1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



93 



plentiful and cheap? and how about its use in 

 other bee-keepers' families'? 



But, of course, something else must be done. 

 The price of honey is, undeniably, high when 

 compared with other sweets and fruits that 

 come in competition with it. Will the price 

 have to come down ? and can we afford to pro- 

 duce it profitably at a lower price? or shall we 

 maintain the price and limit the production to 

 the amount consumed by those who use it only 

 as a luxury? These are questions which I 

 must leave to be answered by those who are ex- 

 tensively in the business. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS ON THE ABC. 



IDKA8 OF AN AUSTRALIAN. 



By E. Jaincf!. 



I have been much interested in reading your 

 ABC book. I am a practical bee-keeper, and 

 have been working 300 hivesin Queensland; but 

 a flood unfortunately swept away years of hard 

 toil in a few hours; but "nil desperandum " is 

 my motto. I love the grand colony of Queens- 

 land yet. 



I will give you some of my practical experi- 

 ence in bee-keeping in this glorious country of 

 Australia, as no continent in the world possesses 

 such a climate, especially for bees. 



1. I was reading in the ABC about smokers. 

 There seems to be a lot of inventive skill thrown 

 away upon them. I prefer the Bingham smok- 

 er, with the blast through the fuel; but it is the 

 fuel used that is the question. One day I hap- 

 pened to pick up a piece of bark off a box (a 

 species of eucalyptus-tree), and placed it in the 

 smoker, when I found it gave off an immense 

 volume of smoke: and since then I have used 

 no otiier fuel. 



as the Langstroth. but the supers are 8 in. deep. 

 The frames are a modification of the broad-end 

 Quinby, with this exception: the ends of the 

 frames are beveled, or chamfered, as shown at 

 A in Fig. 6. Should the bees build comb up to 

 the end, the frame and case come out quite 

 easily. 



Another idea I have is in the line of self- 

 swarming. Place an empty hive in front of the 

 one expected to swarm. I have a thin piece of 

 board with a piece of zinc or tin nailed flat on 

 each end, like a flap. The whole is covered 

 with regulation perforated zinc, as shown in 

 Fig. 7, forming a gangway. Each end at A A 

 is zinc, so it lies close to the entrance of the 

 hive. I have never lost a swarm. 



BUZZ-SAWS. 



I have recently constructed a saw-bench to 

 work with the foot, and it works to my entire 



F.oS 



^ 





=a 



F.t.7 



I have tried a great many kinds of hivrs, but 

 I have not been satisfied with any of the new- 

 fangled notions. I have come to the conclu- 

 sion, after considerable practice, that a modi- 

 fied Langstroth-Heddon combination seems to 

 give me more satisfaction than any I have yet 

 used. 



The brood-section is the same size all around 



T,a 2 



K pivc 



F.fr 3 



f'i i B 



satisfaction — rips any thing required in an api- 

 ary. It is much like the hand buzz-saw shown 

 in the ABC, except that there are no cog- 

 wheels; the saw-arbor turns on centers at each 

 end. There is a small hard -wood pulley on the 

 saw-arbor, three inches in diameter, which is 

 driven by a fly-wheel and strap two inches. 

 The fly-wheel is ;.'7 inches in diameter. On the 

 saw-arbor is a fly-wheel from an old sewing-ma- 

 chine, which gives the necessary momentum. 

 The top of the bench is of cedar, one inch 

 thick, hinged at one end. The other end can 

 be raised or lowered as desired, for grooving, 

 rabbeting, etc. Carpenters have had the loan 

 of the bench, and were delighted with it. I 

 have tried benches made on the principle of the 

 Seneca Falls Mfg. Co.'s benches, but it takes 

 too long to speed up, and I had to discard them 

 — too much friction. 



A REVERSIN(; EXTRACTOR. 



I have also an extractor — quite a new and 

 novel idea. Each cage turns upon a center, a^ 



