Mav 11, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



293 



combs, and is short of bees for the tield-work. Of course. 

 in other localities, where the white clover is plenty, and the 

 honey-flow is early and stronjj:, a small hive can be used to 

 goodadvantage, and the bee-keeper who has never used one 

 of our mammoth hives will be pleased with his small hive. 



But take a hive holding 10 frames 10 inches or more 

 deep, and IS inches long each, and with a good queen — if 

 there is any honey to be had, you will be very apt to get 

 your share of it, and you will not have to lie awake nights 

 figuring how to have your colony strong enough just at the 

 rig'ht time. Your only wonder will be at the stream of bees 

 as they come and go at the entrance of the hive, how the 

 box can contain them. 



I have kept bees for several years, and never extracted 

 anv honey, and I hear very much said about small hives be- 

 ing the best for comb honey, but I know the value of large 

 hives and very strong colonies of the very best strain of 

 Italian bees, for I think that there is as much difference in 

 the quality of honey from dift'erent strains of bees as there 

 is in the quality of butter from dift'erent cows that are fed 

 in the same pasture. I am foolish enough to think that the 

 bees "make ■' honey, adding an animal oil to the nectar 

 while thej- pump it in and out of the cells of the comb. But 

 of course I know they cannot change it very much in one of 

 those very fast flows, as from linden or clover. 



Republic Co., Kan. 



The Long'er Tongue Gets the Best Nectar. 



BY A. B. BATES. 



THERE may be perplexities in the communication I wrote 

 on page 19, and there may be something like discord- 

 ance in the third paragraph that seems fatal to the 

 facts embodied in the article, as Mr. Bevins claims on page 

 134, but I am frank to admit I am unable to see it. 



If I am correct in the statement, that nectar is heavier 

 than water, I am also correct in the statement that the 

 richer of the saccharine substances settles to the bottom of 

 the flower-cup. 



Since Mr. Bevins does not doubt the superior quality of 

 the Italian product, but seeks to find the cause, I will refer 

 him to the bee's tongue as the only cause that seems to me 

 possible. While some blacks may have longer tongues 

 than others of their own class, and while the ver^' best of 

 this black race of bees may equal or excel the poorest of the 

 Italians, it does not signify that the Italians as a class do 

 not excel largely the blacks as a class. 



The tongue of the bee is certainly its most important 

 factor in the work of honey-gathering. The long-tongue 

 strain, in my opinion, lives longer, stores more honey, and 

 of a rich quality in flavor and in sweetness than does the 

 short-tongue strain ; and when we find a colony of bees sur- 

 passing another with like strength and opportunities, in 

 quantitv, we may find like excellency in the quality of their 

 honey also ; and had we the ability or means to do so, we 

 might locate the cause in the tongue. 



Now, Mr, Bevins (I suspect you being a member of that 

 order that you say is seeking more light), let us reason to- 

 gether, and it may be that the hood-winks may fall from our 

 eyes. 



When there is a meager secretion of nectar it remains 

 in the bottom of the flower-cup, and if the bee's tongue is 

 too short to reach it, you know the result. If the bees can 

 barely reach it without any margin to go on, they must 

 visit so many flowers before they can fill their honey-sacs 

 that their pent-up energy, that constitutes their lives, is ex- 

 hausted, and the honey stored being gathered from the 

 watery part of the nectar is inferior both in flavor and in 

 sweetness. The longer-tongue strain being- able to reach to 

 the bottom of the flower-cup fill their honey-sacs from a 

 few blooms, with a richer quality, and with probably less 

 exhausted nature, less wing-splitting, etc. 



Regarding the flower-cup that is inverted or turned 

 downward, how do they compare with those that turn up- 

 ward, for it is the general bloom that we are to look to and 

 not the exception ? I have not been as observing as I 

 should be, but I believe the basswood bloom is turned 

 downward, and in the nectar-secretion by this bloom all 

 strains have the same tongue ability, and should you find 

 the quality to be the same coming from this source, and 

 that the quantity is altogether conditioned to the popula- 

 tion of the colony, will you not believe that the long tongue 

 is the cause of the superior quality of honey stored from the 

 general bloom in favor of the Italians? 



Franklin Co., Mo. 



Section-Cleaning- Machines— Some Experiments. 



BY C. DAVENPORT. 



AS I have spent considerable money and time in making 

 and experimenting with section-cleaning machines, I 

 will describe the results and conclusions I have arrived 

 at in regard to them, for by doing so it may save others 

 time and expense in going over the same ground. 



In the first place, tho, it seems locality must make a 

 difi'erence as to the kind of propolis gathered, for sand- 

 paper of any kind, no matter how fast the disk or wheel is 

 revolved, is entirely impracticable for removing such glue 

 as is put on sections in this locality, either when it is first 

 gathered or years afterwards. 



Some time ago an article in the Bee-Keepers' Review 

 described how the writer met with success by using an 

 emery wheel. While there are, if I am right, about 20 

 kinds or grades of emery wheels made, none of them would, 

 I think, be of any account for removing such propolis as we 

 have here. I tried three different grades of them, and they 

 were worse than worthless, if I may use such a term. If 

 the glue was soft the wheels gummed up ; if hard, the 

 emery had but very little effect on it. I also made moulds, 

 and cast a number of wheels out of difl'erent kinds of sand 

 and cement; these were all worthless so far as removing 

 propolis was concerned. 



I next took a wooden roller about 2}i inches in diam- 

 eter and set steel knives in it about J 6 of an inch apart, and 

 had them project about 1/7 of an inch above the wood. 

 These knives were pieces of thin sheet-steel, and were let 

 into the wood by means of saw-kerfs, and fastened and held 

 in place by cement. A disk of this kind, if made accurately, 

 and hungso it revolves true, will, if run very fast, remove 

 propolis from sections very rapidly. It never clogs up, even 

 if the glue is so soft that it is difficult to clean the sections 

 by hand, tho when the edges of a section are held against 

 it, care has to be taken or the knives will catch on the cor- 

 ners and instantly tear the whole section to pieces. 



I also made a perforated-tin disk, as described by a cor- 

 respondent in the Bee Journal, and altho this would re- 

 move propolis quite rapidly, it was not nearly so eft'ective 

 as the knives. Tin being such a soft metal it soon wore 

 down so smooth that it was of no account. Tho it is con- 

 siderable work to perforate tin for this purpose by hand, it 

 could no doubt be done very cheaply by machinery, but I 

 feel sure that no really practical machine can be made to 

 run by foot-power, that is, on the same principle as a sew- 

 ing machine. 



I tried sewing machines and a small turning-lathe, 

 which was about the same thing, and there is not power 

 enough to do eft'ective work. I tried putting on a heavy 

 balance-wheel, and while this was considerable help it fell 

 far short of being enough so that practical work could be 

 done As probablv all "know, foot-power as applied to a 

 sewing-machine treadle, is what its name implies— simply 

 foot-power generated by the moving of one or both feet up 

 and down. But there is another kind of foot-power that is 

 obtained on a different principle, by the use of a long 

 treadle that has a long sweep up and down, so that instead 

 of being able to applv only actual foot-power the weight of 

 the whole body can be brought to bear on the treadle. I 

 saw and ran a' large turning-lathe of this kind in a machine 

 shop a short time ago, and I should judge that the power 

 was about twice what could be obtained from a sewing- 

 machine treadle, and more easily obtained at that, as nearly 

 as I can tell from the picture of it. The Barnes' saw has 

 this same kind of power, and if I am right in my estimate, 

 that this kind of treadle gives double the power a sewing- 

 machine treadle does, it will be ample to clean sections, and 

 with power enough a disk or roller set with knives, as I 

 have described, will clean at least three while one could be 

 cleaned bv hand ; and the roller could be long enough so 

 that one end could be covered with perforated tin, or some- 

 thing similar for cleaning- the edges. 



If I have a crop this season I shall give the matter 

 another thoro trial, for when I have a crop the item of 

 cleaning sections is no small one with me, for here 500 sec- 

 tions a dav is more, on an average, than one person will 

 clean. I have myself cleaned 600 a day. I have also workt 

 just as hard on 400 a dav— it depends upon the amount and 

 kind of glue there is on "them, and here the amount depends 

 largely upon the character of the flow. If it is scant and 

 irregular, much more propolis will be gathered than when 

 the yield is free and regular. The kind of surplus arrange- 

 ment also has some influence. Sections from T tins are 

 harder to clean than those from section-holders. The bot- 

 toms of the former will be badly stuck up and soiled even 



