1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



429 



so eag'er to jump into the work. Mr. Men- 

 dleson took off the combs, with the help of 

 one of his men. The cook, Mr. Edmonson, 

 did the uncapping-, and I did the rest. Aft- 

 er I had turned the machine for two hours 

 I began to think there might be some easier 

 job. I turned and turned, and puffed and 

 blowed. The sweat ran down my nose in 

 great drops. As Mr. M. came in with one 

 load of honey I said to him, "Oh my!" for 

 my breath was aliiiosi gone, "what is the 

 matter of having- a little engine to run this? 

 What is the use of a man breaking his back 

 when a quart of g-asoline would run this all 

 day?" 



"I have had that in mind, Mr. Root, for 

 some time," he said; "but I just wanted to 

 put you at the job so that j'ou people at 



FIG. 4. — MENDLESON'S HONEY-TANKS. 



Medina could see the necessity of getting- 

 up a light, simple, one-half or one horse 

 power — something that can be started and 

 stopped readily, and yet make the combs 

 spin good and hard." 



"Yes," I said. "From what Mr. Mcln- 

 tyre told me it is not possible for hand pow- 

 er to generate sufficient centrifugal force to 

 clean the combs as thoroughly as can be 

 done with some sort of motor power. Then, 

 too, the extractor might be running- all the 

 time that one was uncapping;" for it was 

 easy to see, while I was turning the crank, 

 that honey would keep flying- in a spray oft" 

 the combs, notwithstanding- they were sup- 

 posed to be fairly clean. 



Ever since that, I have been revolving in 

 my mind some sort of cheap power. A gas- 

 oline-eng-ine would, perhaps, be the cheap- 

 est; but on account of its lack of control, 

 starting and stopping, and uuvariable speed 

 to conform to new or old combs, it would 

 hardly be as suitable as a water-motor, 

 such as Mr. Mclntyre uses, or a little steam- 

 engine, the speed of which can be control- 

 led by means of a throttle-valve. The Root 



Co. has made arrangements whereby it 

 can furnish a one-horse-power outfit, boil- 

 er and all, complete, to run any of these 

 four or six frame extractors. The boiler 

 can be used with g-asoline, wood, or coal; 

 and, what is more, steam is one of the 

 handiest agents a bee-keeper can use. He 

 can use it for rendering honey or wax, for 

 cleaning utensils — in fact, it has a dozen 

 and one uses; and, taking it all in all, the 

 steam-outfit for the iiverag-e person is far 

 more suitable than a g-asoline-eng-ine. 



HOW MENDLESON CONTROLS HIS BEE- 

 RANGE. 



Mr. Mendleson has about 500 colonies in 

 his apiary, and about 250 at the bean-fields. 

 The New hall Brothers own about 49,000 

 acres, taking in all 

 the land seen in the 

 photo, and a great 

 deal besides. This 

 land has been pur- 

 chased for the pur- 

 pose of putting down 

 oil - wells. In fact, 

 right back of Mr. Men- 

 dleson's honey -house 

 is a large oil-derrick. 

 He has leased all of 

 this 49,000 acres of 

 land so that no one 

 else can put a bee- 

 yard down anywhere 

 within bee-range of 

 him. 



Taking it all in all, 

 Mr. . Mendleson has 

 an ideal location in 

 one of the prettiest 

 spots in the world, and 

 has a contract that 

 makes his bee-range 

 secure so long- as he 

 desires to control it. 

 He has a modern honey-house, and all the 

 conveniences for baching it in good Cali- 

 fornia style. 



OPENING HIVES. 



Some Good Orthodox Teaching Indispensable to the 

 Beginner and Helpful to the Veteran. 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLE. 



Question. — I do not remember to have 

 seen in the bee-papers an account of the 

 proper way to approach and open a hive 

 containing bees. I take it that there is a 

 right way, and that the same methods 

 should be used both in the East and West, 

 locality cutting no figure in the matter. Of 

 two bee-keepers here, Mr. A approaches a 

 hive, stands a little to one side, and puff's 

 a little smoke into the entrance; then, step- 

 ping- to the rear, he gently lifts the rear end 

 of the cover about an inch, blows a little 

 smoke over the tops of the frames, lifts the 

 cover entirely off, and drives more smoke 

 down between the combs into the hive. Mr. 



