196 Advanced Bee Culture. 



with a thin coating of wax. The wax is put on hot with a wide, flat 

 paint brush. Just dip the brush into melted wax and apply it to founda- 

 tion as one would apply paint to a board. Of course, it adds to the 

 thickness of the foundation, and it is this feature, mainly, that prevents 

 the sagging. The added wax is of a different character — softer and 

 more brittle — and is very easily drawn out. 



KEEPING BEES WITHOUT A BEE JOURNAL. 



Most of the subscriptions to the bee journals expire with the year; 

 and there are always more or less of these subscriptions ordered dis- 

 continued. Sometimes reasons for this step are given. The one most 

 frequently given is : "I can't afford to take it another year." When a 

 bee-keeper can't afford to take a bee journal there is something radically 

 wrong. If he hopes and expects to succeed he can't afford not to read 

 all of the bee journals published. It is knowledge of his business that 

 helps a man to succeed ; it is from ignorance that he often fails. A man 

 can't know too much about his business. The successful bee-keepers, 

 poultrymen, farmers, gardeners, etc., all read the leading journals de- 

 voted to their businesses. The man who drops his bee journal because 

 he thinks he can't afford it, is almost as foolish as the sailor who ven- 

 tures out to sea without a compass. I am not writing this so much 

 because I hate to lose subscribers as because I know it is true, and that 

 some men have not given it sufficient thought. 



SELLING THE HONEY CROP TO THE BEST ADVANTAGE. 



"Did you ever stop to think that you spend all of your season pro- 

 ducing your crop of honey, and then sell it in about fifteen minutes?" 

 I came across the foregoing sentence in a circular just sent out by the 

 energetic, enterprising secretary of our Michigan State Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation. It is true that we bend every energy to the successful win- 

 tering of our bees ; we make chaff hives, or protect the bees with some 

 kind of packing, or we put them in the cellar and then watch the tem- 

 perature as a mother watches her sleeping child ; we feed the bees in 

 the spring if they need it ; we coax them into the supers by means of 

 "bait" sections ; we lift and sweat and suffer stings ; and, finally, crate 

 up our beautiful product with loving care ; and then, as Bro. Tyrrell 

 says, some of us sell it in about 15 minutes. 



The indifference exhibited by some producers in disposing of their 

 crop is certainly exasperating. We can't all peddle our honey; we can't 

 all sell it to retailers ; we can't all build up a mail order trade ; some of 

 us must sell to wholesale dealers, or consign to corrimission men ; but, 

 in any case, there is no excuse for the lack of interest, the indifference, 

 the "I'll-take-whatever-you'll-give-me" spirit. 



