right on the end of one of the rollers ; 

 and as they get along with the work very 

 much faster, the back-gears are a great hin- 

 drance. This refers to mills for 10-inch 

 sheets and under; for 12 or 14 inch, back- 

 gear might be desirable. To get additional 

 power, we make the crank pretty long for 

 the 10-inch mill, a cut of which we give you 

 below. 



OUR TWENTY-FIVE DOLLAR TEN-INCH MACHINE. 



With every mill we send a good sample of 

 fdn. made on it ; and with a very little prac- 

 tice you. should be able to do as well. At 

 the very low prices we make these mills, we 

 can not undertake to alter or change the 

 cells or walls to suit everybody's idea ; or, if 

 you will excuse me, everybody's notions of 

 how they should be. I have satisfied my- 

 self by experiment, of what I think best, and 

 our machines are running so busily on these 

 that it will be a very great expense to change 

 or make them different. We always furnish 

 samples of the make of our rolls free ; but 

 before you judge of them, or, in fact, before 

 you criticise our mills, I would ask you to 

 hang a bit of the fdn. in a cluster of wax- 

 working bees, and see how readily they take 

 to it. Any of the mills, large or small, will 

 make both brood and starter fdn. The 

 small mills will, if any thing, make the thin- 

 nest. Any mill that does not suit may be 

 returned, you paying charges. I would by 

 all means get a 10-inch mill, for making fdn. 

 for L. frames ; although the 9-inch mills 

 will do, it takes much more time, and more 

 skillful hands to keep the sheets from run- 

 ning out of the rolls. AVhile at the Cincin- 

 nati convention I saw friend Vandervort use 

 a board with strips on the side, to guide the 

 sheets squarely into the rolls. This board 



