510 



GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JUI.Y 1. 



sure to say that those dealings have been of 

 the most satisfactory kind. When we were 

 drawing up contracts, Mr. Howard, so far 

 from insisting on certain features that would 

 be to his advantage, actually went so far as to 

 suggest certain clauses that would be to our 

 advantage and a possible disadvantage to him. 

 Yes, he is the soul of honor, and a man whom 

 it is a pleasure to know, in more ways than 

 one. 



He is the sole manufacturer of the Weed 

 foundation in England, and having all the 

 latest machinery, he is capable of turning out 

 a product that will equal that turned out at 

 Medina under the direct supervision of Mr. 

 Weed himself. 



If there were more men in the w^orld like 

 Mr. Howard, there would be less strife and 

 more brotherly love; therefore it gives me 

 peculiar pleasure to introduce our hrotlier 

 from " Merrie England." — Ed.] 



TOO MUCH HONEY IN THE HIVE. 



BY HARRY LATHROP. 



As a rule, bee-keepers are not troubled with 

 too much honey ; but there are times when 

 the brood-chamber may have too much for the 

 best interests of the colony. In the earlier 

 days of the extractor some writer advised to 

 " keep the extractor going," and added that 

 it would even pay to extract from the brood- 

 chamber, and throw the honey away in order 

 to give the queen room. If bees are properly 

 handled there will be very little extracting 

 from the brood-chamber. The ideal condition 

 for colonies in the spring in this climate is to 

 have them as my Browntown yard was this 

 year ; that is, come out of winter quarters 

 quite heavy in stores, breed up rapidly, con- 

 sume the honey in the combs and replace it 

 with brood, all stores to be consumed, and 

 hive completely full of brood at the time 

 honey begins to yield in excess of the daily 

 consumption, at which time supers are added. 



There is another condition I do not like, 

 but one which I find in my Monroe apiary — a 

 condition in which the colonies come out 

 heavy with honey but rather weak in bees. 

 Colonies build up slowly, and, instead of 

 reducing the amount of honey in the combs, 

 add to it from early sources. In such cases 

 this honey must be promptly removed or the 

 colony will not amount to miich. 



My plan is to remove. full combs and insert 

 sheets of foundation in the center of the 

 brood-chamber. The full combs removed, I 

 sometimes use, to contract, brood-chambers in 

 which I hive colonies to be run for comb 

 honey. A full comb of honey is as good as a 

 dummy for that purpose. 



I was quite interested a few years ago in 

 Mr. Boardman's plan of feeding up in the 

 spring, and two years ago last winter I spent 

 a very pleasant day visiting at his home, and 

 conferring with him in regard to it. I ex- 

 pected to try his method, and got a lot of 

 feeders ready, but I have to confess that at 

 this time I have had no chance to do any 



spring feeding since then, for the reason that 

 I got all the honey I wanted, and sometimes a 

 little more than necessary, from the fields. 

 For my part I am glad of a condition which 

 enables me to dispense with all feeding. 

 Browntown, Wis., June 1. 



THE BICYCLE SECTION-CLEANER. 



How to Make One. 



BY ARTHUR HOWE. 



Mr. Root: — Inclosed you will find a drawing 

 of the section cleaner and polisher I use, 

 which is, I think, far superior to the Aspinwall 

 or Golden. It has two wheels, as you can 

 see. One is covered with No. 1)4 sandpaper, 

 for cleaning the rougher propolis from the 

 section. The other is covered with emery 

 cloth to finish with, if one wishes to polish 

 the sections as nice as when they came from 

 the factorv. 



This cleaner, as you will see, is made by 

 using an old bic3'cle for the power, which is 

 geared so that one pedal revolution equals a 

 wheel 60 inches in diameter. The wheel 

 above is an old sewing-machine master-wheel, 

 set in ball-bearings, to which is bolted a 4><- 

 inch pulley. The belt from the bicycle- wheel 

 is crossed and passed over this pulle}-, which 

 gives it, with the sewing-machine wheel, 14-3 

 revolutions for each pedal revolution of the 

 bicycle. The sewing-machine wheel is 12 

 inches in diameter, and is connected by belt 

 to a "ii^-inch pulley on the polishing-lathe, 

 which gears the lathe to 70 1 revolutions for 

 each pedal revolution. Multiply this 70| by 

 the number of times one can pedal a bicycle 

 per minute, and you will have some idea of the 

 speed of this polishing-wheel. I have tested 

 it with a speed-indicator, and got 70U0 revolu- 

 tions per minute. 



When polishing sections I run it at from 

 1200 to 1800 revolutions per minute, which is 

 a very easy gait. The cleaning- wheel one can 

 make as large in diameter as he wishes or has 

 sandpaper to cover. I make this wheel two 

 inches face ; first cover the face of this wheel 

 with two or three thicknesses of felt, then 

 cover with sandpaper. The felt serves as a 

 cushion under the sandpaper, making it wear 



