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GLEAi^INGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



5(i9 



A STORY ABOUT PEACHES. 



FRIEND FRADENBURG'S ENTERPRISE. 



sjngnr'ERE is a little buzz, but not from bees. Abnut 

 Ji^|[ the middle of last month I made piepara- 



■ ' tlons for, and thought I would evaporate a 



few peaches; and in order to do so I found I had to 

 have help to prepare them for the evaporator; that 

 is, to split them open and lay them on racks or 

 frames. To do this I gave out word that all who 

 would might come, and they did come. Several 

 women and young ladies, and the school-children; 

 any one who was large enough to cut a peach open 

 and take out the pit, could earn a few cents every 

 evening; and as I paid by the piece, they could 

 work as long and as fast as they wished. But right 

 on the start, trouble began, and it was where to find 

 room for so many little juvenile workers. As I had 

 no building or shop suitable, up came the parlor 

 and dining-room carpets, and every nook and corner 

 turned into a work-shop, which made my house re- 

 semble a bee-hive in clover time. Each one seem- 

 ed to vie with the other to see who could make the 

 most. Many of them earned the first pennies in 

 their lives; and as the days rolled along, the peaches 

 kept rolling in, until my work-shop and yard had 

 piles and piles of the fruit, waiting to be dried. 

 Every barrel, box, and basket, fairly groaned with 

 peaches; it was peaches, peaches, peaches, every- 

 where. I often thought of you. with your rush of 

 business. I was up day and night, scarcely getting 

 more than 2 or 3 hours' rest in the 24; and as a re- 

 sult, I tind I have about 3 wagon-loads of peach-pits, 

 worth as much as so much coal for fuel, and 5000 

 lbs. of first-class evaporated unpeared, and 1000 lbs. 

 of pared peaches, the product of over 600 bushels of 

 the green fruit. A. A. Fradenburg. 



Port Washington, O., Oct. 17, 1883. 



Friend F., I am always interested in any 

 industry that furnishes work for women and 

 children. I am glad to know that you had 

 such a crop of peaches. Very likely some 

 of our readers can use the peach-pits you 

 mention, and may be your evaporated fruit 

 also. While I think of it, I wish you would 

 send us samples of the latter. IMow just go 

 on, friend F.; study up some other industry 

 to keep the idle ones out of mischief, and 

 God will bless you in so doing, provided you 

 do it all for his honor and his glory. 



THE SOLAR ^VAX-EXTRACTOR, AND 

 SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



SOME FACTS FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD OF FRIEND 

 ADGUSTDS CHRISTIE. 



'N reading Sept. Gleanings I was much interest- 

 ed in friend O. O. Poppleton's solar wa.x-e.\- 

 tractor, and I thought it would be well to give 

 you a description of the one we use here. Make a 

 square vessel of galvanized iron about 30 in. square 

 and 20 in. deep. At about 5 in. from the top, put in 

 cross-bars of 3-16xfi iron, edgewise; fasten by means 

 of rivets through the sides of the vessel. This ves- 

 sel, or iron box, should flare so as to let the wax rise 

 easily; the bars should be about 7 or 8 inches apart. 

 Fit a perforated zinc sheet inside of the vessel, rest- 

 ing on the Iron bars, to support the combs or cap- 

 pings to be melted. At the top fit on a frame out- 

 side of the iron box, and let one side rise about 3 or 



4 inches, to shed rain. Nail tightly the top of the 

 iron vessel to the inside of the bottom of this frame, 

 and cover all with glass, having no cross-bars to ob- 

 struct rain or form shadows. Fit the sash tightly, 

 that no heated air may escape and thereby prolong 

 the melting process. 



TO OPERATE. 



Remove the cover and throw in cappings or comb; 

 and if the cappings are to be melted, the honey will 

 keep the wax from sticking to the vessel; but if 

 combs are to be melted, it will require a little water 

 in the bottom; and when melted, fill again, and so 

 on. This, as friend P. says, works admirably, if the 

 weather is suitable; but the summer has been cool 

 here — at least the latter part and fall. You will 

 notice this has one advantage, at least, and that is, 

 that the sheet containing the matter to be rendered 

 shades the melted wax, and thus prevents the hard- 

 ening of which friend P. speaks. I have made some 

 improvements recently, so that the wax-holder can 

 be placed in a warm place where the sun will best 

 strike it, and handles may be put on the sides so it 

 can be carried from the honey-house to any desired 

 place at any time of day, thus avoiding the trouble 

 of bees in handling exposed cappings. 



But now let me tell you of another— the " Boss," 

 as we call it, for we think it the best ever used, so 

 far as we have read and have seen used. I made 

 and operated it this season for my brother-in-law, 

 Mr. Aug. Christie, of this place, by whcm I am eui- 

 I ployed; and at the request of friends W. S. Van Me- 

 ! ter and E. S. Foulks I submit it to you, hoping it 

 I may be of use to you and our bee-loving friends. 

 Inclosed find diagram roughly sketched; but per- 

 haps it will give you an idea of its form and attach- 

 ments. I will send you a small cake of wax, a sam 

 pie of its work; we have about 500 lbs. of such wax, 

 and more to extract. 



ROCKY-MOUNTAIN BEE-PLANT. 



In this section there is considerable Kocky-Moun- 

 tain bee-plant, brought here from Colorado by one 

 O. B. Smith many years ago, and it yields abundant- 

 ly. The honey is light, and has no unpleasant flavor, 

 although a little different from others. One year 

 ago last August there was a patch of it growing at 

 the corner of the house, and we spent many a half- 

 hour pleasantly, watching and timing the little pets 

 as they ticked the drops of nectar that exuded from 

 the under side of each tiny flower, and in many in- 

 stances three of them would make a load for a bee, 

 and away he would go to the apiary; the exact time 

 that it took the bee to load, I have forgotten, but I 

 think from 1 to IVi tninutes. The nectar began to 

 floiv at about 4 P.M. ; and as we were watching and 

 noticing how anxious the little fellows were to get 

 their loads, some would cling to the flowers, be- 

 numbed all night, until the morning sun would lim- 

 ber them up, and then away they would go, and 

 carry with their load the news of the abundant field 

 of harvest. The idea occurred to me, could we not 

 sow 10 or 15 acres of this plant about our apiary, and 

 put an electric light in the center, and thus get our 

 bees to work day and night, and thereby save that 

 which must go to waste during the night. 



But, let us talk of that which is practicable. It oc- 

 curred to me that the above plan would require a 

 fire, also, in the latter part of Sept., to warm by. 

 Mr. Christie intends to cultivate a large field of it 

 next year, and I believe it will amply pay any one 

 to do so. I have about 40 lbs., some of which I in* 



