1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



477 



not know whether your arms are "pigeon- 

 toed " or not; but it seems to me very awk- 

 ward, at least, to hold the smoker with the 

 fingers next to the smoker-cup. If you sit 

 down, as you explained, the axis of your 

 arm will be on the line with the top edge of 

 the smoker-bellows. Then surely you want 

 your thumb next to the fire-cup, and your 

 fingers on the outside of the bellows. Now, 

 then, suppose you straighten up; your smo- 

 ker hanging as it were on a pivot between 

 your thumb and fingers will always point 

 toward the combs without twisting the 

 wrist. The thumb next to the stove will 

 come more natural if you try it that way. 

 —Ed.] 



I THINK — and perhaps " the wish is fa- 

 ther to the thought " — that I may live to see 

 the day when it will be cheaper to use an 

 automobile than a horse for visiting out- 

 apiaries. Can't you encourage us just a 

 wee bit, Mr. Editor, by telling us that you 

 can get a good auto to-day for a good deal 

 less money than you could a few years ago? 

 It would be just fine to be all through with 

 the anxiety about horses scaring and being 

 stung. And yet — and yet — I'm afraid I 

 couldn't read most of the way on an auto 

 as I do now. [I do not know that I can 

 give you a great deal of encouragement that 

 your ardent wish will be gratified. If you 

 will eat lots of beefsteak, and do not work 

 too hard, I think you will see the day when 

 you can actually buy an automobile for the 

 price you pay for a horse and buggy. Al- 

 ready the operating expense is far below 

 that of a horse. We hear a great deal 

 about expensive repairs, and they are ex- 

 pensive if one does not understand some- 

 thing of machinery. The process of sim- 

 plifying the auto is going on all the time, 

 and the repair item will grow less. Already 

 there is a very good machine offered at re- 

 tail for $375; quite a number at $550, and 

 a host of them at $750. The cost of operat- 

 ing a gasoline-vehicle is about a half a 

 cent a mile, of the run-about type. Figure 

 up the mileage of j'our horse, cost of keep- 

 ing, including the labor every day, or two 

 or three times a day, whether you use it or 

 not, and see where the figures are. When 

 the automobile stops, the only expense is 

 the interest on the investment, and repairs, 

 and these last may or may not be a large 

 item. It can lie idle six months. My auto 

 is kept in a little room, and sometimes dur- 

 ing bad weather it stands for days without 

 any one going near it; and yet it is ready 

 for me almost instantly when I am readj^ 

 for that. For example, Mr. J. B. Hains, 

 of queen-rearing fame, the man who got up 

 the Hains feeder, was visiting us a few 

 days ago. We suddenly discovered that his 

 car was due in three or four minutes, half 

 a mile away, and he had several awkward 

 packages to carry with him. It did not oc- 

 cur to me for a moment that I owned an au- 

 tomobile. We sent a man along to help 

 him, when it struck me I might as well get 

 out my machine, w^hich I did instanter. I 

 caught up with him with his bundles, and 



rushed him up to the car in time to catch it. 

 He was out of breath, and tired, close on to 

 70, and a rim to catch the car would have 

 been a severe tax on him. What a relief it 

 was to him to be picked up and whirled up 

 town in a jift'y I 



Now, answering your question a little 

 more specifically, the price of autombiles 

 has dropped some $200 or $300, on run- 

 abouts, thi^ year, already. Millions of 

 money are being poured into the industry. 

 It will not be long before Yankee genius 

 will be able to turn out a machine so cheap- 

 ly that every one can have one who can af- 

 ford a horse and buggy and a barn. No, 

 throw the barn out of the account. But 

 whether the automobile will be able to go 

 over any roads that a horse and buggy can 

 is doubtful. Good roads and automobiles 

 must go hand in hand. There is no use in 

 buying an automobile unless you can have 

 better roads than where the mud is half 

 axle-deep. — Ed. ] 



yfeighbonsjieldj 



)j 



Earthquakes, floods, volcanoes' blasts, 



Drouths, and famine sore, 

 Massacres of men by men, 



Now sadden every shore. 



Albert Blume, a young farmer living near 

 Clinton, Penn., had a hive of bees in his 

 cellar. It became too damp in the cellar, 

 and he moved the hive to his bedroom. The 

 other morning the bees swarmed, and be- 

 fore Blume, who was clad only in his night- 

 clothes, could escape he was stung about 

 the head, face, and body. 



The Journal of Antiquities, of Stuttgart, 

 Germany, reports that, among other objects 

 of curiosity found in the ruins of Pompeii, 

 destroyed in the year 79, is a hive filled 

 with honey so well preserved in the cells 

 that the observer can hardly believe it is 

 not fresh. Honey 182+ years old ought to 

 be considered ripe enough, sure. 

 \b 



The Leipzig Bee Journal says the wounds 

 caused by bee-stings should not be neglect- 

 ed. When a bee-mein is stung he pulls the 

 sting from the w^ound, and generally the 

 event is forgotten. He often has no time for 

 a nearer investigation and disinfection of 

 the wound. Recently such neglect was 

 nearly fatal in the case of a certain bee- 

 keeper. A Mr. K., while hiving a swarm, 

 was stung in the little finger of the right 

 hand. As a general thing, after the remov- 

 al of the sting, he allowed the trouble to 



