ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



305 



road, an'd it is an expensive proposition 

 in that way, on account of the lost time 

 of one's extra help. 



I think, perhaps, I have talked enoug^h 

 on this subject. I thank you. 



Pres. Huffman — Now does any one 

 wish to ask questions of Mr. Cteivanagh 

 in regard to the autombbile business 

 and 'bee business combined? If so, you 

 are now at liberty. 



Mr. I>adant — What kind of a truck do 

 you get, Mr. Cavanag-h? 



Mr. Cavanagh — The truck I am using 

 is the Logan truck. The company is 

 out of business that manufactured that 

 truck. The truck is in very good me- 

 chanical condition, but I bought it for 

 less money because the people are out 

 of business. As a matter of fact, how- 

 ever, the repairs for any good car can 

 be bought of another dealer if one 

 knows where to buy; you can go to 

 Foote Brothers for gears, or some other 

 company, and get your gears one-third 

 less than what the automobile place 

 charges. If you want castings, go to 

 the man who makes castings; don't go 

 to an automobile repair man; do not 

 send direct to the people who handle 

 the cars. That is another short cut 

 and saves you from being held up by 

 the automobile repair man; go direct 

 to the people who make these things. 



Mr. Dadant — That is co-operation? 



Mr. Cavanagh — I believe in co-opera- 

 tion. 



Pres. Huffman — I would like to ask 

 Mr. Cavanagh, what horse power you 

 recommend for your truck? 



Mr. Cavanagh — In regard to the 

 horse power — it Is a matter of the speed 

 you expect to travel on the road and 

 the capacity of the truck; if 3'ou have 

 a two ton truck, the way the leading 

 trucks are made, a two ton truck will 

 require about a 30 to 40 horse power 

 engine, with a speed of about 15 or 18 

 miles an hour; then they have extra 

 gears to secure speed cars, of 20 or 25 

 miles an hour on good roads. A lower 

 horse power will do the work if the 

 truck is back-geared enough and speed 

 is not essential. The manufacturers 

 know why they should use that horse 

 power. In a sandy, bad country it 

 might be possible to have a higher 

 horse power, or to gear the truck back 

 by using a different ratio of gears on 

 the sprockets. 



Pres. Huffman — What is the cost, as 

 a rule, of those trucks? 



Mr, Cavanagh — A two ton truck costs 

 about $1,800 to $2,700. That is, a new 

 one. 



Mr. Dadant — Now that you have giot 

 your big truck to do extractii^, do you 

 use that truck to go to your out-apiary 

 to put on supers, for instance? 



Mr. Cfavanagh — ^No, never; one has 

 to have an extra car; we have a run- 

 about; it is too expensive to run a 

 truck. 



Mr. Dadant — ^I might give you a little 

 experience we had; we have not gradu- 

 ated to a truck; we still have a run- 

 about; that is a little Ford. It has a box 

 on the back which holds extractor cap- 

 ping can and our tools and one barrel. 

 We put honey in barrels; and I take a 

 man with me and run out to the ex- 

 tracting house, and by the time our 

 team gets there with the other barrels, 

 why, we are ready for them. By the 

 time we get done in the evening we 

 send a lot back with him ahead of us: 

 we put on the supers after that. We 

 don't use the power extractor yet. We 

 have only two apiaries, the last five 

 years, where we could use the power 

 extractor to any advantage, the white 

 clover crop has been so poor. 



Pres. Huffman — In regard to the 

 power extractor, would you use the 

 automatic or not? 



Mr. Cavanagh — We consider the 

 automatic far from perfect but the best 

 thing on the market now. I had an 

 elaborate scheme for another kind of 

 automatic extractor, and I was foolish 

 enough to approach Ernest Root with 

 it. I was cautioned not to give the idea 

 away fuUj- but I found he had tried the 

 same ideas years ago and it would not 

 work; I use the automatic myself. 



Pres. Huffman— Here is a question — 



"I had eight young queens last fall 

 and seven of the eight were superseded 

 this spring. What was the cause?" 



Mr. Pyles — The queens were no ac- 

 count. 



Pres. Huffman — Can any one answer 

 that question? We have had one 

 answer, that the queens were of no ac- 

 count; it is ibarely possible but not 

 probable. 



Mr. Dadant — ^I might say that we 

 thought we lost all of our poor queens 

 when the colonies died during the win- 

 ter. 



Pres. Huffman — I might dirop a 

 thought along that line; I don't know 



