1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



631 



In the hot- water canyon we find the greatest 

 wonder of the place— the hot and boiling medic- 

 inal springs. The principal and oldest spring is 

 about three feet in diameter and one foot deep. 

 The water bubbles up at a temperature of 193°, 

 or withiu 19° of the boiling-point. It is a favor- 

 ite practice to boil eggs in the spring. After an 

 immersion of about ten minutes they are cook- 

 ed hard. Mr. B.. upon one of our journeys to 

 the spring, provided the eggs and tea, amd we 

 had the pleasure of having our cooking done in 

 what Mr. B. termed INIother Eve's tea-kettle: 

 and what a nice provision it would be if the 

 bachelors of California could have such an in- 

 stitution in their cabins! It would takeaway 

 half of the vexations of cooking. As it is at 

 present, a Mother Eve's tea-kettle means a 

 Mother Eve to take care of it. and bachelors 

 arc not equal to such a situation. 



A further stroll down the canyon revealed 

 many other springs steaming from the fissures 

 of the rocks, and the rocks themselves were hot 

 from internal heat. Water from the cold-water 

 canyon is brought in pipes to the bottom of the 

 gorge, where there is hardly room for the little 

 building, and under sufficient pressure to run a 

 dynamo, giving light to the hotel and surround- 

 ing buildings. Several home-made Pelton wa- 

 ter-wheels are also in use for pumping water 

 and various other purposes. 



Invalids indulge in mud baths, vapor baths, 

 and. in fact, baths of all kinds, to suit their va- 

 rious ailments. The advantages claimed for a 

 mud bath consist of the poultice operation of 

 drawins out tlie disease. That these baths are 

 of great benefit is attested by the fact that 

 many persons aftlicted with rheumatism have 

 made their permanent abode in some of the sur- 

 rounding cities in order to be near the curative 

 agent. A mud bath, it is said, is a very agree- 

 able and soothing experience. My rheumatism, 

 however, would have to become quite acute to 

 induce me to get into one. 



The great arrowhead upon the side of the 

 mountain gives an opportunity for every kind 

 of business that is established within ten miles 

 of it to prefix the word and represent them- 

 selves as an Arrowhead company. Thus at one 

 time there was an Arrowhead Honey Company. 

 The business was to be conducted on the nickel- 

 plate style. The hives were placed in long 

 sheds, and the stands were provided with anti- 

 ant-climbing supports, with various other fix- 

 tures in the same line ; but the Arrowhead 

 Honey Companv was a failure, and ruins of the 

 enterprise are all that is left of it. Mr. Brod- 

 beck secured the right to place an apiary near 

 the grounds occupied by the former company, 

 and, having collected over 80 colonies in vari- 

 ous nondescript hives, and transferred them to 

 new L. hives, they were successfully moved by 

 rail and wagon to their mountain home. His 

 apiary is within ten minutes' walk of the hotel, 

 in a beautiful wooded dell where you will next 

 be taken bv the Rambler. 



TWO USEFUL INVENTIONS. 



THE PORTER BEE-ESCAPE AND THE FLANS- 

 BURGH SCREEN BRIDGE A SUCCESS. 



For a number of years I have been and am 

 still a reader of Gleanings. Among the many 

 useful appliances invented by bee-keepers dur- 

 ing its existence are two. which to me are 

 indispensable. The first is the bee-escape in- 

 vented by R. it E. C. Porter, Lewistown, 111. 

 This little automatic device for ridding bees 

 from surplus boxes, etc.. to any extensive bee- 

 keeper producing comb honey, is as indispensa- 

 ble as is the movable-comb hive to improved 



bee-keeping. If I should have to be deprived of 

 its use, and also of the use of the screen bridge, 

 invented by me a few years ago for cleaning 

 section boxes on, I should choose to give up 

 bee-keeping in my advancing years because the 

 escape lessens labor, and the bridge keeps the 

 sections clean, and saves time. 



Before using the screen bridge I had to stop 

 frequently to brush away the scrapings and 

 wipe up dripping honey in order to keep the 

 sections clean: but with the screen bridge both 

 are avoided, as the scrapings and drips both go 

 through the screen, and you keep your sections 

 clean, and save the time of brushing away the 

 debris. Shortly after I devised it I gave you a 

 description of it, and was surprised to receive 

 by retui'n mail from you $2.50. 1 described its 

 use for you and other bee-keepers producing 

 comb honey, expecting you would manufacture 

 them for sale. 



TO make the screen bridge. 



Get out four pieces. 2x3.^ inches; two pieces 11 

 in. long: two pieces;i2 in. long; nail the ends of 

 the pieces together so when nailed you have a 

 square frame 12 iu. each way. Get a piece of 

 tinned wire cloth, cut 13 in. square, of about 

 No. 14 wire. ».;-inch mesh; fold the edges >o in- 

 over the edges of the frame; tack the edges out- 

 side the edges of the frame with small wire- 

 netting staples; lay the screen on your table, 

 and clean off your sections on it and be happy. 



In a former issue of Gleanings I noticed 

 that B. Taylor has invented a machine for rub- 

 bing or melting down partly drawn-out cells in 

 section boxes, to be used the following season. 

 I will give you a description of mine and how I 

 do it. When the day is cool and the comb is 

 brittle, I take a section in the left hand, holding 

 it in a horizontal position, the fingers of the 

 left hand supporting the comb on the under 

 side; use the index finger of the right hand for 

 a demolisher; rule off the drawn or partly 

 drawn-out cells down to the septum on both 

 sides of the comb; scrape them with a sharp 

 knife on the inside and out, on the screen bridge 

 described above, and thev can be used with 

 profit G. J. Flansbukgh. 



South Bethlehem, N. Y., July 17. 



[The screen bridge referred to by our corres- 

 pondent is no doubt a good thing. We presume 

 the reason we did not make them in the first 

 place was because they were so easily con- 

 structed that any one could make them. We 

 find, however, we have in stock what is called 

 our ten-cent ash-sifter. It is a shallow tray, or 

 box. 3^.>' inches deep and a foot square, with a 

 wire-cloth bottom, with hall -inch mesh. These 

 sifters are madeby the carload, and are sold at 

 retail for only 10 cts. Of course, if sent by mail 

 the postage will be extra. They can be used 

 for their legitimate purpose of sifting ashes; 

 or, if turned upside down, they may be made 

 to answer as a bridge for holding sections while 

 they are being scraped. 



By the way, we should like to inquire here 

 what sort of devices our comb- honey produc- 

 ers have been using for supporting the sections 

 while being scraped. It would not do to set 

 them on a bench, because the scrapings would 

 adhere to the sections. Perhaps some have 

 been using a barrel with coarse wire cloth 

 stretched over the top. Please tell us how you 

 do it. for within the next 30 or f.() days a good 

 many sections will be scraped, and we shall 

 want to know the best way of doing it. 



Referring to friend Flansburgh's method of 

 reducing the cell- walls to the septum, we would 

 say that, no doubt, it can be done as he de- 

 scribes; but the B. Taylor implement is very 

 much superior, both in point of speed and qual- 

 ity of work.) 



