108 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



adulterated. On the other hand, comb hon- 

 ey stands without a rival — a thinK^'i" (jeneris 

 — captivating to the eye — the symbol of 

 sweetness — a royal luxury. But so industri- 

 ously have they who ought to know better, 

 talked about the enormity of eating ' indi- 

 gestible wax,' that the proper use of comb 

 honey is almost a ' lost art.' People strug- 

 gle to reject every flake of wax, or else eat 

 their hot biscuit and honey as a forbidden 

 indulgence, dared with full expectation of 

 gripes and nightmare as a penalty. The 

 fact is, that honey comb is one of the most 

 wholesome foods ever eaten. It will make 

 hot biscuit and fresh bread easily digesti- 

 ble. These alone are rightly considered 

 much harder of digestion than stale bread, 

 from the fact that they pack, in chewing, 

 into masses impermeable to the solvent 

 juices of the digestive organs. But when 

 they are eaten with honey comb, the delicate 

 flakes of wax prevent the packing, while the 

 honey pervading the whole mass, is readily 

 dissolved out, leaving free access for the gas- 

 tric juice to all parts of the food. The scales 

 of wax, though indigestible, are soft and 

 smooth, and will not irritate the most deli- 

 cate membrane. 



But besides being a delicious and whole- 

 some article of food, I regard comb honey 

 as a specific cure for many difficulties of di- 

 gestion and irregularity of the bowels. In 

 our day, drugs are at a discount for the 

 treatment of chronic diseases, and people are 

 generally seeking health from a proper se- 

 lection of foods instead of medicines. For a 

 long time Graham bread and bran crackers 

 have been prescribed by the medical faculty 

 for dyspeptic affections and obstinate con- 

 stipation ; but the doctors are about finding 

 out that these things will ruin the digestion 

 of anything but a horse, as the rough, silici- 

 ous scales of bran irritate and lacerate the 

 delicate membranes of the digestive organs, 

 to their speedy ruin. I can assure all per- 

 sons whose digestion needs a little assis- 

 tance, that they will find in comb honey, 

 eaten wax and all, just the thing to help them 

 — and a very agreeable medicine to take, it 

 is, too. 



The flakes of wax furnish a gentle stimulus 

 to the digestive membranes, without in any 

 way injuring them. To bee-keepers I would 

 say, produce extracted honey by all means, 

 if you can make more money by it ; but for 

 your own bread and butter, and hot biscuit 

 and hot cakes: use comb honey, without Vje- 

 ing anxious to save all the wax to make up 

 into foundation, and see if it isn't the best 

 way to eat honey." 



Barnet Taylor's Latest House Apiary. 

 , Mr. Taylor has finished his house apiary, 

 and I copy the following illustration and 

 description from Farm, Stork and Home. 

 It will be seen that the arrangement is al- 

 most exactly that of the Langdon house 

 apiary described in another column. 



"We illustrate herewith a sectional view of 

 our new house apiary and give as plain a des- 



cription as possible. It is very important 

 to have these buildings right in every detail 

 at the start, as they cannot well be altered 

 after occupied by bees. In constructing it 

 we have used our past experience to make it 

 as near perfect as possible. 



This house is Ki feet long, S feet wide and 

 8 feet high to ceiling. The roof is 12 feet 

 wide, projecting 2 feet on each side, protect- 

 ing the hive entrance from rain or snow. Its 

 capacity is .'52 swarms without crowding. 

 There are four shelves, 2 feet wide, running 

 the length of the house, for holding hives; 

 the bottom ones are raised <> inches above 

 the floor, and the two upper ones placed 

 midway between them and the ceiling, and 

 are constructed to have a space under them 

 packed with pine leaves to keep the bottom 

 of the hives warm in winter. Sawdust or 

 chaff may be used for packing, but as it 

 is to be permanent the dry pine leaves, when 

 procurable, are best, as they will not be- 

 come damp. The packing under the bot- 

 tom shelves is 8 inches thick, and that at the 

 top 4 inches. This is the only permanent 

 packing about the building. 



Ill Foundation posts. (2) Endsofsille. (31 Plat- 

 form for hives. (4) Entrances— Alighting 

 hoards, ("d Table for liaiullinc hives. 



The hives are two feet apart from center 

 to center, and set ;! inches from the outer 

 walls. There are 8 inches space between the 

 hives and .'> inches between back of hives 

 and back of shelves. At the back of shelves 

 there are movable walls 22 inches high to 

 hold the winter packing (sawdust) in place. 

 When the hives are packed for winter there 

 are '^ inches of sawdust in front, 8 inches 

 between, r> inches at the back, and 8 inches 

 on top of them. If properly done this will 

 winter the bees with safety in a severe win- 

 ter. 



nWe pack the bees at the first approach of 

 freezing weather in the fall, and leave it on 



