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GLEANINGS IN JJEE CULTURE. 



MAY 



A COVER FOR EXTRACTORS. 



A SrUE THING 



).V PKEVENTING HONKY FROM FI 

 IXG f)VEH. 



MV extractor was bought in 1874, ?.nd was a 

 rather crude affair, judged by the " stand- 

 ard of excellence " which obtains at pres- 

 ent. By strengthening some of the weak 

 points it answered the purpose for several 

 years; then a change from the " standard " to the 

 L. frame necessitated a change in the internal ar- 

 rangements of the extractor; and as those solid 

 sheets of tin that wore used in your first extractors 

 liad been denounced as the cause of honey flying 

 over the top of the can, I made a new revolving 

 frame after the manner of the latest style of con- 

 structing that article. T supposed that I would not 

 again be troubled with threads of honey flying 

 through the air to a distance of three or four feet 

 in every direction, but the can was rather low for ; 

 the L. frame; and when it came to thick honej', the 

 annoyance was so great that 1 just stopped the 

 machine, with the determination to let it stand till I 

 could devise some way to stop the fine threads of 

 honey from sailing over the top of the can. 



Work in the apiary was pressing, and something 

 must be done at once. With the view of providing 

 a temporary liridge for the emergency, I borrowed 

 a square of muslin from Mrs. R., took off the large 

 cog-wheel, cut a slit in the center of the square of 

 muslin, to let the small cog-wheel and the stand- 

 ard for the large wheel pass through. Now, when 

 the muslin was drawn down nicely over the toj) of 

 the can, with the small gear-wheel, and the stand- 

 ard on which the large wheel turns, projecting 

 above the muslin, a twine string was drawn around ' 

 under the iron hoop, over the muslin for half the 

 distance, and then passed through holes punched in 

 the muslin, and continued around under the 

 muslin, and tied. When finished, one-half of my 

 nnislin cover was held secm-ely in place by the 

 twine while the other half was loose and could be 

 opened and closed more quicklj', perhaps, than any 

 other kind of cover that has been used. The muslin 

 l)revents the current of air, and there is no honey 

 thrown against the under side of it; and after using 

 it several years [ am so well satisfied with that plan 

 of keeping all dust out of the can, and all the honey 

 in it, that I would not willingly do without it or ex- 

 change it for any other kind of cover I have seen. 

 Kast Springfield, O. R. M. Reynolds. 



From your description, friend K., I pre- 

 siinie the" usual cloth cover we send out with 

 our machines could be used in the same way, 

 by makino; a hole in the center for the small \ 

 jjjear-wheel to pass through. The cover will ; 

 I lien need to be fastened with a cord, so that ' 

 I lie rubber band may be drawn back, uncov- 

 ering just half of the toj) of the can. This 

 permits the combs to be i)ut in and taken 

 out, and is very (piickly put back in i»lace. 

 None of the cxtractors'we send out now are 

 faulty in tiiis respect. I believe : but those 

 from other makers, and those we made some 

 time ;igo. may be (piickly fixed on the i)lan 

 friend II. mentions. It seems to me it would 

 be (juite a hiiidiaiK-e, to be obliged to uncov- 

 er part of tlie extractor, however, every time 

 we lift out combs or put them back, "and I 

 should much prefer an extractor made so 

 no cover of any kind would be necessary to 

 keep the honey from Hying over. i 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS, 



PYRAC.4NTQA, BEES, ETC., IN GEOUGI.\. 



N a recent issue of Gleanings you call for in- 

 formation as to the value of pyracantha for 

 bees, etc. At Gritfin, Ga., pyravautha grows to 

 the height of from 8 to 12 feet, and flowers in 

 profusion in the spring. It is much frequent- 

 ed by the bees, but I don't know whether it is for 

 pollen or honey. I will watch more closely this 

 spring, and ascertain. Pyracantha is a perfectly 

 healthy bush, and makes the best hedge for the 

 South. Our spring opened a month later than 

 usual this year; and the result is, the bees have 

 had a hard time. The apple is now in bloom, and 

 every thing will now move off nicely. 

 Griffin, Ga., Apr. 21, 1885. W. E. H. Searcy. 



BUYING OLD COMBS TO RENDER INTO WAX, ETC. 



The farmers around here have lost much over 

 half of their bees. Last year's swarms nearly all 

 died. The principal cause is starvation. C^nly a 

 few of the earlier swarms stored enough to live on. 



I have recently learned a lesson. Experience 

 taught it me in a way that I do not want it to do 

 again. I bought up a lot of old comb to render into 

 beeswax, paying from eight to ten cents per lb. for 

 it. I found it lost two-thirds in rendering. That is, 

 I paid about 30 cts. per lb. for it, besides the invest- 

 ment of time and labor, when I may not get 30 cts. 

 for it. 



DAM I' CHAFF CUSHIONS. 



My chair cushions are covered on the under side 

 with cloth. Thei' will get wet and moldy sometimes 

 from necessity. I can not take them off' and dry 

 them every time they get wet in the winter. Now, 

 is that moldy or rotten chatt' as good a nonconduct- 

 or of heat as that which is dry and fresh'? 



Finally, I should like to put myself on record as 

 one in hearty sympathy with your position on to- 

 bacco. Before I ever heard of Gle.\nings I was a 

 temperance, prohibition, anti-tobaccoist, and it de- 

 lights me exceedingly to find a journal, not specific- 

 ally devoted to morals or religion, ><ittiii(j (hucii so 

 hard on the weed, and all such dirty indulgences. 



Mechanicsburg, III. Geo. F. Robbins. 



Thanks for your report about the wax, 

 friend H. The"(piestion has come up several 

 times, as to how much one coidd afford to 

 pay for empty combs. We have tested sev- 

 eral lots, and tind it varies a good deal in the 

 amount of wax yielded. New combs and 

 cappings will give perhaps from i to I parts 

 or wax ; but old heavy combs often do not 

 give more than i. Our plan is to decline 

 purchasing, but tell the friends we will try 

 out their old trash for a cent a pound, and 

 sometimes the time spent makes it a losing 

 Inisiness even then.— I am inclined to think 

 tiie diun]»ness is caused by the extia cloth 

 covering on the under sidt>. Since we liave 

 adoiited the coarse burlaii as a material for 

 making chaff ciisliions, we Jiave been much 

 jtleased to lind the dampness i)retty much 

 all done away with. The idea is to get some- 

 thing as near like loose cliaft as possible, and 

 this burlap is so i)orous that tlie air goes 

 right througli it, di-ying out any moisture 

 that may accumidate during severe zero 

 weather. 1 should say that the moldy or 

 rotten chaff would not answer at all. 



