]8H1 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



773 



of the practicability of the engine. You 

 will notice in tlie cut given, that the con- 

 struction is very simple. It has neither pis- 

 ton-rod, crank, cross-head, eccentric-shaft, 

 nor slide-valve. In a common piston en- 

 gine there is a considerable amount of met- 

 al that must be kept traveling back and 

 forth. The inertia resulting therefrom is 

 considerable, and no little pressure of steam 

 is required to overcome it. In the Washburn 

 engine this reversal of motion is dispensed 

 with, the power being applied directly and 

 continuously to the sliaft, without crank or 

 other means of transmitting motion. If it 

 is to nm a buzz-saw. all that is necessary is 

 to speed the engine Tip and put the saw upon 

 the engine-shaft, or a shaft coupled direct 

 to the engine-shaft, thus doing away with 

 the necessity of putting up counter-shaft- 

 ing, extra "belting, etc.. to get requisite 

 speed. An indifferent observer hardly re- 

 alizes the loss of power on counter-shafting 

 and belting ; but there is a considerable 

 amount wasted in just this way, simply be- 

 cause it is impossible to speed up a piston 

 engine without racking it to pieces ; but 

 with the Washburn engine, as we remarked, 

 all tliis is unnecessarv. 



THE W.4SHBURN ROTARY ENGINE. 



^Ve propose to use the smaller powers of 

 this engine on a saw-table — mandrel-shaft 

 and engine-shaft to be continuous ; that is, 

 we propose to have sufficient power and 

 speed applied direct to the saw-table man- 

 drel, without the intervention of a single 

 belt or counter-shaft. The whole thing we 

 sliall sell at a much lower figure than our 

 former engine and saw-table could be sold 

 for. The engine is found to work admira- 

 bly for various farm purposes, such as grind- 

 ing, feed-cutting, pumping, etc. 



It has also made a wonderful record as 

 a boat-engine during the past season. It 

 excels in speed the reciprocating engines. 

 The wheel is placed directly on the engine- 

 shaft. The engine sits low down in the 

 boat, is light, can be reversed instantly, has 

 no dead-centers or eccentrics, is economic- 

 al of steam, and. in fact, the testimony of 

 those who have used it is to the effect that 

 tlie boat-engine is complete and tlioroughly 

 satisfactory. 



In consequence of this little rotary being 

 able to reach a speed of from 1000 to 8000 

 revolutions per minute, besides being es- 

 pecially well adapted for buzz-saws, it is 

 equally well adapted for running the dy- 



namo-electro machines. Not long since it 

 was our pleasure, while in the shops of the 

 Washburn Engine Company, to see one of 

 these little rotaries running" a dynamo, the 

 end of the engine-shaft being coupled di- 

 rect, without the intervention of any belt- 

 ing. It demonstrated perfectly, even in 

 broad daylight, that it could make the two 

 l)oints of the carbon dazzle the eyes. We 

 believe there is no other engine— in fact, we 

 are sure there is no piston engine — with 

 which it is possible to run a dynamo with- 

 out belting from a larger to a smaller pul- 

 ley. The Washburn rotary not only saves 

 space, but saves loss of power from belt- 

 ing, as mentioned at the beginning of this 

 article. 



There is one thing more which we should 

 have mentioned : These engines are sold for 

 less than the ordinary piston engine. Par- 

 ticulars can be learned of the Washburn 

 Engine ('o., Medina, O. 



ONE OF '• LES MISERABLES." 



RAIN, RAIN, RAIN, .A.ND LITTLE HONEY. 



ELL, friend Root, as everybodi% almost, is 

 telling- you about this disastrous season, I, 

 too, feel like joining- the great throng- of 

 " les miserables," and repeating the sad 

 refrain. In the West, the doleful tune is 

 pitched on one key— drought, drought. Our refrain 

 in this part of the world is rain, rain, rain. This 

 rain, this never-ending rain, commenced away back 

 in early spring, and has kept it up with occasional 

 breathing-spells, as it were, of two, three, or four 

 days occasional sunshine. There was a little gush 

 of honey in fruit and locust bloom, between unfa- 

 vorable days, which strong colonies rushed out and 

 harvested, making rapid headway in filling up; but 

 the weak ones could only putter along, making a 

 slight gain. The white clover bloomed in June, 

 and a few favorable days scattered here and there 

 along the season gave strong- colonies a chance, 

 and they rushed the crop into their storehouse. 

 But the earth and atmosphere have been kept so 

 saturated that much of the time when bees could 

 be at work there was no honey secreted in the 

 flowers. 



With the latter part of June came the intense 

 heat, with no abatement of rain, but a sweltering 

 atmosphere that almost parboiled every thing. 

 Heavy thunder-showers, sunshine and rain, rain 

 and sunshine, continued through the months of 

 July and August. The mercury kept in the nineties 

 the greater part of this time, with occasional jumps 

 over a hundred. The theory that an electric at- 

 mosphere promotes the secretion of nectar failed 

 this season. The bees covered their hives during 

 this hot wet weather, having nothing to do. Oc- 

 casionally a day or part of a day would start the 

 nectar, when the 'bees would sally out. In short, 

 you of the West were scourged with drought, while 

 we of the Atlantic States were drowned out with 

 rain, both extremes proving equally disastrous to 

 the honey crop. About one-tenth of a crop will 

 measure our season's product in all this section of 

 country, and a few strong colonies that were pre- 

 vented from swarming made about all of this sur- 

 plus. The mediums, and the olil colonies which 

 cast swarms, made liitle if an\- nK)ro tha?i a living. 



