Dfcember, 1917 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



959 



several pens which I do not think were even dug. 

 His pen had a few " marbles." 



Mr. Hendricks was " misquoted " by the papers. 

 He says that! he had not tried it in Missouri, nor 

 since 1378, potatoes always being cheap until last 

 yaar. Owing to Mr. Hendricks' health he could not 

 lend to it right. Very truly, 



Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 4, 1917. G. P. Staek. 



ELKCTRICITY FOR WIND POWER. 



The letter below is one of my liappy sur- 

 prises. After what lias been said I think 

 it will be read with interest : 



Mr. A. I. Root: — I saw a notice in Gleanings 

 for October, page 811, asking for information about 

 using wind to generate electricity. I have such a 

 plant, and have used it three years, and it has 

 proven to be a success. I am sending you several 

 pictures of the mill, batteries, switch-board, and 

 motor doing different kinds of work. We also churn, 

 iron, and run a vacuum-cleaner, charge auto batter- 

 ies, etc. We charged 30 of them last winter for 

 different parties. We cleaned .5000 bushels of grain 

 last spring with it. The wheel is 16 feet in di- 

 ameter. The rim is seen on the outside of the 

 wheel which the belt runs on. The generator is on 

 the tower, always in line with the wheel. The belt 

 runs from the wheel over an idler to a three-inch 

 pulley on the generator, and back to the wheel. 

 It is arranged so that if the mill generates more 

 than is being usfd, the rest goes to the batteries; 

 ind if not enough, the lights draw the rest from 

 batteries. If the wind goes down, the lighting 

 work goes on with the help from the batteries. 

 As the wind power is not steady, the voltage is not 

 always the same. The volt-regulator on the switch- 

 boards holds the voltage on the lights always at 32 

 volts. The mill will generate as high as 45 volts, 

 and from 1 to 30 amperes, according to the wind. 



This windmill cannot be used for other work. 

 That and the switch-board for regulating the wind- 

 mill current were invented by George Manikowski, 

 of Wyudmere, N. D. They have a plant there for 

 manufacturing the same. The name of the company 

 is Wind Electric Co., Wyndmere, N. D. They would 

 be glad to send you a full description of it if you 

 will write them. I refer you to the Agricultural 

 College, Fargo, N. D. This young man, received a 

 good part of his electrical education there. 



We farm 2200 acres here in a body, and use a 

 lot of electricity. I have tried the plant for three 

 years, and it has " stood up to the load." They 

 have a better wheel today. 



Mr. Root, you seem like an old friend. I took 

 Gleanings in 1879, 1880, and 1881. At that time 

 I lived in Williarasport, Pa. In the spring' of 1882 

 I came to North Dakota. I thought it was too cold 

 for bees here, but I have never lost the liking for 

 them in all chis time. Two years ago last spring I 

 thought I would try them again and also Gleanings. 

 Jiees do well here in summer, and they winter all 

 right if well packed. My ' bees averaged over 100 

 lbs. to a co'ony this year, mostly on sweet clover. 

 It grows well here, as does alfalfa. I use a lot of 

 both for hay. I know you are a busy man, but I 

 hope you will write and let me know what yoiu 

 think of the windmill outfit. T. A. Williams. 



Rt. 1, Cleveland, N. D., Oct. 15, 1917. 



After reading the above I at once asked 

 for further particulars about charging the 

 thirty auto batteries, and below is his 

 reply : 



We charged the common auto light and ignition 

 batteries. It is so cold here that they have to be 

 stored and recharged about once a month to keep 

 them good. There are no electric cars nearer than 

 Jamestown, so we have never had any experience 



with them. My oldest son is an electrician. He 

 says tho plant is all right for electric-car batteries, 

 and for charging common batteries. He made a 

 switch-board for controlling the amperage, thus 

 governing the amperes b}': the number of lights he 

 turns on ; but for electricity for batteries one would 

 not need this — ^simply charge direct fi'om the plant. 

 Cleveland, N. D. T. A. Williams. 



In regard to beekeeping in the Dakotas, 

 I have remarked before that I have for some 

 years owned half a square mile near 

 Mitchell, S. D.; but I had somehow gotten 

 the impression that there was not very 

 much for bees in that region. Our good 

 friend Williams, however, tells us he aver- 

 aged over 100 lbs. per colony, and I pre- 

 sume this comes about because of the intro- 

 duction of sweet clover and alfalfa. 



In regard to the Wind Electiic Company, 

 Wyndmere, N. D., I am trying to get them 

 to ship me an outfit to my Florida home. 

 The generator is on to]? of the to\vei' 

 close to the windmill, and the power comes 

 down to the ground by just a simple wire, 

 tlius avoiding a great lot of useless machin- 

 ery, friction, ete> 



Later: — BradentoAvn, Fla., Nov. 13, 1917. 

 I have just ordered an outfit such as de- 

 scribed above; and the inventor, Mr. Mani- 

 kowski, is to come down here and install it. 



" THE AIRLINE BUZZER." 



The above is the title of a little sheet 

 startled by oui" office people; and tlie editor, 

 Mr. Garges, asked me to give a little talk 

 on how to succeed in business. Well, inas- 

 much as tlie Airline Buzzer is all printed 

 on one side of a sheet of paper 10 by 7 my 

 thoughts must, of course, be " boiled down," 

 and here it is: 



A message from a. I. ROOT. 



I have been asked to give a little advice briefly 

 as to how to succeed in business, etc. This re- 

 minds me that in olden times, in reply to the 

 nuestion " How to get a long well " the answer was, 

 " Dig it deep." 



Well, my advice to the young people, both boys 

 and girls, starting out in life's business is to " dig 

 it deep." Whatever you go into, make yourself 

 master of all that has been done or is being" done 

 along your line of work. 



When I started out to make bee culture my busi- 

 ness for life, I hunted up all the bee-books published 

 in America. Then I did the best I could to get 

 hold of the bee literature of the whole wide world. 

 When the only copy I could get of the celebrated 

 Huber was printed in German, I hired a German 

 schoolma'am to read it to me and translate it into 

 English. I well remember the puzzled e.xpression 

 on her face when she asked me if I had ever heard 

 of anything like " bee-cradles." At first I was al- 

 most as much in the dark as my teacher ; but pretty 

 soon T said, "Oh, yes I queen-cell." Then she too 

 smiled and said, " Yes, I guess that is it." 



Well, now, my good friends, my advice i.s, if you 

 wish to succeed in aniithiitff you happen to work at, 

 study it up night and day. Get to be master of all 

 that has been done in that line in the whole world. 

 In other words, " Dig it deep." 



