THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
Ill 
over the frame*, and gently blowing under it 
a* I peel it off, the bee* are quieted im- 
mediately. None should be blown in at the 
entrance, and very great care mu»t be taken 
that the sponge i* never sufficiently wet with 
the mixture to allow of any running toward* 
the nozzle, nnd so dropping among tire frames, 
or your bees may all leave. The advantage ot 
this plan is, the “smoker” is always ready — 
one charge has lasted me three weeks — and it 
is easy to wash out the sponge and put a little 
fresh mixture in. If one has an ordinary- 
smoker he can get a little wire net cage made 
to hold the sponge, and fit into the fiie 
chamber, or he can bur one of the little wire 
net tea holders for holding the sponge inside 
his smoker. Pure carbolic acid the bees don’t 
mind much, but crude ac;d is very alarming to 
them. Now crude carbolic acid is a mixture 
of phenol (pure carbolic acid,) creosote, and 
other tarry substances; and as the creosote 
und other impurities stein to be the effective 
ingredients, it is best to use those alone. So 
1 have used a mixture, as stated above, of 
creosote and black oil of tar (one patt in ten,) 
which seems to do admirably. 
FIXING FOUNDATION IS WIRED FRAMES. 
The methods usunlly adopted for fixing 
foundation iu wired frames are either to rub 
the wires into the foundation with a grooved 
button hook, or some tool of the kind, or to 
pres* it in with •' Blood s roller" (an American 
device,) or, better, with Mr. Root’s "rocking 
tool," an instrument like a portion of the 
periphery of a wheel, with a few snarp teeth 
on it, Each tooth is rolled on to the wires, 
and embed them in the foundation. Foun- 
dation fixed by any of these methods is apt to 
part from the wires and curl up in very 
warm weather, or when used for uewly hived 
swarms. The fuel is, there is no real union 
between the wax and the wires unless the 
wires are heated. 1 have trie d sevcial plans 
for doing this, but none so satisfactory as 
warming the wires with a galvanic current 
from a good large single battery cell. The 
mode is very simple, 1-ay the foundation ou 
a board which fits inside the frame ; now lay 
the frame horizontally over the foundation, 
so that the wires lie nice and evenly on 
the foundation; take the wiies from the 
two poles of the battery, one in each hand, 
nnd touch the two ends of each fiurt.c wire 
fur a moment, one end with the positive nnd 
the other with the negative wire of the battery, 
and the Irume w ire be comes heated, and mi lls 
it* way down to the ir/itam or midrib of the 
ruundatioti ; touch each wire of the frame in 
succession in this way, and the whole is fixed 
quicker than by any of the other inodes, and 
so firmly that.you can only tear the foundation 
away piecemeal. If your battery is not strong 
enough to heat the wire the whole width of 
the Irume do it in steps, and y ou w ill find ev< n 
tlun you can do it moie quickly than by any 
of the other plans, with tie satisfaction of 
knowing that the wires are as fiimly attached 
as is the case with the foundation wheie the 
wins are embedded during the proetts of 
manufacture. 
The eleventh meiting of the Club was held 
at the rooms of the 1’ublic Seivicc Association, 
Melbourne Atheneam, on 18th October. 
Fourteen members present ; Mr. Ellery in the 
chair. 
Mr. F. Bowyer Miller described an observa- 
tory hive he had made, and his first experi- 
ment for ascertaining the time bees commenced 
queen cells after being made qucenless. In 
the first case a cell was completely formed in 
twenty-four hour*. The Chairman was asked 
if queens reared in very small colonhs were 
as prolific as those raised in full colonies? In 
reply, he said that queens raised in small or 
weak colonies seldom pioved prolific or long- 
lived. Small colonies therefore should not be 
allowed to build their own queen cells. 
Capped cells from strong stocks should be 
given to small colonics. 
The Chairman stated that a rather large 
consignment of Cyprian queens had arrived 
in Australia from Mr. Benton, of Munich, — 
some for South Australia, some for Victoria, 
and others for Queensland. Those for Adelaido 
were opened several days before any of those 
for Victoria reached their destination, and 
were all alive and well. Flight went to 
Hamilton for Mr. Navcau, three of which 
we re dead on arrival. Four came to himself, 
of which one was dead, two nearly dead, and 
one alive and well, which was introduced to 
n colony of blacks next day in a pipe corner 
cage (the black queen having been ju»t re- 
moved.) She was released mx* day, and at 
first was well received by the bees, but was 
afterward* balled. On releasing her she took 
flight, settled a moment on his hand, and then 
rose again and flew rapidly awav, and was 
lost. Mr. Naveau. he stated, had also been 
unfortunate in introducing, but he believed 
that two or three were safely installed. Ho 
attributed the death of the queens on their 
vovage to the presence of moth in the small 
boxes, which had caused the honey to drip out 
from the combs, with which the bee* were 
ultimately suffocated. Several speeinu ns of 
laluable bee flower* were shown by numbers, 
ai d specimen* of Ainenran hive* in flic flat, 
just arrived, were eihtbitcd by Mr. Lloyd. 
The met ting terminated ut 10 o'clotk. 
