1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Ill 



would be no glue on tho outside of the frames 

 unless at the bottom of tlie end- bars. 



On page 87. G. F. Robbins asks that there be 

 only ^V of an inch play between the end-bars 

 and tfie end of the hive, and E. R. reiJJies, "No. 

 it would not do to leave the usual '4 inch be- 

 tween tiie closed ends and the end of the hive." 

 Yon nuiy be right, but please tell us why. With 

 any thing less than '4 ineii you can count for a 

 certainty on having tlii' lower ends of the end- 

 bars thoroughly glued to the iiive. 



In days gone by. the insuperable objection 

 supposed to be against Hxed distances was that 

 combs were not all alike, and lixed distances 

 would thoroughly prevent interchanging. A. 

 E. Woodward brings up tiie same objection as 

 the result of experience (page 90). I must con- 

 fess I don't now believe there's much in it. 

 How much advantage do the loose hanging 

 frames really have? How much difference do 

 we make for inequalities of combs? I must 

 own that I don't pay any attention to them, and 

 I doubt whether others do. I try to space the 

 top-bars equally: and if I succeed perfectly in 

 Tuy endeavor, they are spaced jji-ecisely as they 

 would be with Hoffman or closed frames. The 

 only difference would lie. that, with such frames. 

 I could do easily and quickly what I can do 

 only imperfectly with loose frames, even after 

 spending much time at it. C. C. Mii,lek. 



Marengo. 111. 



[Well, doctor. I have been studying your hive 

 pretty carefully, and for the life of me I can not 

 tell whether you are in earnest or whether you 

 half mean what you say. There are some good 

 things about your hive, fooling or no fooling. 

 1 know it is ci'uel to say so. hut this method of 

 l)lugging u|) the sinices ijetweeu the top-bars 

 with suitable sticks was suggested by some 

 brother a year or two ago in Gleanings: and. 

 if I renu^mber correctly, he has put the thing in 

 practice, and says it is all O. K. But. doctor, 

 there is a better way than that. Throw away 

 the sticks, and lay an enamel cloth on the 

 frames, and the bees will seal it down tight, and 

 you will have your dead-air spaces and all — see? 



The reason we do not want a bee-space back 

 of the closed ends, or. lather, between the closed 

 ends and the end of the hive, is to prevent the 

 bees from getting ])c]nii(l and propolizing in the 

 cracks on the bark of the uprights, etc. You 

 see, if these uprights are thick enough to fill up 

 this space, and yet leave sufficient play to be 

 readily removable, the bees can propolize them 

 where they come iu contact on tJie inside only, 

 and you will see this would make quite a differ- 

 ence in their mobility. 



As to fixed frames not being interchangeable, 

 there ai'e only two that I know of who have 

 urged this as an objection. I questioned very 

 closely the York State be(!-keepei-s — pi-ominent- 

 ly, Ehvood and Hoffman — on this very point: 

 viz., whether fixed distances prevent the frames 

 from being alternated or interchanged from 

 one i)art of the brood-nest to the other. They 

 hai'dly knew what I meant; and when I ques- 

 tioncHl them further they said they had experi- 

 enced no such trouble. Closed-end frames on 

 the Quinby plan will not kill bees — in fact, not 

 as much so as ordinary loose hanging frames in 

 wood rabbets. I know some of you will be 

 somewhat suiprised. but nevertheless this is a 

 fact. Ml-. p]lwo((d will shortly explain ivlty thjs 

 is so. in an article, and so I will not attempt to 

 explain. 



With the Hoffman frames there will be killing 

 of bees if there be careless or unskillful han- 

 dling. But Mr. H. himself avoids the trouble, 

 and I think the rest of us can. You know that, 

 when we put a fiat cover on a hive, we kill bees 

 if we set it tlat down on the square edges of the 



hive: but witlr a s/(cli»f/ motion, in the hands 

 of those who use that cover, there is not the 

 least excuse for killing bees: and the same 

 thing is true, to a very great extent, in handling 

 the Hoffman frame.]" E. R. R. 



KEVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR. 



ANOTHER MACHINE. 



As per request, I send you a photograph 

 showing my improvement in automatic reversi- 

 ble honey-extractors, taken from a rough mod- 

 el of my own construction. It will be seen that 

 the mechanism is such that reversing the mo- 

 tion will reverse all the comb-baskets, with 

 positive action. The comb-baskets stand and 

 reverse on a pivot at the centei' of their bottom 

 end, the top end being held in position and re- 

 versed by metal rings having cogs half way or 

 more on and around their outer surface, witli 

 large or stop cogs at each terminus of cogs. 

 The rings have a flange all the way around 

 from the base of the cogs downward, which 

 work against anti-friction rollers, as at F on 

 the end of the arms whicli Irold the rings in 

 position. The rings are secured to tlie comb- 

 baskets in such a way as not to interfere witli 

 tills flange working on the guide. 



I.AWSON S REVERSIBLE EXTRACTOR. 



The cog pinions are fastened together and 

 driven by the beveled wheel from the crank, 

 and revolve loosely on the shaft — the lower one, 

 or spur i)inion, working in the cogs of tlie rings, 

 and. when in contact with the large or stop 

 cogs, set the extractor in motion. The comb- 

 baskets with rings can be instantly removed 

 from the machine for cleaning, and just as 

 quickly returned to po-^ition. The brake A is 

 very powerful, and will stop the machine al- 

 most instantly. It is composed of a drum .se- 

 cured to the top of the main shaft, and encir- 

 cled with a strap secured to the cross-bar, and 

 tightened with a lever. 



This machine is not mere fancy theory, as I 

 liave done all my extracting tlie past season 

 with one of about the same construction, and I 

 can truly say it gave me entire satisfaction, 

 a:Kl, in my humble opinion, is the extractor of 

 the future. Ali-en J. Lawson. 



Brighton, Ont., Feb. 3. 



[We at first did not see how the rings at the 

 top of the basket were held in position so as to 

 mesh into the gear of the driving-shaft: but we 

 notice the little rollers you speak of as F in the 



