1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



683 



greatly surprised to see me pick out peaches 

 and push the bees away with my finger, in 

 order to show him ihe white mold which is 

 the forerunner, or harbinger, of tlie rot on 

 every peach where the bees had found an 

 opening. lie could hardly believe me when 

 I told him tliey did not chase his people out 

 of the orchard. 



Now , I wish this whole matter might be 

 fully understood, and I wish our agricultural 

 papers would copy the facts I have here 

 given. There is some trouble with bees and 

 fruit, I am well aware ; but the trouble is 

 not so great as fruit-men often imagine ; and 

 I am sure it will be very much less expense 

 to arrange the damages in an amicable way, 

 rather than to attempt to right the matter 

 by going to law. Let the bee-keeper and the 

 fruit-raiser both look into the matter, and 

 talk it over in a friendly way. [ proposed 

 gathering the fruit, or paying the damages ; 

 but my neighbor finally declared there were 

 not sound i)eaches enough there in the first 

 place to be worth talking about. He knew 

 many of them were rotting, even before they 

 were ripe ; but he did not know the bees were 

 at work on the trees, only on those that had 

 begun to rot. 



Another thing : The bees would pay no 

 attention to these peaches, even the sweet 

 ones, w^ere it a season honey could be found 

 in thu fields. With us, however, the bees 

 seldom find honey enough to keep them busy 

 at the time when peaches begin to ripen. 



AN AUTOMATIC UNCAPPER. 



WHAT THE FBIBNDS IN GERMANY ARE DOING. 



fHE following description of a machine 

 for uncapping both sides of a comb at 

 once is taken from Gravenhorst's Bie- 

 nen Zeitung for July. The article was 

 written by Peter Wagner, of Kreutz- 

 statten, Germany, from which fact we may 

 reasonably infer that he is the inventor of 

 the machine. It seems to be a kind of fore- 

 runner of the extractor here illustrated, 

 which was invented by a Mr. Buhne-Lauban, 

 of Germany. Our proof-reader, W. P. Boot, 

 translates both articles as follows : 



This device meets every requisition that can be 

 made on a machine of the kind, as with it one can 

 remove the capping-s of the cells perfectly, by ad- 

 justing- the rolls to a greater or lesser distance 

 apart (some 'a or -fs of an inch), according to the 

 thickness of the comb. The method of uncapping- 

 is as follows: 



Into the large upright iron frame, which is about 

 half an inch in thickness, is placed the double frame 

 so as to come directly over the projecting iron 

 points below. The frame of comb is fastened in 

 this perpendicularly. Lower the upper screws so 

 that their points will press slightly into the frame. 

 With frames of half size, put in one as just de- 

 scribed in the case of a large frame. Lay thr stick 

 a on top of the friimo, with the small projecting 

 points up and down. Press it down slightly; put 

 the other frame on top ot this, push it down gently, 

 and lower the screws above. The two frames will 

 thus be clamped together. Now sieze the crank, c, 

 and turn it a little to the right or left, as the case 



may demand. The comb can then, by means of the 

 wheel o, be lowered perpendicularly between the 

 rapidly revolving- rollers, being guided in its de- 

 scent by the upiight standards (' t. Around the 

 axle of the wheel o is wound a cord, c', attached to 

 the top of the desscending frame, thus uncapping 

 both sides. The machine uncaps one-sided as well 

 as double-sided thick combs, as one has only to put 

 the rollers further apart. It is evident, that, to do 

 this, the pulley a; must be so adjusted as to make 

 the belt tighter or looser. 



AUTOMATIC UNCAPPING-MACHINE. 



The covering of the receiving-box is represented 

 by /. The.torn-off bits of wax and honey are thrown 

 into this, whence they run into a vessel placed be- 

 low. It is very desirable that combs of equal 

 breadth be used, and such as have no projections or 

 irregularities on their surface, as these are always 

 troublesome when using the uncapping-machine. 



EXTHACTlNi; llo.NKV FliO.M liuTH SIDES OF A COMB, 

 WITHOUT REVERSING. 



Time is money. In extracting honey, the revers- 

 ing of the combs is a loss of time; and with badly 

 constructed extractors, the work is very unpleas- 

 ant. At the present time, various kinds of auto- 

 matic reversing machines are made: but I believe 

 that a machine that throws out the honey clean, 

 and which, at the same time, renders reversing un- 

 necessary, must take the preference. The above 

 cut shows the simplest and consequently most de- 

 sirable kind of honey-extractor, which Mr. Buhne- 

 Lauban, of Schlesien, constructed. The extractor 



