iBL BEJ£-kE£PEltS ■ RfilVlEW. 



\U 



to understand how two separate machiues 

 cau do better, unless comparod with some 

 combined machine that worlis very differ- 

 ently from the way this one does. It is like 

 finding a secret room in a house — there are 

 so many feet that must be accounted for. 

 If each part of the operation is i-ei formed as 

 fast, and as perfectly, and as handily as the 

 nature of the work allows when done sepa- 

 rately, and if in addition all is done simullR- 

 neously that can be done, the o ily reason that 

 can be assigned for a preference for two ma- 

 chines is that the operator has long been 

 familiar with them, and in his uufamiliar- 

 ity with the combined machine jumps to a 

 conclusion. Equal familiarity with both 

 can lead to but one verdict. The fact that 

 in using separate machiues the sections 

 have to be handled once more cannot be got 

 around. Those bee-keepers who use them 

 make a practice of putting up their sections 

 some time ahead of when they are wanted. 

 But neither the sections nor the foundation 

 are quite as nice after standing awhile ex- 

 posed to the air before being used. 



I notice that some still prefer the Parker. 

 Evidently what other machines they have 

 tried, if any, were poor ones. Not that the 

 Parker is not good as far as it goes. But it 

 is not smited to the progressive specialist. 

 One writer even calls it " fast, " I suppose 

 from the same standpoint from which an 

 ant could be said to run fast. It does not 

 convince to be told how many sections have 

 been operated by the Parker in a day ; for 

 the ratio of speed between it and the other 

 machines remains the same. The same 

 nimbleness put on both, by the same opera- 

 tor, is what tells the tale. The Parker wastes 

 foundation, and to do its best work has to 

 be operated in a sweltering atmosphere, but 

 it often has to be operated when the con- 

 ditions are not just right, with ineffective 

 work for the result ; and when they are just 

 right for the machine, they are decidely 

 wrong for handling full sheets properly. 

 The argument of ••ch<3ap labor" will not 

 hold here, either, as the Rauchfass machine 

 can be operated by a child or experienced 

 person, the only requisite being nimbleness 

 which is soon acquired. This argument 

 could never be of general application, any- 

 how, for the majority of bee-keepers prefer 

 to do their work themselves. 



Aevada, Colo. 



April 16, 1896. 



Horizontal Wiring That Will not Sap. 



E. A. DAOOITT. 



iTULTHOUGHI 

 xl have proba- 

 bly tried every 

 method of wiring 

 frames that I have 

 heard of, none 

 proved entirely 

 satisfactory un- 

 til I tried the 

 method described 

 in this article. 

 Per pen di cular 

 wiring is apt 1o 

 spring the bottom bars of the frames, and 

 the strain that does this, draws down on the 

 top bars, and when the combs are filled 

 with honey the added weight on these bars 

 renders them more liable to sag. 



The other kinds of wiring allow the foun- 

 dation to sag and bulge, making uneven 

 combs when finished. Plain horizontal wir- 

 ing would be best if the wires would not sag 

 and swing sidewise. I remedy this defect 

 sufficiently well for all practical purposes by 

 threading the wires tiirough loops in a cen- 

 tral wire support strung from the top bar to 

 the bottom bar of each frame. 



To make this support, drive into a strip of 

 wood a row of % inch wire nails equal to 

 the number of wires in each frame. Place 

 the nails 1 16 of an inch closer than the 

 wires are to be apart, and cut off their heads 

 allowing them to project about :^-16 of an 

 inch. File the ends smooth so that the loops 

 will slip off easily. Drive another small 

 wire nail in the strip of wood at one end of 

 the row of nails, in line with it, and about 

 the same distance from the first nail as the 

 top bars will be from the first wires. The 

 head is to be left on this nail and one end 

 of a wire of the same size as is used for wir- 

 ing the frames is to be permanently attach- 

 ed to the nail. Grasp the strip in one hand 

 and with the other draw the wire tightly and 

 bring it down and around the first nail. 

 Pass it down and around the next nail and 

 so on until it is wound around the last one, 

 then cut off a couple of inches below the 

 latter. The loops are to be removed from 

 the wires with the thumb nail in the inverse 

 order that they are put on. 



Now pull out the nail to which the wire is 

 attached and drive it into the under side of 

 the top bar at the center. Pass the lower 



