1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



385 



Well, I'll tell you. If you use a solid surface 

 you must take pains in pushing your section 

 over the wheel or you will see it jump and 

 tremble; then look out for a cracked comb; 

 but if you are cautious it will be all right; but 

 with the belt you may pick up a section, clasp 

 it between both hands, and dab it down on 

 the flat surface between the wheels or rollers 

 crosswise, and the belt gives under its light 

 pressure, and no jar is perceptible; but a for- 

 ward pulling is observed when the belt is 

 revolving briskly; but, don't hold the section 

 there more than long enough to merely touch, 

 or it will have to be put vdth the unmarket- 

 able honey. Thus the four sides and edges 

 can be gone over while one side is cleaned by 

 a solid surface if pretty badly stuck up with 

 propolis, or that's my experience with the two 

 machines. They can be constructed of a 

 simple form, thus fitting them up at a price 

 that no bee- keeper could afford to do without 

 one; for the time has come when, as Mr. Root 

 saj^s, the future market will demand a box 

 entirely clear of stain and propolis, which 

 only voices the views of Batterson & Son, 

 Buffalo. I here quote an extract from a letter 

 received a few days ago. After compliment- 

 ing us on the cleaner the writer says it is a 

 fact that honey-sections must be clean and 

 bright, or we can not begin to obtain the 

 market value for the honey, even if it is choice. 

 Now, after such prediction, coming from such 

 authority as the above, would it not be wis- 

 dom for bee-keepers to consider the problem 

 presented to them, especially when contem- 

 plating the shipping of honey to the city mar- 

 kets .'' I could give quite a number of extracts 

 from letters just received from prominent bee- 

 keepers and dealers in honey; but the above 

 should be sufficient. 



Reinersville, O., Feb. 16. 



[Almost simultaneously with the reception of 

 the article above I received another one re- 

 garding the same machine, from Miss Fitch, 

 who is the expert operator of the section- 

 cleaners, and who, I understand, is a young 

 lady whose parents have been near neighbors 

 of Mr. Golden for years, and who has helped 

 Mr. Golden in his work among the bees. 



With regard to the machine itself, I will 

 state that we have it here now in our shop ; 

 but owing to the fact that the bearings are of 

 wood, and the driving mechanism of wood, it 

 runs rather harder than it ought to. But this 

 difficulty can be easily overcome by making 

 certain parts of metal, and otherwise strength- 

 ening up the frame and the treadle motion. 

 —Ed.] 



THE GOLDEN EUREKA SECTION - CLEANER. 



Does Soft Propolis Gum Up the Belt ? 



BY FI,ORA FITCH. 



models, and we are confident the E^ureka will 

 prove the most satisfactory in every respect. 

 It is easy to operate, and does the work very 

 satisfactorily. However, it is not best to have 

 the belt too tight, and one can govern this to 

 suit by pressing on the section as the case re- 

 quires. The machine surely will be welcomed 

 by the women-folks and grandpas who have 

 to clean sections by the old method of scrape, 

 scrape, scrape. 



We have received many letters in the past 

 three weeks, inquiring what the machine will 

 cost. All say they will want a machine, so 

 you see the young bee-keepers believe in pro- 

 gression ; and it won't be very long, Mr. Ed- 

 itor, before it will be said by all bee-keepers 



Mr. Root : — We ship you to-day our latest 

 and best model of section-cleaning machine, 

 the Eureka. Mr. Golden has made and thor- 

 oughly tested four machines of different 



MISS FLORA FITCH. 



all over the land, that the belt section-cleaner 

 is one of the greatest blessings the bee-keeper 

 has, as it is a great labor-saving device ; and 

 not only so but the apiarist can put his honey 

 on the market in a perfectly clean section. 



Now as to cleaning propolis from sections, 

 we have set old sections in a warm room until 

 the propolis has become soft and sticky, and, 

 when applied to the cleaner, they would stick 

 to the belt ; but when the heavy portions were 

 removed with a knife the sections were quick- 

 ly cleaned without any gumming of the belt. 

 But if a section has any honey on its surface, 

 and is applied to the belt, it will gum it. 



All bee-keepers know there is a great differ- 

 ence in propolis ; some kinds seem to become 

 brittle as soon as the air strikes them, even in 

 the warmest weather, while other kinds re- 

 main soft and tough until quite cool. 



Last season, when taking off honey, i. e., 

 when lifting the sections from the crates, we 

 usually clipped off any clumps of propolis 

 with an old knife ; and if some honey was 

 wanted we would set a crate in the cellar over 

 night and clean them in the morning, when 

 we were never troubled by the belt gumming. 

 However, after the season closes and the pro- 

 polis becomes hard, by using coarse sand-belt 

 revolving at a high speed, holding the section 

 crosswise of the grain of the wood, there is no 



