62 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



tant than this we considered the difference 

 in the weight of the two smokers. From the 

 use of asbestos in the Crane smoker and the 

 consequent doubling of the metal it is made 

 much the heavier, which made it a burden 

 where much use was to be made of it, and 

 caused the Bingham in such cases to receive 

 the preference. Wliere one has the man- 

 agement of but few colonies a smoker of one 

 of the smaller sizes answers every require- 

 ment. 



For the purpose of experiment I procured 

 and put to extensive use in clearing supers 

 of bees, a dozen bee escapes, a part of which 

 were those known as the Porter and the rest 

 the Hastings. There is no question that 

 they are of great utility for the purpose in- 

 tended at any time when the bees are not 

 busy gathering honey from the fields. As a 

 rule, about twenty-four hours were required 

 to substantially clear the supers of bees, and 

 then there were generally a few bees left in 

 them, but not so many as to be a serious ob- 

 jection. They were not used until the honey 

 season had about closed and it is very likely 

 that had they been employed during the time 

 of active work in the fields their function 

 would have been much more rapidly per- 

 formed. Though no Very great difference 

 appeared, yet of the two the Porter seemed to 

 operate the more sa'.isfactorily. It appears 

 that the perforated plates have the effect of 

 making the bees contented where they are, 

 rather than hastening their departure from 

 the super. Great caution should be exer- 

 ciced by the novice in adjusting the escape 

 in seeing that the super is bee proof, other- 

 wise he may discover later that he has insti- 

 tuted a disagreeable case of robbing. 



For several years past there has been much 

 discussion of the question of the prevention 

 of brace and burr combs and for the purpose 

 of such prevention frames with heavy top 

 bars have found much favor. During the 

 past season, being possessed of fifteen or 

 more colonies upon such frames, I had a 

 favorable opportunity for judging of their 

 effectiveness. The top bars of the frames I 

 used are 1 1-1(! in. wide and 1 1-lG in. deep. 

 I spaced them about V4 in. apart so that they 

 were about 1 5-l() in. from center to center. 

 The results were very satisfactory, and, un- 

 less seasons of more abundant honey flow 

 produce different results, leave nothing to 

 be desired. There was scarcely a sign of a 

 burr comb except where a frame was im- 

 properly spaced. 



Having seen the use of sulphuric acid rec- 

 ommended for the cleansing of wax I pro- 

 cured some in order to test its efiicacy. To 

 do so I brought the wax to a hard boil then 

 dipped it into a woodi;n vessel and added 

 about a table spoonful of the acid to twelve 

 pounds of wax. The wax which before was 

 very dark was astonishingly improved in ap- 

 pearance. However, the process is one not 

 to be recommended unless in extreme cases. 

 The bringing of the wax itself to the requ red 

 temperature demands extreme care to avoid 

 danger and the acid is a poison which must 

 be handled with the greatest caution ; and 

 more than all this the wax is, undoubtedly, 

 as Dadant points out, injured for the use of 

 the manufacture of foundation and the price 

 would be consequently lessened rather than 

 increased if it is to be used for making foun- 

 dation. It seems wiser therefore to render 

 wax in the ordinary way and to make use of 

 the acid process when the wax is very dark 

 and is to be used for some other definite pur- 

 pose than that of making foundation. 

 Lapeer, Mich. Feb. 24, 1894. 



Why Given Foundation is Softer Than that 

 of Other Makes. 



JOHN MYEKS. 



O beauty, skin deep, we love you a heap ! 

 And when shall we learn to be wiser .'' 



The good and the wise, you seem to their eyes 

 Like au eagle of gold to a miser. 



T7R1END Hutchin- 

 i?" son : — I was very 

 much pleased to see 

 R. L. Taylor's ex- 

 periments with the 

 different makes of 

 foundation, as pub- 

 lished in the Review 

 for December. The 

 conclusions he ar- 

 rived at are similar 

 to those that have 

 been forced upon me 

 during the last few years while experiment- 

 ing with the two kinds of foundation, name- 

 ly, the Given and that made on rolls. 



Although I did not have the facilities for 

 testing the thickness of the comb, as did 

 friend Taylor, yet, while watching the bees 

 drawing foundation, both in sections and in 

 frames in the body of the hive, I have always 



