§x.] CHESHIRE'S GUIDE-MAKER. 191 



§ X. CHESHIRE'S GUIDE-MAKER. 



At the Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1875, Mr. 

 Cheshire exhibited and obtained a prize for a wax guide- 

 maker, which is an ingenious contrivance. It consists 

 of a plaster df Paris cast, with impressions taken from the 

 metal plates before referred to (page 187). This cast is 

 two inches in width, about the same in thickness, and 

 eleven or twelve inches long. It rests in a shallow zinc 

 or tin trough containing water to keep the plaster damp 

 by capillary attraction. The plaster cast may first be 

 soaked in water; then place against its side the top 

 bar of the frame, reversed so that the centre of the under 

 side lies even with the edge of the embossed cast. The 

 wax (which must be genuine) is melted in an ordinary 

 glue-pot ; then with a clean paintbrush it is applied to 

 the top of the plaster cast and exposed part of the bar. 

 The wax immediately hardens on the damp cast and 

 does not adhere, whilst the under side of the bar carries 

 an embossed guide of sufficient depth to be an unfailing 

 means of direction to the swarm in the building of straight 

 combs. 



When a large number of frames have to be prepared, 

 this ingenious apparatus is a convenience ; but for the 

 ordinary apiarian we should advise procuring a few of 

 the impuessed wax sheets, cutting them in strips, and 

 fixing without the mess and trouble which Mr. Cheshire's 

 apparatus involves. 



