1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



853 



Where the young experimenter in bee cul- 

 ture has moved the hive only a few rods awa}', 

 or possibly on ihe other side of the house, 

 these lost bees will sometimes find their home; 

 and, oh what frantic demonstrations they 

 make when the home !s found! One who has 

 learned to imderstand bee-talk can readily 

 take it all in. The half-chilled little chaps 

 set up such a hum of rejoicing that it seems 

 to warm their chilly little toes ; and what a 

 stampede takes place among their fellows 

 when they hear the joyful sound, and hasten 

 to the spot ! It is said that bees that have 

 once wandered about, lost for an hour or two, 

 when they do find their home will not soon 

 miss it again. This may or may not be true; 

 but if the change in the location has not been 

 too great they usually, after a few days — per- 

 haps a week or more — become accustomed to 

 the new spot. Some will go every day for 

 some lime, and hover around the old spot, 

 apparently forgetting the hive has been moved, 

 but the new spot will be found quicker this 

 time. You see this home is of more impor- 

 tance to a honey-bee than to the rest of ani- 

 mated nature. Its very life depends on get- 

 ting back into that busy crowd. 



Well, I have been having some experiences 

 of late that have made me think of the lost 

 bee. More cares and worries have been rest- 

 ing on my shoulders during the past two 

 weeks than for years past. During the sum- 

 mer and fall I had a long vacation, or two of 

 them if you choose. I have sometimes thought 

 they were providential in giving me health, 

 strength, and endurance to carry me over the 

 past two weeks. Perhaps I should explain a 

 little to my friends who read these Home 

 Papers. You have been told repeatedly of the 

 immense amount of business that settled down 

 upon us during the year that is just past. 

 Our buildings were too small, our machinery 

 was inadequate; our boilers, engines, shafting, 

 and every thing else were tested to their 

 utmost limit to enable us to get through the 

 season's work; and, even during the fall, car- 

 load orders have come so thick and fast that 

 we find it next to impossible to shut down 

 long enough to put in a 400 - horse - power 

 engine. 



Now, for some years past, as you may know, 

 I have been letting my son and son-in-law 

 (there are two of the latter now, and I think I 

 may say there is a providence in that also) 

 take charge of most improvements. In fact, 

 I have not felt able, either physically or men- 

 tally, to shoulder the problems that come up 

 constantly from enlarging our business. All 

 along through the fall and summer we were 

 discussing electric transmission as a means of 

 conveying power to different parts of our 

 premises. In fact, we some months ago in- 

 stalled a 30-horse-power dynamo, and convey- 

 ed the power in several different directions to 

 test it. We first ran our entire machine-shop 

 by means of a wire scarcely larger than a 

 knitting-needle. Then we hitched another 

 motor to our big printing press, and, later, to 

 a small press. The pressman simply turns on 

 the current when he wants to use the press, 

 and at all other times there is no rattling of 



belting and shafting. The composing-room 

 is quiet until somebody wants to use the press. 

 This is not only a saving in expense in trans- 

 mitting the power, but there is a big saving in 

 using no power to move useless machinery ex- 

 cept at the very moment when the printing is 

 being done. Then we use another little motor 

 for pumping water from a well 600 feet dis- 

 tant. On the wa}' to the pump, the wire is 

 run down into a warehouse, and still another 

 motor there operates the elevator ; and the 

 little machine does its work perfectly in haul- 

 ing up great loads when its services are want- 

 ed, and at other times stands quiet and still. 

 We had practically demonstrated that electric 

 transmission is the tiling for carrying power to 

 distant points on our premises. 



Well, when it became desirable to locate 

 our largest planer, requiring something like 

 40 horse power, at the further end of our saw- 

 room, right adjoining the lumber-yard, the 

 boys asked me what I thought about electric 

 transmission. You know electricity has al- 

 ways been a craze with me. I said, " Get all 

 our ranch into this sort of transmission as 

 speedily as possible," without giving the mat- 

 ter very much thought. Ernest said one day 

 it would cost a thousand dollars, while the 

 old-fashioned way of conveying power would 

 not cost half as much. I said, " All right; go 

 ahead." After a while it wanted S1500; then 

 §2000; then $2500 ; then .$3000 to equip nearly 

 the whole factory, anticipating our future needs 

 so M-e would not need to tear down and build 

 larger again in a few }'ears. Well, after the ma- 

 chinery was ordered, walls taken down, and 

 things turned upside down generally, for the 

 new apparatus, we were appalled to find that 

 the switch-board alone for all these motors and 

 dynamos would cost over .5250 — an amount 

 that would almost have purchased a steam- 

 engine to do the work right on the spot beside 

 the planer. Then an electrical expert said the 

 cvires alone to convey the power to the requi- 

 site spot would cost $ijo.'^ Somebody who 

 rather favored the old plan of working said 

 the copper wire itself would cost enough to 

 buy two belts to transmit the same horse- 

 power, and we began to be sick of our under- 

 taking. The heaviest part of the re.sponsibili- 

 ty devolved upon myself as president of the 

 institution, because I said continually, "Go 

 ahead." People who had other kinds of 

 machinery for sale— rope transmission, etc. — 

 said a quarter of the money would have equip- 

 ped us nicely, only that electricity is the 

 fashion, and high-toned, etc. We went all 

 over the figures. Different authorities de- 

 clared that belting would not be satisfactory 

 in the end — that we had better put in machin- 

 ery right while we were about it. 



Let me pause right here long enough to say 

 that I am still satisfied that blunders are often 



* A little further explanation may be needed here. 

 Our apparatus is run by an exceedingly low voltage 

 on account of the danger from fire in a wood-working 

 establishment. For instance, our dynamo gives a cur- 

 rent of 110 volts, and hence it does not endanger hu- 

 man life. Usually, in transmitting power, they go up 

 2.50 or .500 volts; and the current that goes from Niag- 

 ara Falls to the city of Buffalo is somewhere about 

 10,000 volts intensity. The higher the voltage, the 

 smaller the wire and the less the expense of wire. 



