THE BEE-KEEPERS- REVIEW 



245 



they could do to close up cracks, till an 

 inch all around between the body and 

 ct)ver. I drove nails to the corners and 

 set the cover on them and they tilled 

 the crevice completely. Any other race 

 would be robbed out. 



GOOD HONEY-GATHERERS. 



He speaks of their not being up to 

 the standard of honey gathering. Well, 

 my banner hive is the Caucasian — 130 

 lbs. so far this season, and the fall flow 

 to hear from. The other Caucasians 

 are even with the Italian. I have no 

 a.xe to grind as I have quit tlie com- 

 mercial queen business. But there is 

 one point that they possess that is 

 greatly in their favor and that is if 

 you live in a location where there is a 

 fall flow the Caucasian will be readv 



for it, for they keep up brood rearing 

 right through till fall. They have very 

 strong wing power, and will work on 

 the milkweed with their feet covered 

 with the hair like threads that catch all 

 other bees and hold them fast. I have 

 seen lots of Italians dead on the blos- 

 soms, but never a Caucasian. They 

 l:ave one disease that I am trying to 

 breed into the Italian, and that is 

 "longevity" and don't be afraid of it, 

 for there are too many that do not 

 have it. 



If Friend Strohschein had queens 

 from all the breeders in Russia, as I 

 have, he would be convinced of their 

 worth. I have tried all colors and find 

 the grey bee is the best. 



Lansing. [Nlich. 



How One Bee-Keeper Converted His Hand Extrador 

 Into a Power Extractor. 



CHARLES BLAKE. 



'—^RIEND TYRRELL:— I am send- 

 er ing a photo of my power ex- 

 tractor. It may help some who 

 are in the same fix that I was in. That 

 is, having hand power extractors that 

 one cannot find ready sale for, and with 

 no help to extract. The cut will make 

 clear what the description does not. 



For a long time I tried to find a way 

 to use gasoline power, but could not do 

 so at a low cost, so had to be my own 

 power until I saw a photo of a friction 

 gear got up by Mr. Wallace of Vanack, 

 Ont. He kindly sent me all directions 

 for making, but as I had no means of 

 doing the work, I had mine made at a 

 machine shop. I had mine made a little 

 different, for, as you know, bee keep- 

 ers all have their own ways of doing 

 things, even though it is making a new- 

 kind of hive, which we soon get over. ■ 



The engine is one horse power and 

 is connected, as you see, direct to a 12 

 inch pulley on a 35 inch sliding shaft. 



As the engine runs GOO revolutions per 

 minute, it gives me a speed of 300 revo- 

 lutions per minute. On the shaft I have 

 two 12 inch cast iron disks working on 

 a 12 inch paper friction with a 1^2 inch 

 face and it has a face of ^^ inch top 

 and bottom of iron which allows a 

 brake being used to stop reel of extrac- 

 tor. This also reverses it as by apply- 

 ing the brake the baskets reverse when 

 the shaft stops. The shifting lever, 

 which you see, is fastened to the bracket 

 that carries the shaft and by having a 

 spring and hook from the roof of the 

 extracting house, I can let the reel run 

 one way and then reverse. By hangi'^p- 

 on a small weight of say, five or six 

 pounds, it runs itself, allowing me to 

 go on with my uncapping. By having 

 a supply of uncapped combs in my .'> 

 foot Maclntyre uncapping box, I cm 

 run of¥ 1,000 pounds in 4 hours. Before 

 starting to extract I take off enough 

 combs from the hives to last me 

 through the dav. 



