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what is stated would be that it is a delusion to go into bee-keeping as a remunerative industry, though it is a fine calling for oxygenating the blood, giving a good appetite, and keeping off dyspepsia, with its attendant "blues." If it is all this, and if, besides, it will yield a comfortable subsistence, why, then, it is by no means a bad calling. We don't suppose that the Captain has made a fortune out of it any more than the lamented Quinby; but if he has found a competence in it, as we think he has, why then, it is just as well to say so much in its praise.

Too much stress cannot be laid on the advice not to go into bee-keeping unless you are adapted to it." A man wants

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a call to bee-keeping,” if he is to succeed at it; just as truly as a man wants "a call to the ministry," in order to be effective in that vocation.

There is an idea abroad just now, that, whereas at first, bee-men eulogized the business in order to get buyers for patent hives and a legion of useless " fixins"; now there is a fear entertained lest too many should go into it and so the business be "overdone." We don't imagine that Captain Hetherington is influenced by any such motive, because he knows quite well that successful bee-keeping, on a large scale, requires peculiar qualifica tions such as few persons are likely to develop. For ourselves, we play second fiddle to no one, as an amateur bee-keeper, but we know as well as any one can tell us that we are not " adapted" to beekeeping as a calling. We can do better at preaching and editing, although neither of these can be called a money-making business. For shallow purses, threadbare coats, patched clothing, and "shocking bad hats," commend us to the ministerial and editorial fraternities. But if any one undertakes to run down either of these professions, we are prepared to go for him with a very sharp-pointed pen, dipped in ink with rather more than the usual proportion of gall in it. W. F. C.

On the 16th C. O. Perrine went to the South on a tour of inspection. He intends visiting many of the bee-keepers in Louisiana, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio, before returning.

At a recent meeting of a county beekeepers' society, the secretary thereof made the charge that he had purchased of a well-known dealer, for pure Italian, a queen which proved to be a very poor hybrid, if not a pure black. This matter occupies a large portion of space in the report of proceedings of the society, published in the local paper. The accused party asks that we publish the report in full, and sends us a full reply. This would occupy several pages, and as it comes at a late hour, when the pages are mostly made up for this number, we publish neither charge nor reply, not having room therefor.

Even had we the room, we doubt the wisdom of the publication. The readers of the JOURNAL are not interested in the details of a personal quarrel, and if we begin it, the wrangle may run through several numbers. The AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL has always deservedly borne the reputation of being fair and impartial, and the very freedom of its columns has perhaps been, more than anything else the subject of criticism. A highly esteemed correspondent says "I have always liked the JOURNAL, though I think too many unkind flings are admitted. They are mischievous and do not aid our art." We believe this is a fair expression of the opinion of others.

In the present instance, a man with an enviable reputation as an upright dealer is said to have sold to another dealer, as pure, a queen nearly, if not quite, black. We certainly cannot believe he would be so idiotic as to commit so bare-faced & fraud, even if he had no principle whatever, for the loss of reputation thereby would be more than the price of many queens, and a very few such transactions would entirely stop his gains from sales.

We can readily believe that a man may buy a pure queen and afterward suppose himself to be imposed upon. A few years ago we ordered an Italian queen of a man whom we believed to be honest. To make sure of her kindly reception we put her in a small colony that we had purposely kept queenless for a week or more, having cut out all queen cells so we might feel sure, not only that they had no queen, but that they had no means of raising

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We have just been trying one of Novice's extractors, that is, running it without any thing in it, and it certainly runs very easily. It seems as if it would not be hard to get up speed enough to throw out honey, brood, and perhaps, bee-bread! After being accustomed to one without gearing, we feel quite sure we should, with the Novice machine, throw out some brood before getting the hang of it. The gearing is admirably arranged so that the crank lifts off, being in one solid piece with the larger cog wheel. This makes it very easy to clean or oil the cogs. There is no wood about it, and the whole thing is so light that it can easily be carried with one hand. It appears to us, it would be troublesome to clean, as we see no way of taking the frame work out of the can without taking out four screws and these would soon be getting rusty or loose. Only Novice would have thought of the night-cap arrangement of cotton cloth for covering it.

WE have before us the new work of Prof. A. J. Cook, entitled "Manual of the Apiary," containing 60 pages of useful matter, with 20 illustrations. As to the mechanical execution of the work, it has the appearance of a government pamphlet, being a little more than 6x9 inches, and contains much waste space. A smaller page and thicker book would have been far more convenient. Of course at so low a price it has a paper cover. The type is clear. Many of the cuts are neither beautiful nor true. The beginner, who has not one of the larger works, will obtain in this, at a trifling expense, the pith of what he wants.

Artificial Comb-Foundation.

The situation at present with regard to COMB-FOUNDATION is about as follows:

"Novice" comes into the field again, and says in May Gleanings:

"I am now having another machine made, as Mr. Perrine makes no progress as yet towards filling orders, even at his prices; ours will be 75 cents and $1.00 as before, but I beg no one will send in money until we announce being ready to fill orders. If, after the machine is done, our laws will sustain Mr. Perrine, you and I will have to submit until his patent runs out; we can do it pleasantly if obliged to, can we not?"

Mr. A. J. King announces in the May B. K. Magazine, that he will furnish machines for $100 each. He says:

"A considerable quantity of cheap materials, perfectly harmless, and acceptable to the bees, is mixed with the wax, and to a person owning a machine the complete foundation-combs ought not to cost him above 40 cents per fb. The materials added to the bees-wax give it a stiffness and tenacity very desirable in the breeding department of the hive, and this is the only place where artificial combs (except thin strips for guides) should ever be used."

He furthermore offers to give his patent for the benefit of the bee-keeping public, providing Mr. Perrine will do the same.

If anything but pure bees wax is used in the production of foundations, we are strongly of the opinion that the whole thing will fall into deserved disrepute, and damage the sale of comb honey.

Meantime, Mr. Perrine has not receded from his position, that no one else has a right to make the foundations. If this claim is sustained, then the only question will be as to the profit of furnishing the bees with foundations at Mr. Perrine's prices; if the claim does not hold, then the question will be whether to buy a machine at $100 or the product at 75 cents per tb. If it is true that the comb-foundations (if they are to be much used, we hope a shorter name will be invented) should only be used in the breeding department and they can be made for 40 cents per b; then it follows that only those who want about 300 lbs will find it profitable to pay $100 for a machine if they can buy the foundations from Novice at 75 cents per lb.

Some English bee-keepers use the sheets of wax without any cell impressions on them and seem to think them about as good. We have used these sheets and any one can make them, as we think there is no patent on them. Take any vessel that is most convenient and melt beeswax in it, putting in first, water enough to make the vessel tolerably full after the beeswax is in. Of course, it would do just as well to have all bees wax and no water, but a very little wax can be used if water is added. Dip into this a piece of common window glass, and after taking it out of the wax, dip it into a vessel of cold water to cool it and you will have a thin sheet of wax on each side of the glass. If wanted thicker, dip again in the wax. We think, however, we should much prefer the pressed sheets.

To fasten in the frame, a little melted wax or rosin may be dropped on as a kind of solder, or a hot fron may be run along the edge of the wax where it touches the frame.

If much is to be fastened into frames, the plan given by Novice is good. Make a board just large enough to fit easily into the frame, and nail stops around it so that the foundations will be just at the right place to be fastened into the frame.

If the foundations cannot be used for surplus honey, then it seems to us, their chief value will be gone.

W. W. Lynch asks, how to preserve combs, not in use from the moth. They may be put in a closet or box which closes so tight that no moth can find an entrance. They may be hung in an attic allowing a space of one or two inches between the combs. We have kept them standing all the year in a hive out doors just as the frames would be hung for the bees to occupy; but this might not be so well in all localities.

A. G. Hill did not say, in his article on Artificial Swarms, whether he used woolen or cotton cloth for curtains. If cotton, would it not be a good plan to make them double with a thickness of newspaper between? C. T. SMITH.

I use one thickness of woolen or two of cotton cloth. The paper may be an improvement, but I have never tried it.

A. G. HILL.

Mr. F. W. Chapman has sent one of his extractors to this office, and the cut on the advertising pages is a very exact representation, except that the corner posts of the machine are neater in appearance than those in the cut. The wooden frame work about the can adds unnecessarily to the weight, but it has the advantage of being always mounted, ready for work. For every revolution made by the crank the comb makes four revolutions.

NOT HAY, BUT HONEY.-The first line on page 137 of May number, R. Miller's article on Melilot Clover, should read: "I got 6,000 pounds of honey," not hay. It will be well to make that correction on your copies, for it is an important change of words.

The first article in this number from the pen of the Rev. W. F. Clarke, was intended for the May number, but was received too late.

MR. J. S. COE writes us that he proposes to have the ground about his house apiary, planted with honey-producing plants; and asks that bee-keepers send by mail specimens of the honey-producing plants of their various localities, directed "J. S. Coe, House Apiary, Exhibition Grounds, Philadelphia, Pa."

On page 117 of last issue, D. H. Ogden's address is wrong. It should be "Wooster, Wayne County, Ohio." Those who have written him to Mass., will do well to write to the postmaster and order the letters forwarded to Wooster, Ohio.

WE had a pleasant call last month from the Rev. A. Salisbury, of Camargo, Ills., who is extensively engaged in aparian pursuits.

On April 25th, G. W. Maryatt, of Milton, Wis., lost his residence by fire. In his cellar were 40 swarms of bees, and all were consumed.

MR. C. C. VAUGHAN, of Columbia, Tenn., has been added to the firm of Staples & Andrews, of the Columbia Apiary, in that place. One month ago they had 175 full colonies, and were then having natural

swarms.

FRIEND NEWMAN.-Believing that I am as successful as anybody in the introduction and sale of machine-extracted honey, and as the ready sale of the article is just as important as the production of it, allow me to add to the exhibition in your office, two of my cases of honey jars. They are the style in which I have been selling honey to the trade for years, and it is the best merchantable shape in which I have seen honey put up, so far.

I object to putting a piece of comb into a jar of "pure machine-extracted honey," because it is, in my estimation, only pleasing to the eye of the ignorant, and because it can only be calculated to convince the purchaser that the article is pure honey. Every honey producer knows that machine-extracted honey is the only pure honey possible, while we have wax and other little impurities with the choicest kind of comb honey. Choice machine-extracted honey will recommend itself; and a piece of comb in a jar is just as insufficient to convince a sensible consummer of the purity as the crumbling of dry comb on top of a jar. Besides, after granulation has taken place, a jar of machine-extracted honey, with a piece of comb in it, is unsightly and unsalable.

We should have, as near as possible, a uniform shape in which to offer our honey to the trade. To our neighbors we may sell it in any shape to suit them, of course. But we are in the habit of seeing canned peaches put up in tin cans, and other fruits in some certain packages. Similar it should be with honey. Round jars can be furnished for about $1.00 less per gross than square jars. But I prefer the latter because everybody uses round jars for almost everything, and because square jars have a neater appearance and pack better.

Permit me also to place on your table one of my knives. There are no more practical uncapping knives made, and they are cheap. CHAS. F. MUTH.

We have taken pleasure in examining these articles. The one pound honey jars look very much like the ordinary square pickle bottles. On one side is blown in the glass the figure of an oldfashioned straw hive or skep, and the words "1 POUND PURE HONEY." The remaining three sides are plain to admit such labels as the producer may wish to put on them. We do not remember before to have seen a label of directions like the one Mr. Muth puts on the jars of honey he sells. Something of the kind should be on every jar of honey sold. The label reads as follows:

"All pure honey will crystalize, [of course he means granulate-ED.] especially if exposed to

the cold. Putting the jar in hot water, will bring the candied honey to its fluid state without the least injury to the quality. In order to save the glass the corks should be loosened and the water heated gradually."

In this connection we also give the printed instructions Mr. C. O. Perrine sends out with his goods:

"To restore candied honey to its original liquid condition it must be heated.

"Nearly all pure honey will form into granules in cold climates in time. Some honey so forms sooner than others, and in some seasons honey will so form much more than in others, owing to atmospheric conditions aside from absence of heat.

"When I have any jars of candied honey I take the covers off, to guard against bursting with confined heat, and place them over a steaming kettle of water, setting them on strips of wood and covering them over with a cloth, so as to keep the heat in. If comb honey, care should be taken that they do not heat too quick or get too warm, as a very little excess of heat above that required to melt the honey, will melt the comb (wax) too, as well as the liquid honey about the comb, which, when melted, will float on the honey.

"If the jars be set in an oven the same result will follow, placing strips of wood under them to keep the heat from breaking the glass.

To those having them to sell, I will say if they will warm them before they are candied through, a very little heat will do."

Mr. Muth's 50-cent uncapping knife is a rough looking affair, but the blade being of good steel it will doubtless do good work. Some would rather give $1.00 for a nicely finished knife, while others would rather save 50 cents and have something less tasteful in appearance.

The bee veil of Mr. Muth is made of thin, white material, all but the part before the face which is black and very fine, so as not to impede the vision. It comes down to the waist at front and back, making a very thorough protection; in fact too much of a protection for an old beekeeper, who will want a veil ready to be thrown down quickly over the face as occasion may require. For the timid who want to feel sure that no bee can get near them, this veil is just the thing.

Don't write anything on the face of a postal card but the address. We very often have to pay 5 cents for a postal card sent us because the sender has put the date on the face of it instead of the other side. Let all remember this.

In a private letter, one of our most prominent bee-keepers remarks that our April number was "the best bee-papor" he "ever saw, Wagner's administration not excepted." Our determination is that each future number shall be "like unto it."

Secure a Choice Queen.

We now renew our offer to send a choice tested Italian queen as a premium, to any one who will send us five subscribers to the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL with $10,00. This premium, which gives a $5.00 queen for five subscribers, will pay any one for taking some trouble to extend the circulation of the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. Premium queens will in every case be warranted.

Barnes' Foot-Power Saws for Hive Making.

A. I. Root, editor of Gleanings in Bee Culture, Medina, Ohio, says, "This ma chine is one of the brightest illustrations of genuine Yankee ingenuity it has ever been our fortune to meet, and the simplicity and fewness of its parts are really surprising. With the new and novel foot power, the only wheel there is about the machine, except the saw, can be instantly set humming like a top, and one of the prettiest little saws can be attached to it in little less than a second of time, yet the whole is so extremely simple that even a child can do nice true work at once. At our first attempt we sawed one foot of % in. pine in six seconds. The facilities this machine offers for rapid work, and the way in which labor is saved in its construction, are to us simply marvelous. We thought we did a bright thing when we devised our new extractor gearing, but we will yield the palm to the Barnes Saws." See advertisement.

HIVES. We have made arrangements so that we can supply Hives of any kind, and in any quantity, on the shortest notice-either complete or ready to nail together.

WE will give $2.00 for the following numbers of THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL: No. 1 of Vol. 2; Nos. 7, 8, 9 and 11 of Vol. 3. Any one having them to spare will confer a favor by sending them to this office, at once.

COMB FOUNDATION for sale at this office, as well as hives, extractors, and other apiarian supplies, at the regular market prices.

I. N. BLANCHARD has removed from Wisconsin to Ottawa Co., Kansas, and intends to make a specialty of honey producing.

F. W. CHAPMAN, of Morrison, Ill., has one of his Extractors in A 27, the northwest corner of the agricultural building of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.

The Rev. J. E. Rockwood, of Logan, Iowa, writes us that the Washington Press item published in the May number is a canard. He has interviewed the Rev. H. H. Kellogg, and learned that he bought the farm three or four years ago-and that the price was not $8,000—and that he has had no communication with Mrs. T. this winter.

OUR ALBUM.—Quite a number have sent on their photographs during the past month, and we have a large Album started with them. Let the others be sent in, that the collection may be large and interesting.

Those having anything of interest to bee-keepers are invited to send a sample for exhibition in our office. Send description and directions for using, and also give us prices.

We have a new lot of fresh melilot clover seed, that we can supply at 25 cents per lb. Postage 16 cents per lb. extra, if sent by mail.

TO POULTRY MEN.-For two subscribers and $4, in advance, we will send postpaid a copy of A. J. Hill's work on "Chicken Cholera," as a premium. See his advertisement in this number. Those wishing this premium must mention it when sending their subscriptions.

WHEN your time runs out, if you do not wish to have The AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL Continue its visits, just drop us a Postal Card, and say so-and we will stop it instanter. If you do not do this, you may rest assured that it will be sent on regularly. Let all "take due notice and govern themselves accordingly."

THE Los Angeles (Cal.) HERALD devotes a column to the interests of apiculture, styling it Bee-Keeper's Column. It is edited by N. Levering. May it do much good.

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