fall, lest our bees regarding the pungent smoke as a direct invitation should come visiting in embarrassing numbers.
Sundry old pieces of rag carpet were spread on the floor around the stove to keep the yellow paint intact from the wax, which was so hard to clean off. We had no benzine in those days, and our only resort was boiling hot water, which cleaned off the paint as well as the wax.
One privilege that was always granted to us children on this day was that of having "our fingers made." As the wax was cooling the finger was dipped in it, and the film was cooled while the finger was held very still; then the film was slipped off, a crucial point in the process, and used as a mould into which was poured the cooling wax; and presto! there was the finger as natural as life to every crease and wrinkle, but with a death-like pallor that rendered the row of fingers thus made a fascinatingly gruesome collection, as if they had been chopped off with a hatchet.
This old process of rendering wax in the wash-boiler is still practised where apiaries are small. Mr. Root advises the following modification: Sticks are placed crosswise the bottom of the boiler on which the bag is placed; the bag is packed very full of wax by pressing the comb into balls with the hands before it is put in. Water is added and the whole is placed upon the stove and brought slowly to a boil, then a board that acts as a follower on the bag is placed on top with a heavy weight upon it;
