1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



795 



regard to both of these friends who have visited 

 us, and also in regard to apiculture as now car- 

 ried on in their respective countries. 



Although we had a little tilt with "The 

 Stinger," in the last issue of the Americdn Bee 

 JouriKil. we can not refrain from compliment- 

 ing him on some of his bright sayings. Some- 

 times they sting, but more often the effect is 

 more pleasant than otherwise. Here is a sam- 

 ple: 



Away "out West." where grow big mountains. 

 And "rocky" hills with cooling- fountains. 

 There wanders a man who pictures "scenings," 

 In a beautiful paper that is known as Gleanings. 

 The fellow's quite "queer " though not a gambler; 

 He's neither a bachelor— just simplj- a "Rambler." 



Here Is another: 



Doolittle, Root, and Miller have an argument un- 

 der waj' in Gr^EANiNGS concerning tlie respective 

 merits of wooden and wire paddles for " shooting " 

 bees on the wing. It looks as if one side had been 

 used to wiolding baseball bats and the other tennis 

 bats, the latter being much like the wire paddles 

 used in killing obnoxious bees. "Paddle" your 

 own canoes, boys, and may the best man win. 



We suppose The Stinger means that Doolittle 

 is the one who wields a baseball bat. and that 

 Miller and "us" are the fellows who wield 

 tennis rackets. Yes, and here is another equally 

 good: 



Doolittle's perennial little advertising man is 

 "always on the square," as I suppose Doolittle him- 

 self is. But the poor little fellow has been compel- 

 led to support himself so long in a perpendicular 

 position that he must have become tired of tlie ver- 

 tical attitude, and, as a relief to his vertebra, he has 

 assumed a liorizontal position. (See advertising, 

 page 288 of this issue.) 



The last report from the Michigan Experi- 

 ment Apiary, on the use of foundation in the 

 brood-chamber, is an exceedingly valuable one 

 — the more so as the experiment was conducted 

 so carefully, and with such elaborateness in 

 detail. Mr. Taylor, it seems, hived four normal 

 swarms on frames of empty comb. These he 

 called group A. Group B consisted of the same 

 number of swarms hived on full sheets of foun- 

 dation; and group C, four swarms on starters 

 only. The result of the whole experiment is 

 boiled down so well by Mr. Taylor in the last 

 paragraph of his article in the Review, that we 

 can do no better than to give it here : 



If, then, we may trust our tables, they show for 

 the last half of the summer honey season: 1. That 

 for profit, foundation in the brood-chamber for 

 swarms has a decided advantage in point of surplus 

 comb honey over both drawn comb and frames with 

 starters only; that drawn comb stands second and 

 starters third. 2. That in point of total gain in both 

 brood-chamber and surplus, the same order holds, 

 and to nearly the same extent. 'S. That fairly strong 

 colonies show a very decided advantage over light 

 ones in point of comb-honey surplus, and also to a 

 small extent In the total gain. 4. That light colo- 

 nies sustain their rate of gain in all cases better 

 than fairly strong ones. 5. That swarms on starters 

 only, sustain their rate of gain decidedly better 

 than do those on comb or on foundation. 6. That of 

 the light colonies, those on starters are decidedly 

 more profitable than those on either comb or foun- 

 dation. I ought to explain here that each swarm 

 was hived on a brood-chamber equal to that requir- 

 ed to hold five L. combs. 



If we understand Mr. T. correctly, the result 

 shows that full sheets of foundation give a de- 

 cided advantage over the two other conditions 

 in point of comb honey; but our friend Mr. 

 Hutchinson seems to think that the starters 

 may be. after all, the most profitable, because 

 the light swarms gave the best results when 

 hived on starters, while the heavy swarms 

 gained on the others from the start. From this 

 he argues that, if the flow had been continued 



for a considerable length of time, it would he 

 fair to assume that swarms with starters would 

 give the best results; but with most of us there 

 is only a short honey flow of from three to four 

 weeks; and therefore we are of the opinion 

 that a majority of the bee-keepers would secure 

 better results with full sheets of foundation. 



We hope friend Taylor will try this experi- 

 ment again another season, for dilTerent years 

 may modify results somewhat. 



Tr/ide Notes. 



AN AUTOMATIC REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR; A 



SUGGESTION FOR THE FOUR AND SIX 



FRAME COWAN EXTRACTORS. 



Some time ago a correspondent wrote us that 

 he had an improvement on the manner of 

 reversing the baskets to the Cowan extractor. 

 At our request he furnished us a drawing and 

 description, which we herewith present to our 

 readers. 



M)-. A. I. Boof ;— In answer to your request I will 

 try to explain to you the working of my extractor 

 in connection with your new Cowan, a cut of which I 

 find on page 364 of Gleanings. The only difterence 

 between that and mine is this: Instead of the solid 

 shaft running through the hubs of the reel, mine 

 would be a ?4-inch gas-pipe, as long as the reel is 

 deep. Through this I put my shaft, a size that will 

 play easily through the hole in the pipe, the shaft 

 to be a few inches longer than the tank is deep, 

 with a socKet secured in the bottom of the can, for 

 the lower end of the shaft to revolve in. On this 

 shaft, under the lower hub of the reel, at the prop- 



er height, I fix with a set-screw a sprocket-wheel 

 about twice as large as the ones on the lower ends 

 of the basket-shafts. An endless chain connects 

 the basket sprocket-wheels and the sprocket-wheel 

 around the center-shaft (as per drawing), with the 

 crank on top of the shaft (to reverse the ba.skets, 

 reverse the motion). Of course, every sprockets 

 wheel would want to be lield in place by set-screws, 

 so as to adjust every basket alike. There you have 

 the best reversible extractor that it is possible to 

 make. If the chain and wheels could be placed on 

 top of the reel without interfering with putting in 

 tlie frames I think it would be nuich better, as it 

 would bring them up out of the way of the honey. 

 I think you will l)e able to get my ideas with tlie 

 description I have given you, with the aid of the 

 rough drawing of the chain and wheels which I 

 inclose. The center-wheel, piece of pipe, and a little 

 longer chain, would be the difference between my 

 machine mid yours. 



My extractor, which I have used for two years, is 

 a home-made affair. I made the sprocket-wheels of 

 galvanized iron, over which I run a small steel wire 

 chain, such as we buy at the hardware store for 

 halters. I think it would work as well as the regu- 



