THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[For the Americau Bee Journal.] 



Novice's Metextrator. 



Mr. Editor : — "We thought we gave directions 

 sufficient before, but have received so many in- 

 quiries on the subject that we have concluded to 

 to try again. 



"We would say here, however, that we have no 

 idea that our machine is the best that ever was 

 made ; but we do think it is superior to the wooden 

 machines about which several correspondents 

 have had so much trouble in boring larf/e holes 

 through small sticks. Having the machine made 

 all of metal we certainly think it is clieaper, and if 

 your readers could all take a look at ours, we fear 

 tliey would laugh at its simplicity. They would 

 certainly not find trouble in getting it together. 



"W^ell, any tin-smith can make you a can or 

 tin tub, twenty inches high and twenty inches 

 across the top, or, if that does not suit 3'our 

 frames, tlien of any dimensions you like. Cut 

 out two pieces of wire cloth (fine or coarse, as 

 j^ou prefer, will answer,) about half an inch 

 larger than j^our frames, all round. Take white 

 galvanized inm wire, so that it can be soldered 

 readily ; the kind used so extensively for white 

 wire clothes lines, about an eighth of an inch in 

 diameter, is just the thing. Bend this wire so as 

 to run around your pieces of wire cloth close to 

 the edge, and solder it at about every inch or two. 

 These two frames of wire cloth are to be attached 

 to the sJiaft in the centre, so as to revolve as near 

 the outside as they can convenientiy without any 

 danger of touching it. They should stand the 

 longest way up and down, with the side the wire 

 is soldered on next to the sides of the can. To 

 fix them in that position, take two pieces of the 

 same wire, thirty-five or forty inches long, bend 

 each of them in the middle around the shaft near 

 the bottom, so as to leave the four ends sticking 

 out like the spokes of a wheel. As your shaft is 

 iron you can solder them firmly in place. Fix 

 four more similar arms near the top. Now turn 

 the ends of the arms around in a curve so as to 

 solder on the back side of the frames, one to each 

 corner, and it is all ready to spin. The bearings 

 to the shaft 3'ou can fix as you like. "We made 

 the bottom bearing by soldering a piece of saw- 

 plate in the centre of the bottom, and a blank 

 iron nut .on top of that, so it turns very easy, and 

 there is no danger of wearing a hole through. 

 The top is a thick piece of wood, notched in for 

 the sides of the can, and a hole in the centre for 

 the shaft. For convenience in taking out and put- 

 ting in the frame, the piece is made quite narrow 

 onlj^ at the ends. "We think a crank on the top 

 of the shaft would give speed enough, although 

 we use tiie gearing of a common apple-parer. 



Yv"e forgot to mention that some bearers will 

 be needed to keep the frames from sagging with 

 heavj" combs. These are easily made by solder- 

 ing a wire from each of the four lower corners to 

 the shaft, where the upper arms are fastened. 

 Put a Avire cloth across the bottom if you wish 

 it ; it is very handy to lay broken combs on. If 

 tho wire cloth should be too light, put another 

 wire across the middle. Of course the comb 

 must be turned as soon as one side is emptied. 



"We consider it much less trouble than taking 

 off the boxes, and have sold readily all we could 



get, for twenty-five cents per pound. "We would 

 rather furnish it at twelve and a half cents per 

 pound, if we could get no more for it, than box 

 honey at twenty-five cents. Boxes are among 

 " the things that were " with Novice. 



January, 1870. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Multiplication of Colonies. 



Several correspondents are anxious to know 

 what I think of Novice's increase of colonies 

 the past season, and some of them appear to 

 doubt the truth of his statements. Now, it cer- 

 tainly would not answer for me to doubt their 

 truth after all my experiments in that line. 



When I first came here I obtained a swarm 

 of bees which the person from whom I pro- 

 cured them supposed were entirely worthless. I 

 wintered them through, and early i-i Ajuil I 

 transferred them to one of my hives, that is, I 

 transferred enough comb to fill two frames, 

 the remainder being worthless. I soon found 

 that the queen Avas old and almost useless for 

 breeding, and she had very little over a quart of 

 workers with her. However, by stimulating and 

 coaxing, I succeeded in getting the hive filled 

 with combs and bees by the 20th of July. I 

 used to carry them in and set them near the 

 stove at night to keep up warmth, and carry 

 them out in the morning. On the 20th of July 

 I received an Italian queen from a friend in 

 "Wisconsin. I removed the old queen and one 

 frame of brood from the hive; introducad the 

 Italian queen; raised five queens; superseded 

 the old one, and made four swarms. AH were 

 large and strong, with one exception, which had 

 only six combs. All this was down after the 

 20th of July, by keeping up the temperature 

 of the hives by covering at night, or carrying 

 them in to the stove when it was cool, and by 

 feeding whenever the bees could not gather 

 enough. All of them wintered well. 



You will see that taking a worthless swarm 

 and increasing it to five, was fully equal to, if 

 not more than Novice accomplished the past 

 season. "With the same care and attention I 

 could have taken a good strong swarm and 

 increased it to fifteen, easier than to do what I 

 did with the miserable poor one. The reason for 

 starting with such a swarm was, that I could get 

 no other, and I moved that one more than forty- 

 five miles in Februarj^. 



This matter or question of increase there can 

 be no doubt about when rightly understood. A 

 great many people attempt a large increase with- 

 out understanding the true principle of increase, 

 and therefore ruin the whole— original stock and 

 all. If a person has a few good stocks to begin 

 with, and can obtain the comb already built, I 

 consider such comb equal to a swarm ; that is, if I 

 have comb sufficient to fill the hive. Of course the 

 comb would be of no practical value without bees. 



I repeat that a queen can be made to breed to 

 any desired extent by proper management, pro- 

 viding she is a good one, and if she is not a good 

 one she ought -to be replaced by a good one as 

 soon as possible, whether your object is increase 

 of stock or surplus honey. E. Gallup. 



Osage, loioa. 



