484 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



from building up on top the combs, with the old 

 Simplicity cover (unless we have a cloth over the 

 frames). Well, we do have a cloth, and the best 

 cloth I ever saw, made of old sail cloth that we buy 

 in Havana at a reduced figure, and I have yet to 

 see any thing that equals it for a bee-cover. But 

 with all that, they will eat holes through and go up 

 and build comb, and fill with honey; and when they 

 get it nicely full we take it off and put it on to some 

 young colony that is building up, and have not 

 sufficient workers to gather plenty; and, don't you 

 think that young colony will go ahead with that 

 much honey stored in the garret? I think it will. 

 That is not all. During the summer the colonies 

 get very strong, and long in the afternoon you will 

 find the cover packed full of bees that seem to be 

 up there taking a nap. Just before dark, go and 

 quietly take the cover, bees and all, and place it on 

 some young colony where the queen has just com- 

 menced to lay. During the night they will work 

 down among the combs, and it may surprise one 

 who has never tried it, to see how many of Ihose 

 bees will stay where you put them, and work right 

 along as though they had swarmed naturally. But I 

 am not done yet. If they do not wish to stop to eat 

 holes through the cloth, they just get their shoul- 

 ders under that cloth, and they raise it up and 

 build under it on top the frames; then what? do 

 we cut it off? No, not yet, but put it into the ex- 

 tractor and throw it out, and sometimes we wish 

 the comb were still higher, as it would hold more 

 honey. We let them go that way until the last time 

 extracting (then we are not in so very much of a 

 hurry), and we clean them all off, and have a fine 

 lot of wax. Now, suppose we stopped to clean 

 those frames every time we extract; it would be a 

 losing game, besides the time it took to do it. The 

 first hard work the bees did would be to put it back 

 again; therefore a double loss. Can you now see 

 why I like the old Simplicity cover? 



EXTRACTORS, AND GEARING UP. 



You do not see why I want the baskets to make 

 five revolutions to the crank one. Now listen and 

 see whether I am correct or not. You take a two- 

 frame extractor with an 18 or 20 inch can, and you 



A HONEY-EXTRACTOR FOR tJSE IN CUBA. 



can throw out honey quite well (even without any 

 gear); then you take a can that is 3 feet or over 

 across, and try it without its being geared, and see 

 what the result will be. I think that, by the time 

 you have extracted a few tons, you will think you 

 would rather have it geared, and geared high too. 

 You know that, as you go from the center you de- 



crease the centrifugal force; so it naturally fol- 

 lows that, to produce the desired results, you must 

 make up in rotary speed what you have lost in cen- 

 trifugal force by increasing the distance from the 

 center-shaft. These are facts, as you can easily 

 demonstrate by atrial. With this Stanley we have 

 here, it has a graduated crank (that is, you can 

 make it short or you can lengthen it to make the 

 purchase greater), so if the baskets make five revo- 

 lutions, more power will be necessary; but with 

 the increased length of crank, one can be made to 

 balance the other, and it really will be much easier 

 than the slow motion; for you know that, with in- 

 creased leverage, you can overcome what has been 

 added, by an increase in motion, and not make 

 your hand go around so fast either. 



In relation to your visiting Cuba, do come; come 

 and spend a winter in the finest climate, from Octo- 

 ber till May, you ever saw. The showers— well, 

 during the summer months, it is not uncommon 

 for it to rain every day or half a dozen times— just 

 those showers you speak of; but in the winter, no. 

 In the months of November, December, January, 

 February, and March, and many times April, it is 

 not common to have much rain— a shower, perhaps 

 every week or so; but the winter is called the dry 

 season; but this last winter, of course, has been the 

 great exception. That the climate is fine here in 

 the winter, there can be no question. 



A. W. OSBUKN. 



Punta Brava de Guatao, Cuba, W. I., June 3. 



TVe are very glad to learn, friend O., that 

 you not only manage, but that you are the 

 proprietor of 500 colonies. What you say in 

 reference to your locality, and its capacity 

 to support 400 or 500 colonies, is no doubt 

 true. What we might call great overstock- 

 ing in the Northern States might with you 

 be considered understocking. There is a 

 great deal of nonsensical twaddle about 

 " locality " affecting conclusions, drawn by 

 different apiarists; but when it comes to 

 the matter of overstocking, locality certain- 

 ly does make a very great difference. Some 

 places may not support more than 50 colo- 

 nies ; still others 200, and even 500.— In re- 

 gard to closed-end frames, do not get the 

 impression that exact spacing is absolutely 

 necessary for the prevention of burr-combs. 

 All that any one can claim for it is that it 

 assists toward that end.— Now in regard to 

 Simplicity and flat covers. The very rea- 

 son why yon like the Simplicity covers 

 makes them very objectionable to 99 out of 

 every 100 bee-keepers in the United States. 

 They do not want combs built up in this ex- 

 tra space ; they want it built in sections or 

 extracting-supers. Flat covers prevent any 

 thing of this kind, and render it impossible 

 for the combs to be built anywhere in places 

 not designed for it by the bee-keeper. — A 

 short time ago Edward R. Newcomb, the 

 one who built your extractor, asked if we 

 would like to see a photograph of it before 

 he sent it. We requested him to send on a 

 picture ; and we now have the pleasure of 

 presenting a view of it to our readers. We 

 are not quite sure that your logic of de- 

 crease in centrifugal force is correct. At the 

 same speed of revolution, the longer the ra- 

 dius the greater the centrifugal force. The 

 graduated crank on the new Stanley, and 

 the brake to stop the motion, is no doubt an 



