1871.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



209 



tin boxes and a frame work to hold them. The 

 frame and boxes are revolved npon a wooden 

 upright spindle. The tin boxes are twelve inches 

 long, seven wide, and sixteen deep. Tiiere are 

 flanges on the ends of these boxes, to correspond 

 with rabbetings in the hives. An empty frame 

 covered with wire gauze on one side, forming it 

 into a kind of sci'een, is suspended in each box ; 

 and the boxes are then suspended in the frame 

 work, one at each end. The whole is then placed 

 upon the spindle, after the manner of an old- 

 fashioned pair of swifts, and is revolved by a pin 

 four inches from the toi) bearing of the spindle 

 in the frame work. 



I place this extractor at the side of my hive ; 

 open the hive, and after brushing off the bees, 

 at the entrance of the hive, from one of its well- 

 filled combs, I i)ut it in one of the tin boxes, 

 placing thereon its tight-fitting cover. Then, 

 when another comb is adjusted in the same 

 manner, in the other box, the extractor is ready 

 for operation, and a few revolutions of the 

 machine throws out the honey nicely. 



The advantages of this machine are its small 

 cost— about four dollars ; and doing its work 

 well anywhere in the apiary. 



I will here say that I believe myself to be the 

 first inventor of this machine, and hereby give 

 my claims free to all bee-keepers, as I shall not 

 get any part patented. Those who may wish to 

 make, and do not fully understand the above 

 description, can address me by letter, with 

 stamp. 



John L. Davis. 



Delhi, Mi(s7i., Nov. 14, 1870. 



[For the American Bee JourDal.] 



Blunders, and Mistaken Notions. 



Mr. Editor : — In a conversation last spring, 

 with an old fogy friend, upon the physiology of 

 the honey bee, he informed me with great ear- 

 nestness, that the drone is the female bee, de- 

 posited the eggs, and is the mother of the col- 

 ony — he "had cut them o])en, and found them 

 full of eggs"— that if 1 would go home with him 

 he could convince me of the truthfulness of his 

 theory. Having several years since arrived at, I 

 think, a correct knowledge of the matter in con- 

 troversy, I did not go. 



He may, in his immediate neighborhood mis- 

 lead a few gaping, ignorant people ; but that a 

 Scientific Journal, with its thousands of readers, 

 published too in the great commercial metropo- 

 lis of our country, the centre of learning and 

 knowledge, and purporting to give correct en- 

 gravings of the ditterent kinds of bees in a hive, 

 should serve us with a very fair picture of the 

 drone with the word queen printed underneath, 

 is too bad. If the editor knows no more of 

 bumps on a man's cranium, than about queen 

 bees and drones. Phrenology will fool somebody. 

 These illui<(ration8 are given in a communication 

 by the Rev. Mr. Van Slyke, and I am satisfied 

 the author is not in fault, as " Life Illustrated " 

 must have stuck these bees in for grandeur. — 

 Mistakes of this kind should not occur. 



Sometime ago, I noticed going the rounds of 

 the press, a very sympathetic account of the fu- 

 neral of a bee. "Tenderly two bees bore the 

 dead body of their comrade, some ten yards froin 

 the hive, placed the body head downward in a 

 hole in the ground, and rolled against it two lit- 

 tle stones, '■III Memoriam,^ and lingered there 

 awhile, as if to drop a sympathizing tear," &c., 

 &c. 



Now all that is very nice on paper, and to the 

 wonder-loving is a very readable article. There 

 is something exquisitely touching in creatures so 

 small, exhibiting so much regard for the dead ; 

 but the fact is some kind-hearted man saw two 

 bees fly otf with a dead one, and imagination saw 

 the rest. Bees do cari-y off their dead— some- 

 times two carrying a dead one ; but more fre- 

 quently only one bears the burden. They fly 

 from ten to forty yards from their home, and 

 drop the dead while they fly. I have seen them 

 bump the ground with their load, either from fa- 

 tigue, or the wind bearing them down, when 

 from the stun received they tarried awhile with 

 their deceased comrade, not, I think through af- 

 fection, or to pei'form any burial service, but to 

 recover strength to return home. St)metimes 

 bees, whose moments are but few, probably have 

 an instinct of approaching dissolution, and leave 

 the hive to die. Some that appeared to be sick 

 and di'oopy, unable to fly, I have seen in the vi- 

 cinity of their hive, and have picked them up 

 and i)laced them near the entrance, sometimes 

 in the hive, and they refused to stay, although 

 no one was cross with or objected to their com- 

 pany. I have also seen wingless or deformed- 

 winged bees, unable to fly, crawling on the 

 ground near their homes, and returned them 

 half a dozen times. They persistently refused 

 to stay, but would crawl out, fall to the ground, 

 and seemingly try to get as far away as possi- 

 ble. Either from choice, or in obedience to fixed 

 laws, a sick or deformed worker remains in the 

 hive only a short time. In the spring and sum- 

 mer, on examining hives, I have seen drones as 

 well as workers, whose wings were crumped, but 

 the length of their probation I never ascertained. 

 W. P. Hei^deeson. 



Murfreesboro\ Tenn., Feb. 6, 1871. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Doubts and DiflBculties of a Beginner. 



Mr. Editor : — As I have formed a very pleasing 

 acquaintance with the Journal and its contribu- 

 tors, it may be well for me to introduce myself. 

 Ever since I can remember I have had a love for 

 the industrious honey bee, to say nothing of the 

 honey, which always agreed with me. From 

 time to time, too, I have had the bee-fever some, 

 so that I owned four hives in my life, but never 

 kept any long enough to get any benefit from 

 them, (unless it might be once, when I consigned 

 some to the brimstone pit. But, ah, unlucky 

 day, they cost more than they came to.) 

 * This fall I borrowed two of the Journals, and 

 truly brimstone is, or ought to be, of the past. 

 I became a subscriber, and purchased seven 



