278 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk, 



amiued the Stanley; and the trouble was, the low- 

 er collar on the upright shaft had become loosened, 

 and that threw the baskets out of plumb, and they 

 would not revolve. So you see it was a very slight 

 thing after all. I will say for the Stanley, it is the 

 best-made extractor I ever saw, and I have seen a 

 good many; and I will say it is the most rapid ma- 

 chine I ever saw. I shall try to get along with it 

 for one more crop, but I have written to the manu- 

 facturer for another gearing. I want the baskets 

 to make 5 revolutions to the crank one, while the 

 present one makes onlyl>^ to the crank one. But 

 about the engine and SOframe machine, I don't 

 give it up any more than you gave up the idea of 

 putting ii larger engine in your factory, when you 

 saw that the requirements of your business made it 

 necessary. Everyman is supposed to understand 

 his own business (or, at least, he should). It is hard 

 for people in Ohio or any of the Northern States to 

 understand the great difference in taking extracted 

 honey here where we have the grandest honey-flow 

 in the world for two months, or taking it where 

 they can let the honey stay in the hives until the 

 harvest is over. We quit extracting the l"th of 

 February, and then extracted only twice in that 

 month, on account of the drouth; but from Nov. 14 

 to Feb. IV, we extracted 14 times— that is, went over 

 the apiary and took every thing clean. In Novem- 

 ber we extracted twice; so you see, during Decem- 

 ber and January we extracted 10 times over every 

 hive. Well, now, do you see the necessity of hav- 

 ing a large machine, and power to run it? Why 

 don't you put in 40 or 50 one-horse engines to do 

 the work of one in your factory? The receipts of 

 our apiary, honey and wax, have been vrrij close to 

 $3000, and we have hired only 4 days' work at $1..50 

 a day— Cuban paper, which in U. S. money would 

 be about 60 cts. a day, or $3.40 for the whole; and 

 this I know has been a poor year and a short crop. 

 We sold our honey for a good price in Havana, and 

 it was sought after by all buyers, and it ever will be 

 so as long as it is correctly managed, for it is as fine 

 honey as the world produces anywhere. 



Now, I think I should say something for the old 

 Simplicity hive. You know we use the Simplicity— 

 that is, in all the important features. The body of 

 the hive is the same, only for a hive exclusively for 

 extracting, we (that is, A. J. King and I) concluded 

 to have the frame deeper and shorter than the 

 regular L ; but otherwise it is the Simplicity. Now, 

 what foMture I like about the hive above all others 

 is the Cover. A man would have to pay me a big 

 sum of money to get me to use a flat cover. Why? 

 Because it is too much bother, and it takes too long. 

 It kills too many bees, and is a nuisance where rap- 

 id work is to be done. With the old Simplicity cov- 

 er, if there is a quart of bees on top of the frames, 

 slap the cover on, and very seldom a bee is mashed; 

 then the cover is never stuck to the frames; in hot 

 weather there is a dead-air space above the frames; 

 and when you will find the front of a hive that has 

 a flat cover, all covered with bees, you will find 

 those in the Simplicity as cool as cucumbers. Why 

 is there that difference? Simply because the bees 

 in the flat-covered hive have every crack sealed up 

 tight, and there is not the slightest chance for a 

 circulation of air; while with the Simplicity cover 

 the thing is impossible. They can not close every 

 crack, because they can not get at them. I sit 

 down here and look on with perfect indifference at 

 the discussion going on about thick top bars and 



brace-combs, for neither of them bothers me at all. 

 With the extracted honey, let them brace their 

 combs if they want to. We extract every six or 

 seven days anyhow; and what comb honey we pro- 

 duce is produced in the Falcon hive, and every 

 comb is as straight as can be; and if they build any 

 brace-combs they are below the sections, and do no 

 harm. The separator between the section and 

 brood-frame prevents all that; and there being a 

 wooden separator between every row of sections, 

 there are no crooked combs. Every one can be 

 cased for safe shipment. So, friend Root, if you 

 will let me have my SJframe extractor, and engine 

 to run it (1 have the best hives for extracted and 

 comb honey), I shall be the happiest toad in the 

 puddle. 



QUEENS. 



Perhaps there is not a place in the world where 

 queens need changing oftener than they do here. 

 In the first place, they lay so continuously that 

 at two years of age not one in 'iO is fit to depend up- 

 on for a strong colony. They so seldom mate with 

 pure drones, that, unless they are as a whole rear- 

 ed from pure imported mothers every two years, 

 they run right back to the blacks. Hybrid bees are 

 what we want, but from the first generation. 



A. W. OSBUBN, 



Punta Brava de Guataa, Cuba, Mar. 16. 



Friend O., the remark you quote was made 

 by Ernest, who meant it as a little pleas- 

 antry. The remarks that both of us made 

 in regard to the matter were intended only 

 as a caution to some young bee-keepers 

 here in the States. I agree with you. that 

 bee-keeping in Cuba is quite a different 

 matter. I confess that I am a little surpris- 

 ed to hear you say you want the baskets to 

 make five revolutions to the crank one, es- 

 pecially where you revolve four or more 

 combs at once ; but, as you say, you know a 

 great deal better what the demands of your 

 business are than we do. 1 am glad to have 

 you defend my old hobby, the old Simplici- 

 ty covers ; but I confess I do not see why 

 the bees do not run the combs up against the 

 cover, if you use it without any enamel cloth 

 or quilt over the combs. Your vivid de- 

 scription makes me feel a longing to visit 

 Cuba. But somebody told me, not long 

 ago, that it rains there almost every day in 

 the year — sunshine one hour and rain the 

 next. But it seems tnat even Cuba has its 

 occasional drouths. 



IMPROVEMENTS AND INVENTIONS 

 FOR BEE-KEEPERS. 



boardman's new hive-cart. 



As the products of the apiary become cheaper, 

 labor-saving implements and machines become 

 more and more important. Among the important 

 improvements and inventions for the benefit of 

 bee-keepers is the hive-cart, an improvement not 

 yet much in use or appreciated. 



Our artist, Mr. L. B. Gardner, of Collins, who gave 

 us the nice picture of my apiary, illustrated in 

 Gleanings a short time since, has now given us 

 another very nice picture, showing my hive-cart as 

 it is used in carrying in the bees in the fall to their 

 winterquarters. In the background of the picture is 

 also shownaglimpse of the mammoth solar waxex- 



