1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



887 



I should like to hear from those who are in 

 position to know — not that I question Mr. 

 York's statement, for no doubt the 28 and 40 

 lbs. is the actual truth concerning the barrels 

 he refers to ; but what I should like to know 

 is, is there this great difference with barrels in 

 ^general f and do oak barrels soak up more 

 honey than barrels and kegs of cypress? and, 

 again, would paraffining correct the trouble 

 with either ? 



After writing the foregoing I found the fol- 

 lowing in the American Bee Journal, going 

 to show that paraffining the barrels will prob- 

 ably remedy the honey-soaking objection. 

 Here is the item, from one of the most exten- 

 sive and prominent bee-keepers of P'lorida: 



The editorial on page 712 give.s only one side of this 

 matter. I wax all my barrels with paraffine, at an 

 ■expense of 10 cents each or less. This prevents soak- 

 ing of honey into the barrel, of which is given an ex- 

 treme case, as also all danger of flavoring the honey 

 -with any wood flavor the barrel might give. 



The objection to tin cans, with us at least, who live 

 so far from the gencal market, is the extra cost. The 

 greater expense of tin, as well as the extra freight on 

 honey in cans over honey in barrels, is very nearly or 

 quite one cent a pound; while the increased price we 

 may obtain for it may be one-fourth cent a pound. 

 The question with us down here is simply one of dol- 

 lars and cents, and barrels seem to have a decided ad- 

 -vantage. O. O. Poppleton. 



Dade Co., Fla., Nov. 14. 



IMPROVEMENTS AT THE HOME OF THE 

 HONEY-BEES; 400-HORSE-PO\VER ENGINE; 



EivECTRic transmission; new ma- 

 chinery; NEW BUIIvDING. 



The unprecedentedly heavy run of business 

 during last spring and early summer, crowd- 

 ing us away beyond our capacity — the break- 

 ing-down of shafting, of belts, the crowding 

 of every thing, in fact, to the breaking-point, 

 have forced us to make some very extensive 

 enlargements and improvements. We have 

 just placed a 400-horse-power engine on its 

 foundation, capable of standing 125 pounds of 

 steam pressure. It is an automatic Harrisburg 

 Standard high-speed engine. 



Heretofore we have bought engines that 

 were too small; and three or four years ago, 

 instead of taking out our 100-horse -power 

 engine and putting in a larger one, we placed 

 alongside of it another engine of 75-horse- 

 power capacity, believing that we should then 

 have ample power for 3'ears to come. But 

 hardly two years had rolled by before we had 

 to speed up both engines and increase boiler 

 pressure to get greater power; and even then 

 both of them groaned under their loads; and 

 during the last season the main drive-belts 

 kept slipping; and to add to our other troubles 

 the shaft to our large engine broke right in 

 the height of our busy season, and this neces- 

 sitated a delay of two weeks. We determined, 

 therefore, that this year we should not only 

 put in one large engine to displace the two 

 small ones, but one large enough to give us a 

 great surplus of power. We probably shall 

 not require at present over 225 horse-power; 

 hut as our business grows we shall have a 

 reserve of 175 horse-power, and, on a pinch, 

 could squeeze out of the engine as much as 

 500 horse-power before it would slacken its 

 speed. 



The line-shafting broke because it was too 

 small and too long; or, to put it another way, 

 it was loaded far beyond our original inten- 

 tions. To help out the shafting, we put in 

 one 100-horse-power dynamo, in addition to 

 the 320-light dynamo installed the last year. 

 Connected with these machines will be some- 

 thing like 10 diflFerent electric motors. Two of 

 them will be 60 horse-power each ; two more, 

 5 horse-power each ; one, 7>'2 ; one, 15 ; two, 

 2 horse-power ; one 3, and one 1 horse. These 

 are stationed in various parts of our manufac- 

 turing plant, and are anywhere from 100 to 

 500 feet from the generators. Instead of long 

 lines of shafting, we have copper wires. Va- 

 rious motors are so placed as to apply the 

 power at that point in the line-shafting where 

 the greatest load falls. This, in effect, in- 

 creases the capacity of the shafting, and yet 

 leaves its size no larger than before. The 

 large generator will be run by the 400-horse- 

 power engine, and the small one by a separate 

 35-horse-power; and by a special arrangement 

 of the switchboard we can run any motor 

 from either generator. 



But the electric motors do not by any means 

 displace the shafting, for the larger part of 

 our power will be applied through the old 

 belts and shafting already installed, inde- 

 pendently of any electric current. 



On the south end of the wood -working shop 

 we have built on an annex, three stories. 

 This is to relieve the congested condition of 

 the floors in the main wood-working building; 

 and this, we calculate, will increase our ca- 

 pacity somewhere about 50 per cent. Last 

 year, during the height of the season the 

 workmen were in the way of each other, to 

 say nothing of the manufactured stock that 

 was piled all over every thing, making it next 

 to impossible for the men to work to advan- 

 tage. 



There is another annex, located on the 

 west side of the building, and in this is 

 installed our large lumber-elevator — large 

 enough to carry a heavy wagon load of lumber, 

 if need be, from the first to the third floor. 

 This was placed out of the main building in 

 order to get room, and in order to avoid the 

 danger of fire from the open hatchways, and 

 the further danger of employees falling into 

 the openings, or of being crushed by the drop- 

 ping of the elevator platform. Such casualties 

 we narrowly escaped last season, and are now 

 in hopes to render them impossible. 



In addition to all this, the engine-room is 

 being enlarged to take in dynamos and other 

 electrical equipment. 



In the boiler-room there is being installed a 

 large 350 horse-power heater to heat the water 

 before it goes into the boilers. 



In the woodworking shops will be placed 

 new wood-working machinery, such as a power 

 feed rip-saw, new molder, power gang section 

 rip-saws, sanders, etc. 



Taking it all in all, the cost of the improve- 

 ments will amount to something like nine 

 thousand dollars. These, together with the 

 fact that we have about $40,000 worth of choice 

 lumber in the yards, will put us where we can 

 take care of next year's trade. 



