" NOVICE'S " GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



19 



KOTICESOt'OVRBEELITEKATI'JtE. 



/4P\UR old American Bet Journal hails 

 ■^L/'nmv from Chicago, and the Feb. No. 

 is fully equal in value to what it lias been 

 formerly, and in Bome respects considera- 

 bly improved. 



In our January No. we spoke of queens 

 offered to subscribers by the National Bee 

 Journal. Our remarks there referred to 

 Mr. Mitchell's :>ffer some time ago. We 

 learn the present proprietors (Mr. King 

 is only one of them) have shipped a large 

 number of queens and we believe propose 

 to send all. If such is the case we cer- 

 tainly would wish them the success they 

 deserve for making not only their prom- 

 ises good, but their predecessors. 



Mr. Moon says in his Journal that we 

 evidently have had but little experience, 

 which is just what might be expected from 

 the "Gleanings of a Novice." His Jan. 

 No. contains several good articles from 

 some of our best bee keepers. If Mr. 

 Moon would tell us why he "has seen the 

 folly of advertising queens as premiums," 

 we should perhaps feel more neighborly. 

 We can't see any folly in making good all 

 promises to subscribers, whether we are 

 out of pocket thereby or not. 



Mr. King has given us two numbers of 

 the Bee Keeper's Mayazine, without any 

 "patent hives ;" and in the last he gives 

 us some funny pictures about "hiving bees 

 when the ladder broke." 



Mr. It. Wilkin, of Cadiz, Ohio, sends us 

 "Bee Culture" and, although it don't tell 

 about the extractor, it is so full of quaint 

 truths that must hare been actual exper- 

 ience, that we can heartily recommend it. 

 It shows plainly that Mr. W. cares more 

 to give real aid to bis readers than to im- 

 press them with the extent of his own 

 knowledge or skill. A rare virtue. Price 

 25 cts. paper; cloth 40 cts., and well 

 worth the money to any bee keeper. 



WIND AS A MOTIVE POWER. 



TitpOR driving the circular saw used in 

 _ij making the hives we have mentioned, 

 we decidedly prefer a Windmill. We 

 have no trouble with engineers, fires or 

 firemen, and our Windmill has taken al- 

 most entire care of itself for the past two 

 years we have used it ; spreading its sails 

 to catch all the breeze when more power 

 is demanded of it, and then again turn- 

 ing them out of the wind when it has ac- 

 complished the work or when the wind 

 rises to a gale, for our hands now work 

 right along unconcerned amid our "fiercest 

 blows" feeling confidence in the wind- 

 mill's ability to take care of itself and 

 spread only just so much sail as is need- 

 ed to do the worlc. 



We regret that it seems next to impos- 

 sible for effective windmills to be home 

 made, and to be also made so as to with- 

 stand the high winds that thes are neces- 

 sarily subject to. In our boyhood days we 

 made windmills that furnished consider- 



able power, but alas, the beloved 

 windmills and our hopes too, were dashed 

 to the ground by the first wind storm. 



Some one in the Scientific American a 

 few months ago, spoke of making them 

 strong and "letting 'em spin" when not 

 wanted to use ; but we think the folly of 

 such a course could be demonstrated by 

 about one experiment. 



The American Agriculturist for May, 

 1872, gives a drawing and some very sen- 

 sible directions for a home made mill of 

 small power; and we see no particular 

 objection to their plan except the trouble 

 to go to the top of the tower whenever it 

 was to be stopped, for a windmill to be 

 effective must be elevated above surround- 

 ing objects entirely. To get the neces- 

 sary strength and durability, considerable 

 iron work must be used, and this can be 

 made much cheaper at a special machine 

 shop for the purpose than by private in- 

 dividuals. 



Our mill is of the "Continental Co.," sold 

 by A. P. Brown & Co., 61 Park Place, N. 

 Y. It is 17 feet in diameter, price $400. 

 Is elevated on a tower 55 feet from the 

 ground and was rated at 3 horse power, 

 which we think is a very fair estimate. 



TheU. S. Wind Engine Co., of Batavia, 

 III., also do a large business in making 

 windmills and we give below an extract 

 from a letter just received from them in 

 regard to their mills: — 



"We make a 12 foot power mill, but do 

 not consider this size of sufficient power 

 to run a circular saw with any degree of 

 satisfaction. We think the 16 foot mill 

 would give good satisfaction in every in- 

 stance. We cannot recommend the l<i 

 foot mill for running much machinery at 

 the same time. We understand the saw- 

 ing to be done to be of very light stuff, 

 and therefore have said that we thought it 

 would satisfy. We would, however, pre- 

 fer to sell the 22 foot mill. 



Respectfully, Yours, 

 U. S. Wind Engine and Pimp Co." 



Prices of the above mentioned mills art? 

 about 150, o50, and 550 dollars. Both 

 companies we believe are prompt and re- 

 liable, and prices are probably not much 

 different for the same quality of work. 

 To sum up, our advice would be if you 

 think you are smart enough and care to 

 take the risk of having it blown down, 

 _ build a home made windmill : but we be- 

 lieve we should prefer to invest the $150 

 and have one that we know was all right 

 even if it were necessary to wait for a 

 windy day to do our sawing. With a Iti 

 or 17 foot mill such as we use you could 

 probably saw, on an average, three days 

 in every week ; more in winter and less in 

 summer. With a 22 or 25 foot mill, even 

 a gentle breeze would be sufficient to run 

 buzz saws or almost any kind of ma- 

 chinery, and there would be few days in 

 the year so still that it would not run. 

 Further particulars may be had of the 

 manufacturers, 



