Gleanings in Bee Culture 



REO USED FOR DELIVERING HONEY IN THE 

 WINTER 



BY JOHN C. BULL, 



I use my automobile mostly for delivering 

 honey, as I work the house-to-house trade 

 in the winter. My ma?hine is a Reo two- 

 cylinder five-passenger tour"ng car, with 

 detachable tonneau. I take the tonneau 

 -off and put on a box for delivery work. I 

 bought my car second hand after it had been 

 used for about 16 months. I have had it 19 

 months, and have driven from 5000 to 6000 

 miles. The territory that I cover selling 

 honey is 30 miles across; and to cover that 

 ground with a horse and wagon would take 

 twice the time. With the auto I can leave 

 headquarters in the morning, drive 10 or 12 

 miles, then deliver $75.00 to $90.00 worth of 

 honey, and be back for supper, while to 

 drive that distance with the average horse 

 would take nearly all the day on the road, 

 considering the loads that I carry, which 

 sometimes amount to 725 lbs. at a trip. 



As to cost of upkeep, if the auto is used 

 every day, and the horse the same, I think 

 the cost would be nearly equal, although 

 the auto would cover two or three times as 

 much territory as the horse. The horse re- 

 quires attention three times a day, while 

 ttie auto, when not in use, costs nothing; 

 and the time required to keep a car in shape 

 is far less than taking care of a horse. The 

 auto can be looked over and kept in shape 

 at odd times or stormy days, so the time is 

 not missed. 



As to reliability, almost any of the stand- 

 ard makes of car have passed out of the ex- 

 perimental stage. In the last two winters I 

 have delivered some 26,000 lbs. of honey 

 with my car, and have never been obliged 

 to find another way to finish up a day's de- 

 livering. I use it all winter, through cold, 

 snow, and all kinds of roads. I find I can 

 go almost anywhere a horse-drawn vehicle 

 can. If a man has a car that can be used 

 for pleasure or business both, he will find 

 the pleasure ride is something that can not 

 be measured in dollars and cents. 



Any one who has several out-apiaries and 

 lots of traveling to do on the road will find 

 a good automobile the best and most pay- 

 ing investment he can make. 



Hammond, Ind. 



«--•-» 



WHY WE INVESTED IN A MOTOR BICYCLE 



BY C. CALVERT 



To explain matters, a friend and myself 

 run about two hundred colonies of bees of 

 our own, and we also have the oversight of 

 about sixty colonies belonging to a friend 

 who at present is abroad. 



Our own bees are located in various 

 apiaries containing from thirty to fifty col- 

 onies each. These apiaries are situated ten, 

 eleven, twenty-two, and forty miles away 

 from this town, so we have found it a weary 

 and exhausting task to make the rounds of 

 all of them on the ordinary bicycle. For 

 example, to cycle nine or more miles up to 



the Cotswold Hills, do a heavy day's work, 

 and then to return home on the cycle, per- 

 haps when it is windy, or when the tempera- 

 ture is 90, in the shade is somewhat like 

 hard labor. So we determined to have a 

 motor bicyle with a side car. The seat of 

 the latter is detachable, and an oblong-shap- 

 ed box with sides a few inches high, and 

 large enough to carry a couple of hives of 

 bees, can be screwed on in place of the seat. 

 This box is also convenient for the convey- 

 ance of syrup to the apiaries, and for bring- 

 ing tins of honey home for bottling. It will, 

 we hope, save a carrier's bill — a serious item 

 to the beeman who does not keep horses. 

 Driven bees, too (a commodity you probably 

 do not know the meaning of in America, 

 where I suppose straw skeps are not used) , 

 may be obtained at long distances, and con- 

 veyed easily on a motor cycle. It is esti- 

 mated in this country that such a machine 

 may be run a year at an expense of less than 

 one penny a mile. This is, of course, tak- 

 ing into account petroleum, new tires, 

 breakages, license — in fact, every thing, and 

 it is well-spent money, seeing that it saves, 

 first, the wear and tear of bicycles for two 

 men; and, second, a carrier's bill for con- 

 veyance of bee produce, feeding syrcp, and 

 appliances, and that it provides a quicker 

 mode of transit to one's work, at which the 

 beeman arrives perfectly cool and fresh, be- 

 sides getting in two or more extra hours' 

 work a day which otherwise are spent crawl- 

 ing on the ordinary bicycle. 

 Cheltenham, England. 



HAULING HONEY FROM OUTYARDS IN AN 

 E. M. F. 



BY ROY TAIT 



In the spring, and during the first part of 

 the season, we make the rounds to the out- 

 yards once a week iii the auto. We leave 

 home about 6 a.m. with extra hives filled 

 with combs or full sheets of foundation, and 

 at about 7:25 I reach our mountain yard, 20 

 miles away. Our first machine was a Max- 

 well; but now we have an E. M. F. 30 h. p. 

 model. My next machine will be built to 

 order. It will have an E. M. F. 30 h. p. en- 

 gine, the Cartercar friction transmission, 

 and the Midland fuU-fioating rear axle — that 

 is, if I can have it built that way. I believe 

 the E. M. F. car as built to-day, with re- 

 movable tonneau, is the best car on the 

 market for the money — $1100 at the factory. 

 Its simplicity and durability will at once 

 appeal to the mechanic as well as to the 

 man who knows nothing about machinery. 



The greatest nuisance in motoring is the 

 pneumatic tire; but the trouble can be over- 

 come to a certain extent by using inner lin- 

 ings, which prolong the life of the outer 

 casing about one-half. 



I would not think of keeping bees in out- 

 yards without an automobile. When I 

 read of a man going to dozens of yards 

 with a horse, I wonder. 



Grand Junction, Colo. 



