NOVEMBER 1, 1913 



775 



and cause them to swarm. This is the prin- 

 cipal reason why producers of comb honey 

 lia\e more trouble tVom swarminy than 

 those who pi'oduce extracted honey. For 

 that reason we place a higher value on 

 drawn "combs than is oidinariiy set. They 

 are in fact the best kind of property tliat 

 the producer of extracted honey (an own. 

 If tiilcd with pollen for early spring breed- 

 ing they are worth as much as the same 

 combs tilled with honey or sugar syrup. 



We do not think it would be necessary to 

 apply the rule of 10 per cent de]>reciation 

 on drawn combs ; for if properly taken care 

 of, and kept away from the moth miller, 

 they ought to be good for 25 years. The 

 depreciation, then, should not be more than 

 5 per cent a year; but in the hands of a 

 careless beekeeper the dei^reciation charge 

 might be nearer 2.5 or 50 per cent a year. 



Your experience in sendirg honey by 

 p^arcel post is in line with other reports we 

 have received. — Ed.] 



GREASY WASTE AS A SMOKER FUEL 



Auto Trucks for Out-apiaries 



BY R. v. COX 



I notice there is some discussion about 

 cotton w^aste. I never had a good chance 

 to get this fuel till this year. Perhaps my 

 bees had got used to rotten wood, and did 

 not like the smell of the new smoke. This 

 is a poor reason ; but my bees certainly gave 

 me all that was coming to me several times 

 till I changed to the old fuel, and then they 

 let go and were decent. 



I remember your speaking of the automo- 

 bile truck in Gleaxings as a light truck, 

 1000 lbs., I think. Do you draw the full 

 supers ot^ honey home on it and the empty 

 ones back? If so, do you not have to make 

 several trips a day with it? 



I have had several poor(?) years here, 

 and think of trying outyards and a truck. 



Sloansville. N. Y. 



[We do not understand why your greasy 

 waste should not give you just as effective 

 service as that you could secure from rotten 

 wood, corncobs, or any other material. In 

 using fuel it is important to get it well 

 ignited. We never saw a colony yet that 

 we could not subdue with greasy waste. If 

 the bellows is worked vigorously a few 

 times, the smoke will roll out in a dense 

 volume of a bluish-white color. 



We have used an automobile truck foi' 

 our out-apiary work during all the past 

 season with great satisfaction. Our truck 

 is capable of carrying 1200 lbs. at a load, at 

 an average speed of fifteen to eighteen miles 

 an hour, and is capable of a maximum of 22 



miles an hour. It will do the work of two 

 or three teams at less cost, and at the same 

 lime enable one to have his outyards placed 

 far enough apart so the bees in their tlight 

 do not overlap each other. Some of our 

 .\ ards are over ten miles from tie home 

 sard; and yet at this dis.ance we are rarely 

 more than forty minuks on the road, even 

 when loaded down. 



We ha\e lad no engine trouble — in fact, 

 no trouble of any sort. The truck has a 

 friction drive capable of all speeds. We 

 are thoroughly convinced that a truck with 

 this kind of transmission is better for all 

 kinds of roads, and certainly better for 

 the average driver, than the sliding or plan- 

 etary gear. Such gears are liable to be 

 stripiDed, and, what is more, the sliding gears 

 recjfuire a much greater degree of skill to 

 operate. The friction drive on the other 

 hand is very economical in that the wearing 

 surfaces do not cost to exceed .$2.00 for 

 renewal a season, and a broken sliding gear 

 may cost anywhere from ten to one hundred 

 dollars to replace. The machine we have 

 di'iven with such satisfaction is the Com- 

 merce, manufactured at Detroit, and costing- 

 less than a thousand dollars, complete with 

 top and storm aprons. 



It has been our practice to carry full 

 supers of filled combs from our extracting- 

 yards to the home yaid to extract, where 

 we have our exlracting-outfit, and then 

 carry the empties back. As the truck can 

 make cjuick and frecpient trips, no single hive 

 is deprived of its full cjuota of combs more 

 than an liour or an hour and a half at a 

 time. A large jDower extracting-outfit will 

 just about keep up with the truck coming- 

 in with full combs, and returning with the 

 empties. It goes clear into the apiaries, 

 and up to the door of the extracting-house. 



Again, an auto truck enables one to split 

 his full number of colonies up into compar- 

 atively small apiaries. In this way over- 

 stocking is avoided. With a team of horses 

 it is not piactical to have a yard smaller 

 than a hundred colonies nor further than 

 two or three miles apart; but with a light 

 automobile truck one can operate out-yards 

 of thirty, forty, and even fifty colonies five 

 and even ten miles apart. In a locality that 

 is rather poor this is a great advantage. 

 If a small beeyard can have all the nectar 

 it can reach, the individual yield per colony 

 will be relatively much larger. 



We are well satisfied with our investment 

 of the automobile truck; and we believe 

 the day has already arrived when the bee- 

 keeper of 500 colonies will find it a saving 

 over a team ; and, if he owns one thousand 

 or more colonies, an absolute necessity. — 

 Ed.1 



