1S77. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



213 



i-essfully ; the only difficulty, seems to be in 

 providing jiist enough moisture and nomore. 



Besides the iibove mentioned wants, we 

 ■want a queen cage that can be cheaply 

 imade, especially if we ave going to sell 

 <iueeus for a dollar. I will tell you how we 

 make them, and as it involves principles 

 that should be observed in th<e manufacture 

 of any article by machinery. I will give tlie 

 details rather at lengtli. 



(ietsome clear pine Imnber, dressed on 

 il)oth sides, to about i in thickness. Vat it 

 uip in leugtlis of 6 or 8 feet as may l)e most 

 convenient. Saw these into strips 2 inches 

 in widtii. With a very sharp centre bit, we 

 i)ore holes in the strips 1| in diameter; 

 these holes wliich are bored so nearly through 

 51S to leave about i of wood at the bottom, 

 are just i inch apart, that is, there is just i 

 inch of solid wood left between each two 

 holes. The holes can he bored by hand, but 

 ;i lathe is much more expeditious. If the 

 small hole made cleiu- through by the spur 

 of the centre bit is set over a small pin or 

 mail every time the stick is moved along, 

 they can be spaced very quickly, and very 

 exactly. The pin is of course driven in the 

 ililock of wood fastened to the movable cen- 

 tre of the lathe. We bore about 4 holes a 

 Jiiinute, on an average. Now if we should 

 tack wire cloth over these holes, and saw up 

 the stick, we should have queen cages, but 

 we are not nearly ready to do this yet. We 

 th) not Asish to be to the trouble of prying 

 out the tacks every time we wish to open 

 our cage, and so we must make some kind 

 of a nice little door for the purpose. As 

 boring holes and hinging doors is too slow, 

 if we can get rid of it, we make openings in- 

 to all the cages at once, by plowing a groove 

 the whole length of the stick, just deep 

 enough to cut into the cages. This is quick- 

 ly done with a carpenter's plow, and the 

 groove is afterward made beveling so as to 

 hold the sliding strip, by running the strips 

 while held at an angle, over a buzz saw. 

 Now saw some long thin strips of well sea- 

 soned pine, to just slide closely into these 

 grooves, and when the cages are cut up we 

 shall have a sliding door in each ; but we 

 are not yet ready to cut them up. 



CANDY FOR BEKS AND (QUEENS AND LIT- 

 TLE FOLKS. 



Get a tin saucepan, and put into it some 

 coffee sugar with a little water — a very little 

 water will do. Make it boil and stir it, and 

 when it is done enough to "grain" when 

 stirred in a saucer, take it quickly from the 

 stove. While it is " cooking."' do not let the 



fire touch the pan, but place the pan on the 

 stove, and there will be no danger of its 

 burning, ("over the dining table with some 

 newspapei-s that you may have no trouble- 

 some daubs to cler.r up, and i)lace your long 

 sticks of cages upon it. J.ay one in front of 

 you, with the back edge where the slide is, 

 sligiitly raised. Now stir your syrup in the 

 saucepan, until it will be just right to pour 

 into tins for ''sugar cakes,'' and you are 

 ready to ladle it into the queen cages witii a 

 spoon. Fill them about as full as our artist 

 has shown in the cut below, as at A. 



MANNJ 



CF 



PUTTING THE CANDY IN THE 

 QUEEN CAGE. 



Go on to the next, and work as fast as you 

 can, but be sure you do not get any hot can- 

 dy on the wood except in the cages, and do 

 not get any on yoiu" fingers. Our boy who 

 does the work thinks you will remember af- 

 ter you have tried it about once. It your 

 candy was right, it will be dry and hard on 

 the outside when cold, but comparatively 

 moist on the inside, and if you tr^^ to get it 

 out of a cage, you will be satished that it 

 will never get loose and " bump " the bees. 

 To see when it is just right you can try 

 dropping some on a saucer, and while you 

 are at work, be sure to remember the little 

 folks who will doubtless take quite an in- 

 terest in the proceedings, especially the 

 baby. You can stir some until it is very 

 white indeed for her ; this will do very well 

 for cream candy. We have formerly nuide 

 our bee candy hard and clear, but in this 

 shape it is very apt to be sticky, unless we 

 endanger having it burned, whereas if it is 

 stirred we can have dry hiird candy, of what 

 would be only wax if cooled suddenly with- 

 out the stirring. Besides we have much 

 more moisture in the stirred sugar candy, 

 and we want all the moisture we can possi- 

 bly have, consistent with ease in handling. 



If vou have not wire cloth doors and win- 



