122 THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL 
Whoever fulfils these conditions will, I think, 
make no failure in filling his combs. He will, 
however, not leave the table or the floor of 
the kitchen in the best condition ; and any 
farther effort needed is simply to prevent 
waste and muss, unless it be to make the 
work lighter. To this end, get a tin box 
made about two feet deep, about half an inch 
or an inch longer than the top-bar of your 
brood-frames, and about an inch wider than 
the outside depth of the frames. It will cost 
a little less to have made a wooden box of the 
above dimensions, without top or bottom, and 
then place it in a tin pan three or four inches 
deep, and large enough to contain the box. 
In either case, in one of the lower corners of 
the tin box (or of the pan) a hole should be 
made with a spout, say an inch in diameter 
and about three or four inches long, through 
which the waste syrup can pass to be caught 
in a pail or other vessel standing under the 
spout. Of course, the whole affair must be 
elevated sufliciently to admit of the pail 
standing under the spout ; and the operator, 
if necessary, can stand on a box to make him 
high enough. Now take an old tin quart 
fruit-can, hold it upside down over a very hot 
stove or fire till the solder melts so the top 
can be easily knocked off. Then with a 
2J inch No. 12 wire nail, or a punch of the 
same size, punch holes in the bottom of the 
can. Punch the holes from the inside, so the 
projections shall be outside. Make a row of 
holes aronnd the outer edge, about f of an 
inch apart ; -4 of an inch inside of this another 
row, then inside of this again, filling up the 
bottom with holes about f of an inch apart. 
Near the upper edge, punch two holes on 
opposite sides, and into one of these holes 
pass a piece of wire about a foot long, fastening 
together the two ends by twisting, then serve 
the other hole the same way. Tie one end of 
a string into each of the wires, and tie the 
other ends of the strings into two nails or 
staples in the ceiling, five or six feet apart. 
Let the can be hung about three feet above 
the bottom of the tin box, and let the strings 
hang crosswise (not lengthwise) of the box. 
Put a comb in the bottom of the box, then 
pour a dipper of syrup rather rapidly into the 
can, and with the left hand keep moving the 
can so as to fill all parts of the comb ; turn 
the comb over, fill the other side, raise the 
comb and let it drain a few seconds, then put 
it into a super, or hive without a bottom, to 
slowly draiii off. It is, of course, well to have 
a pan, sufficiently large underneath to catch 
the drip, and the combs may be tiered up five 
or six high. If you don’t want your clothes 
unnecessarily daubed when stooping to lift 
the frames, slip the can into the dipper and 
hold it out of the way. To prevent the holes 
in the can from becoming frequently clogged, 
put in the top of the can a little wire strainer, 
such as are used for straining herbs. 
Marengo, 111. C. C. Miller. 
BEGINNING IN BEEKEEPING. 
L. C. ROOT. 
From the American Bee Journal. 
Those interested in our pursuit should 
spend some portion of their leisure during the 
winter months in acquiring information in 
regard to the most approved methods in the 
apiary. It is desirable that those who wish 
to commence beekeeping should become 
familiar, not only with the necessary, but the 
best fixtures, in order to begin intelligently, 
and to continue in the right direction. ’ 
Many beginners do not attach sufficient 
importance to this matter of preparation by 
reading, and often find it necessary to make 
many changes, thereby incurring much need- 
less expense. Others become discouraged and 
drop the business in a year or two, when, if 
circumstances had been more favorable, they 
would have attained, with application, reason- 
able success. It is a mistake for beginners to 
hope to reach at once, results equal to those 
who have had years of experience. Those who 
indulge in this idea, will be sure to meet with 
disappointment. It is a common mistake with 
modern writers upon beekeeping to offer too 
glowing inducements to the inexperienced. 
In my opinion there are, at the present day, 
two distinct classes, taking extreme ground in 
relation to our interests, both of which I con- 
ceive to be in error. One class endeavors to 
induce all, without regard to fitness, to en- 
gage in beekeeping, assuring them, by delu- 
sive statements, that ic is the highway to 
prosperity. The other, on the other hand, 
says that the business should only be con- 
ducted by specialists, who devote themselves 
exclusively to it. I am often told that I am 
helping to instruct the public to produce such 
quantities of honey, that those of us, who 
make it a special business, cannot dispose of 
our own honey at figures that will make it 
remunerative. I admit that there may be 
some truth in this, if we are to be controlled 
by selfish aims alone, but I cannot believe 
that this is the proper view to take of it. 
The facts are these : All over this beautiful 
land, blossoms are secreting honey which is 
passing away and being wasted, at the very 
doors of those who might, with a proper 
understanding of the means, secure it as a 
wholesome article of food. Again, there are 
those in nearly every community, who are 
keeping a few colonies of bees in box hives, 
and in the old way securing little or no profit. 
This is the class I desire more particularly to 
influence. One of the earliest lessons I 
received was, that whatever it paid to do at 
all, it paid to do well. If it pays at all to keep 
bees in the manner alluded to, it certainly 
must pay much better to keep them after 
the most improved methods of the present. 
It is not true that all can keep bees success- 
fully, but only such should undertake it as are 
by nature adapted to it, and will give it the 
