396 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 1 



GASOLINE POWER VS. HAND POWER. 



They say figures will not lie. Let us try a 

 few. I pay my male help $50.00 a month and 

 board, and presume that is the average wages 

 over the country. At the present prices of 

 provisions and the extra work entailed, I 

 think $4.00 per week would not be too much 

 for board. Extracting will last two and a 

 half or three months— call it two and a half, 

 and we have the sum of $165. An up-to-date 

 large-sized eight-frame extractor with power 

 attachments will cost $51.00; gasoline-engine 

 to drive it, $60.00. Freight on both, if you 

 are as far from the manufacturers as I, will 

 cost $25.00, making $136. A man can do 

 other work than turn the extractor; but it 

 will be readily conceded that one helper 

 could be dispensed with in an apiary of 250 

 or 300 colonies of bees if it were not for run- 

 ning the extractor; so we are paying $165 for 

 the 'season's work of running the extractor, 

 which is the hardest job about the house, ex- 

 cept, perhaps, the handling of the filled cases. 

 After the season's work is over, your man 

 and the money you have paid him are gone, 

 and, on the other hand, $136 has been paid 

 out for machinery, adding a mere pittance 

 for oil and gasoline; and if you have used 

 your machines as you should they are prac- 

 tically as good as new. I do not know how 

 much gasoline the engines do consume. The 

 amount is so trifling that I have not taken 

 the time to test it. I have used one of my 

 eno-ines and extractors two years. I was ex- 

 amining them a few days ago, and I could 

 not see that the bearings were worn at all; 

 and if I were offered new ones for them I 

 would not go to the trouble to change for 

 the difference unless new inventions had 

 been added to enhance their worth. 



Some say there are too many failures to 

 have so much money invested; but my ex- 

 perience has been that a business that does 

 not pay to do well does not pay to do at all. 

 Perhaps one will not realize so large a per 

 cent on the money invested as some of the 

 Standard Oil or Steel men; but if one keeps 

 abreast of the times, gets started right, and 

 keeps right, and has his dish right side up 

 when it does rain porridge (or honey), one 

 will average up pretty well with the most of 

 business ventures; and if not, something is 

 wrong. That person has missed his calling, 

 and had better seek some other vocation. 

 Jamul, Cal., May 18. 



[What Mr. Gibson says regarding the value 

 of power extractors and their economy over 

 hand extractors is borne out by the statements 

 of other users of power-driven machines; 

 for there are some four or five dozen bee- 

 keepers in the United States to-day who take 

 their honey in the same wholesale manner. 

 Those who have written in say that there is 

 not only a larger output of honey from each 

 comb — that is, cleaner combs after extract- 

 ing — but there is a marked economy in the 

 cost of securing the product. 



In the matter of tne cost of production, 

 human labor figures generally as our great- 

 est item. Where this can be materially re- 



duced by machinery, it pays well to use it. 

 But this is not all. Competent help very 

 often can not be secured at any price. Bees 

 are neglected, swarming follows, with the 

 result that tons and tons of honey are wast- 

 ed that might have been taken. While the 

 initial cost of a power outfit is a threat deal 

 larger than that of a hand power, the former 

 will generally pay for itseli the first year, for 

 Mr. Gibson's figures are not unusual. 



Our correspondent brings out the question 

 whether it pays to reverse often 'during the 

 process of extracting, or to reverse only once. 

 He presents a couple of good arguments in 

 favor of the latter. This is a live question, 

 and we should like to have some of our ex- 

 tensive producers tell us what their experi- 

 ence has been. 



Our correspondent also brings up another 

 question that is equally vital — whether it pays 

 to put in a large investment that will be used 

 only two or three months in a year, and then 

 have it stand idle the rest of the year. At 

 first thought the average bee-keeper is in- 

 clined to say it will not; but when we stop to 

 consider that large successful manufacturers 

 buy machines that are used only about one 

 hour a day, and that farmers buy agricultural 

 machinery that will be used only one or two 

 weeks in the year, and that they consider it 

 pays them to buy such machines, the bee- 

 keeper himself may well take a hint. — Ed.] 



HOW DOES HONEY RIPEN? 



Ripening Not Mere Evaporation; some 

 Evidence to Show that the Nectar has 

 Lost half its Water by the Time it Reach- 

 es the Hive; an Interesting and Valuable 

 Series of Observations. 



BY DR. BRUENNICH. 



The question of the ripening of honey, as 

 it is considered by most of our bee-keepers, 

 needs correcting. The up-to-date bee-man 

 knows that nectar contains much water, and 

 he explains to the novice that the vigorous 

 ventilation produced by the bees fanning at 

 the entrance evaporates this water so that 

 the honey becomes more and more con- 

 densed. The question can not be solved as 

 easily as this, however, for the whole process 

 of the ripening of honey is more complicated. 



We know by the classic researches of my 

 compatriot, Planta, that nectar contains on 

 the average 80 per cent of water and 20 of 

 cane sugar. It means a stretch of the imag- 

 ination to believe that it is possible to remove 

 such an amount of water by simple ventila- 

 tion at the entrance with a temperature of 

 98 or 99 degrees; for, while this ventilation 

 at the entrance may he energetic enough to 

 blow out a candle, the current of air in the 

 spaces between the combs will nevertheless 

 be very slight, considering the great friction 

 of such narrow openings. 



At first I will prove mathematically the im- 

 possibility of thickening the honey by evap- 

 oration only. For this purpose I herewith 



