180 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1. 



have said before, bees outdoors, at least, can 

 stand severe cold for a week very comfortably ; 

 but when it lasts two or three weeks, or a 

 month, the effect is apt to be (not always) dis- 

 astrous. After weeks of zero weaiher or ten 

 or fifteen degrees warmer, with high winds, 

 I have seen how the bees have eaten away all 

 their stores within an inch or so of the clus 

 ter, but which, on account of the low temper- 

 ature, was not able to move to the stores, and 

 consequently starved. When these warm days 

 come on, the cluster is broken up and re-form- 

 ed right over or near the stores, and then it is 

 ready for another cold streak. 



Of course, bees in g')od warm frost proof 

 cellars where the temperature goes neither 

 very high nor very low, the weather outside 

 has very little to do with their wintermg. If 

 I were to have a bee-cellar at all I should want 

 one of just this sort ; and it strikes me that 

 the Bingham repository illustrated elsewhere 

 in this issue is the best that has yet been de- 

 viseil ; first, because it is the cheapest ; and, 

 second, because it gives the very best results 

 obtainable. If there were a living-room above 

 the frost proof floor Bingham could hardly se- 

 cure as good results. Tnat beiu" the case, 

 house cellars are not ideal repositories. 



SOLAR WAX-KXTRACTORS IN COLORADO ; HOW 

 R. C. AIKIN MAKES AND USES THEM. 



After the Colorado convention Mr. Rauch- 

 fuss and myself spent Thanksgiving with Mr. 

 Aikin, president of the Colorado State Bee- 

 keepers' Association, a prominent and influ- 

 ential bee-keeper, and a prolific writer on bee 

 lore. On this occasion we inspected with 

 pleasure a number of his methods and devices. 



There are a great many things that I desire 

 to say in connection with Mr. Aiken and his 

 methods ; but at this time I wish to speak of 

 his mammoth solar wax-extractor, constructed 

 along somewhat different lines from those 

 usually made. With my ever faithful kodak 

 I managed to get Mr. Frank Rauchfuss (sec- 

 retarj' of the organization just named), with 

 a great deal of persuasion, amounting almost 

 to a command, to stand near the extractor, or 

 what looks like a greenhouse. He finally 

 obeyed, and then I snapped the kodak as he 

 stood there. After a little Mr. Aikin came 

 out, and showed us how he operated it. 



"Now," said I, "Mr. Aikin, I am sorry I 

 did not get you in the picture. Please take 

 your position and I will take another snap 

 shot." He demurred, but finally acquiesced, 

 and the view was taken. Both pictures are 

 shown on page 172, and testify to the general 

 excellence and sharpness of detail that one 

 can secure with a No. 4 folding kodak— an in- 

 strument that I believe permits of a larger 

 range of subjects and greater variety of uses, 

 than any other camera made. 



Now, then, for the solar wax-extractor. As 

 will be seen, it looks very much like a small 

 greenhouse. In fact, it is built a good deal 

 on the same plan. The floor or pan of the 

 extractor, so to speak, is built right over a 

 brick oven, so that not only solar but artificial 

 heat may be utilized. 



"Why," said I, " Mr. Aikin, what is the 

 sense of having artificial heat when you have 

 so many days of bright strong sunshine, with 

 an atmosphere so clear that there is neither 

 mist nor rain a greater portion of the year? " 



"Well," said Mr. Aikin, " try it for your- 

 self. You will discover that you can not only 

 do better work, but secure much more wax 

 out of the dirt and refuse by such an arrange- 

 ment than you can by either source of heat 

 independently. The heat from the sun acts 

 only on the top of the mass. The melted wax 

 runs down and lodges in the refuse, collects, 

 and stays there. By m}' plan I apply a gentle 

 heat beneath by means of the brick flue, or 

 oven as you see. The heat from above and 

 the heal from beloiv cause almost every parti- 

 cle of the wax to flow out of the refuse, and 

 run into the pans in front." 



Then he took nie inside and showed me his 

 brick flue, or oven, by which ne supplied arti- 

 ficial heat from beneath. 



"Well, now," I said, "if such a combina- 

 tion arrangement is a good thing for Colorado, 

 with iis bjautiful perpetual sunshine, it must 

 be much more effective in Ohio, where v\e 

 have days and days of cloudy sky, of mist, of 

 rain, and of dew." 



" Exactly," said Mr. Aikin ; " and, as you 

 see, this cheaply constructed affair is built on 

 the ordinary plan of a small greenhouse, using 

 large and small sizes of glass, such as one can 

 get cheaply. I built the whole thing myself, 

 even including t!ie building in the rear." 



' ' You seem to be a sort ot jack at all trades, ' ' 

 said I. 



" Well, a bee-keeper has to be, or at least / 

 have to be," said Mr. Aikin, with a smile. 

 " There are days when I can not do any thing 

 else, and I might as well do it myself as to 

 employ an expensive carpenter or a mason ; 

 and then," he added with a twinkle, " I get a 

 lot of fun out of it in the bargain. ' 



The building in the rear is a sort of work- 

 shop located on one end of the apiary. In 

 fact, a few empty hives can be seen in the 

 foreground just in front of Mr. Rauchfuss, in 

 the lower picture. 



I omitted to explain that the wax is diverted 

 to one side as it runs down the inclined pan, 

 as seen in the picture in the opening, then 

 flows from one pan to another a la Rauchfuss, 

 as was explained on page 769 of last year. 



I am getting a collection of pictures of peo- 

 ple just as they appear " every day around 

 home." Our readers have already seen a 

 specimen that I took of my father ; and it is 

 pronounced by every one natural, because he 

 is not " fixed up for company." Mr. Aikin, 

 in the picture above, hardly suspected mj' de- 

 signs until I had captured him as the picture 

 shows in the top view. As to Mr. Rauchfuss, 

 I have had trouble with him a number of 

 times because he would not obey orders — that 

 is, get in front of the camera when I wanted 

 him to ; but I caught him a number of times, 

 and now I am going to have my revenge hy 

 showing him up to the world in his true light. 

 I shall have more to say of him and Aikin 

 again at. another time ; indeed, I have been 

 Aikin to do so. 



