1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



601 



would find it so without slipping the crank out of 

 gear. The gearing on this machine could be fixed 

 in a short time so as to be so used. 



The only fault 1 find with my machine is in the 

 comb-baskets. As my frame is deeper than the L. 

 frame, the wire cloth would bulge out and break 

 the combs. I put in several stays, and it now works 

 all right. I also had to get stronger chains to 

 strengthen the baskets where they are attached to 

 them. I wrote to friend Stanley about this weak- 

 ness in the machine, and his reply was that I must 

 turn slower. My reply was, that unless he could 

 make his machine strong enough to be run like 

 lightning it wouldn't suit me and a great many oth- 

 er bee-keepers. I understand the machines have 

 been made stronger, and somewhat improved, this 

 season. 



I have not run it to test its capacity. With the 

 aid of a ten-year-old boy I have run out 1000 lbs. in 

 about 7 hours. That was as fast as I could bring it 

 in and uncap it. To run it up to its full capacity 

 would require two men in the yard and two or three 

 to uncap, and one at the crank. 



I will sum up my opinion of the automatic honey- 

 extractor, by saying that I wouldn't exchange it 

 for the old two-frame machine again. I have a two- 

 frame machine in my Granville apiary; and if I 

 run that apiary for extracted honey I shall surely 

 put in a Stanley machine; or if I should go to Flor- 

 ida or California or Cuba, and run for extracted 

 honey, 1 would order a Stanley. I will also say, that 

 I am in no way interested in Mr. Stanley's business. 

 I met the gentleman at the N. K. N. V. Association, 

 and found him a very agieeable young man, and I 

 have no doubt anyone dealing with him will be 

 fairly treated. 



INTROnUClNO VIHCIN yUEE.VS. 



The question of introducing virgin queens is of 

 great interest to mc, and I have been in hoi)cs a re- 

 liable method could be discovered, or one that is 

 sure every time. I succeeded several times by mix- 

 ing bees in Doolittle's cage, and thought I had got 

 it sure, when the bees went t>ack on me and killed 

 several fine queens. At the same time three fer- 

 tile queens were balled in a cage, and one killed. I 

 attributed this t*) the age of the bees used. I form- 

 ed several cages of bees for nuclei while 1 

 was extracting, and I shook bees from the top 

 story. 1 seemed to get bees all of the same age, 

 while bees from the brood-frames give you bees ol 

 all ages, and are better for forming nuclei, and will 

 accept a queen nearly every time. 



I have accidentally hit upon a plan that is quite 

 sure, or has been with me so far. 1 formed a nucle- 

 us with a mixed lot of bees, and gave them a virgin 

 (juecn. In a few hours I happened to look into the 

 cage, and the bees were balling the (jueen on the 

 bottom of the cage. I was somewhat provoked at 

 the bees; and seeing a pail of water standing close 

 by 1 thought a bath would do the bees good. So I 

 dipped the cage, bees and all, into the water. They 

 looked very much as though they had been out in a 

 wet rain, and 1 set them up in the sun to dry. When 

 dry I put them in the hive, and the queen was ac- 

 cepted. Now, Bro. Israel, next time you climb the 

 mountain and roll your bees around, get a stream 

 of water handy, and roll them through that, and 

 you have the whole process. 



Virgin queens can be quite successfully intro- 

 duced with Alley's cage, and I should think Boom- 

 howcr's cage would also answer admirably: but 

 Ihey are nof suie every time, As far as my experi- 



ence goes, a virgin queen will be accepted when 

 she gnaws herself out of a cell, even if the cell has 

 been in the hive but a short time. If an artificial 

 cell could be constructed so the queen can gnaw 

 herself out, or with an adjustable cap to open grad- 

 ually, I think the queen would be accepted every 

 time. John H. Martin. 



Hartford, N. Y., Aug. .5, 1885. 



Friend M..we are much obliged to you 

 for your report, and are glad to hear of your 

 having such a good yield of honey. Same 

 one has before suggested the plan of starting 

 the extractor under high motion, and letting 

 it stop when it got ready. I believe it was 

 friend Ileddon. Although I examined one 

 of the automatic extractors, I can not now 

 remember whether it was geared or not ; 

 but from what experience I nave had with 

 four-frame extractors, my opinion is they 

 do not need gearing — simply put a crank 

 on top of the shaft.— In regard to the bath 

 remedy as a cure for balling queens, it does 

 not always work. I have had stubborn 

 nuclei that wotUd pitch into the queen again 

 before they got hardly dry ; although, as a 

 rule, '' sousing " them in water generally di- 

 verts their attention from the queen. My 

 experience in caging virgin queens was, that 

 the cage was a nuisance, and we got along 

 much better without any cage. Why should 

 they be caged, if tliey are entirely unmolest- 

 ed without caging? If you mean virgin 

 queens live or six dtiys old, you will perhaps 

 want H cage ; but as' a rule" you will waste 

 more time, both of your own and that of the 

 bees, than your old virgin (jueensare worth ; 

 that is. thai was my conclusion.— I am sorry 

 to discourage anybody ; but the artilicial- 

 queen-cell business has been pretty thorough- 

 ly tested. One friend went so far as to ad- 

 vertise them for sale several .\oais ago : but, 

 like all other plans for introducing, some- 

 times it worked and then again it didn't; 

 and the 'didirts"" came so often that it 

 .spoiled it all. 



-^ -^ m 



GBADING HONEY BEFORE YOU TAKE 

 IT TO MARKET. 



FEW days ago we purchased a lot of 

 (., lled-Astrakhan apples of a farmer. 

 When we take iioney around town on 

 our wagon, we take along fruits and 

 vegetables also, more or less, and the 

 Wed Astrakiians were put on the wagon. 

 We decided that we should have to have lo 

 cts. per peck, to cover cost, and expense of 

 selling. The sales were slow, because cus- 

 tomers were deterred from buying by bruis- 

 ed, specked, and gnarly specimens of fruit 

 scattered all through. Finally tlie boys 

 stopped the wagon, and picked out all tlie 

 poor fruit, and put it into a basket by itself, 

 showing customers nothing but fair, smooth 

 apples. The load was closed out at liO cts. a 

 peck, in a very short time. ^S'ow, how many 

 bad ones weie left, do you suppose V lit 

 grading they got about one peck of bad ones 

 to five pecks of perfect fruit, and they sold 

 this bad jieck for 10 cts. Do you see the 

 point? Six pecks of apples brought $1.10 

 after they were graded. Before grading 

 they ottered six pecks of apples for UO cpjjts, 



