342 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



them ; or if not, then turn them in an opposite 

 direction against a piece of board, and the pro- 

 pohs would get off, I think. 



Another way to remove the propolis would 

 be to use a cylinder with knives set so as 

 to wind around it like the threads of a screw, 

 except at the ends, where they should be at 

 right angles with the length of the cylinder. 

 Su -h a scraper ( for, indeed, it would scrape 

 just as we scrape with a knife) would not be 

 likely to clog ; or, if it did, it could be easily 

 cleaned with the point of a knife while revolv- 

 ing very slowly. 



Another form of the same method would be 

 with knives set diagonally to the axis of the 

 cylinder, with thin blocks between, and all 

 bolted firmly together. I am not sure but 

 nearly all of this last form could be made of 

 wood, except the knives and bolts. It would 

 have the advantage of the knife passing over a 

 given space twice m every revolution. Whether 

 such cylinders can be furnished at a price that 

 could be afforded by bee keepers, I am not 

 able to say at this time. 



It seems to me now that we are not likely to 

 get any one thing that will do our work best ; 

 but with one to take off the bulk of propolis, 

 and another a disk or emery cylinder or sand- 

 paper belt to polish and finish up, it looks 

 hopeful. Some sections will need but one, 

 while others will need a good vigorous appli- 

 cation of both. 



I am making this paper quite too long ; but 

 I just want to say that, if you or your expert 

 mechanics at Rootville, or your correspon- 

 dents, will criticise my ideas as freely as I 

 have those before me, and propose something 

 better, no one will be more pleased than my- 

 self. The season is opening, and there should 

 be a thoroughly practical machine on the mar- 

 ket by Julv loth, if possible. 



Middlebury, Vt., Mar. 10. 



Later. — I have delayed sending the above, 

 that I might have an opportunity to test some 

 of my theories ; so I made a roll after the last 

 one described, but using sheet-iron plates in- 

 stead of steel, and attached to a Barnes-saw 

 belt, when, presto ! it cleaned off the propolis, 

 but not as fast as I liked, and then I filed 

 teeth in the edges of my iron plates, when it 

 took hold, tearing off the propolis, and wood 

 too, if I was not careful. Well, it did the 

 work, but verj- roughly ; but it was a rough 

 tool. It proved very conclusively, however, 

 that making machinery was not my forte. 



From my experiment I am of the opinion 

 that such a roll well made would do most ex- 

 cellent work ; but it needs a roll that will not 

 bend and twist out of shape as mine did. 

 There appeared to be no trouble with clogging. 



Apr. 5. J. E. C. 



[I have nothing special to criticise except in 

 one point ; namely, where friend Crane savs 

 that he finds "the space in old-style sections 

 between the comb when filled and capped, 

 and the separator, is just ,-',; inch." I feel 

 quite sure he has made an error here. I have 

 measured the distance in something like a 

 hundred different section boxes. Some of 

 the sections were produced in Colorado, some 



in California, some in New York, some in 

 Ohio (our own), and some nobody knows 

 where (I didn't find any from Vermont). I 

 picked the sections up at random, and mea- 

 sured them. Where separators were used I 

 did not find a single one where the space be- 

 tween them and the cappings was only j-',., of 

 an inch. The great majority had just an even 

 % inch. I found some that had a space even 

 of i\, and a very few that ran about ^^ under 

 the ',4 -inch space. 



A few weeks ago, R. C. Aikin, of Colorado, 

 sent us a few of his supers (to illustrate an- 

 other experiment) just as they came from the 

 hive. These are in our office now, and supers 

 are literally crammed full of honey, so that 

 faces of the combs above the separator in the 

 many instances are bulged out ; but in no in- 

 stance did I find a section in this lot where 

 the capping of the comb was less than % inch 

 from the separator. As it was evident that 

 the bees were greatly crowded, that would 

 proVjaVdy reduce the bee-space to a minimum. 



In an article elsevvhere in this issue Dr. 

 Miller says a comb \n 3. W^ wide section will 

 average l^g inches thick. This allows the '4 

 inch between the face of the comb and the 

 separator just as I find it to be from my own 

 measurement. 



Now, then, I deduce from all this that the 

 average bee-space between the separator and 

 the capping of the comb is % inch ; and if we 

 take off fa we shall have -j'^-inch space left, or 

 I'v between the faces of two combs in plain 

 sections when they are put into the shipping- 

 case, providing separator stuff is not shpped 

 between. 



His points are all well taken in regard to 

 sandpapering - devices for cleaning sections. 

 Partly from my own limited experience and 

 partly from reports, I have come to the con- 

 clusion that it is almost absolutely necessary 

 to have high speed. The revolving disk should 

 travel, perhaps, as fast as a buzz-saw, which is 

 about 3500 ; and the mandrel used by I,. A. 

 Aspinwall, made of emer}-, probably travels 

 not much less than .3000. I feel sure, as Mr. 

 Crane does, that something will be evolved 

 somewhere or somehow between a set of scrap- 

 ing-knives and sandpaper. He, so far as I 

 know, was the first to susgest scraping-knives 

 on the plan he describes ; and if the idea is 

 worthy of a patent he ought by right to have 

 the first chance at it. — Ed.] 



DRAWN-OUT COMBS. 



Does Honey Ripen in Thin Combs Quicker than in 



Thicker Ones ? B. Taylor's .Method of Comb- 



ieveling ; a General Discussion 



sion of the Whole Question. 



BY DR. C. C. MILLER. 



One who has paid any attention to the mat- 

 ter must know that there is great difference of 

 opinion as to using sections containing comb 

 drawn out more or less the previous season. 

 Some say it's a gain of dollars to use them; 

 some say it's a loss. Some say they must be 

 leveled down if the cells exceed % inch in 



