1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



lOOS 



it will be well for bee-keepers to rig up 

 a buzz-saw or a horse-power. The old ad- 

 age, "Don't monkej' with a buzz-saw," is 

 good advice for nine men out of ten. There 

 are verj' few people who have mechanical 

 ingenuity' enough to run a buzz-saw without 

 coming to grief. If they do not saw their 

 fingers and maim themselves for life, they 

 may do very bad work. Mr. Hutchinson 

 got up a home-made buzz siiw j-ears ago, 

 because he is a natural genius and a fine 

 mechanic. But where there is one W. Z. 

 H. there are thousands who do not know 

 even the A B C — much less the W Z's. 



A short time ago we published a letter 

 from one of our friends who had bought a 

 buzz-saw, thinking he could make his own 

 stuff cheaper. After he got through he took 

 account of the cost, and found his hives cost 

 him nearly or quite twice as much as those 

 he could buy at a factory. He had lost one 

 finger; his hives were poorlj' made, and all 

 he had was the experience and a lot of sup- 

 plies that were bound to be a continual an- 

 noyance, and a fifty-dollar buzz-saw "for 

 sale cheap." 



Now, in taking this view from the stand- 

 point of the manufacturer I have tried to 

 give the exact facts as I happen to know 

 them— not because I am interested in having 

 bee-keepers buy hives of the Root Co., but 

 because I am anxious to have the exact 

 facts come before the public. I know that 

 Mr. Hutchinson will not misconstrue my 

 motives, even if he doesn't see the matter as 

 I do. 



IMI'ORT.\N'T VICTORY FOR THE NATIONAL 

 BKK-KEEPEKS' AS.SOCI \TION. 



Early last spring Mr. S. W. Kammer, 

 of San Antonio, Texas, was fined S50 in the 

 corporation court for keeping bees in the 

 city as a nuisance. As he was a member 

 of the National he appealed for assistance, 

 throui^h Udo Toepperwein, a director, who 

 wired the General Manager. Mr. Toepper- 

 wein immediately received instructions how 

 to proceed, and was given full charge of the 

 case. An appeal was entered in the county 

 court, wherein it was shown there was no 

 law against keeping bees in the city, and 

 that they could not be declared a public 

 nuisance, as v\-as shown bj' various court 

 decisions regarding other similar cases. 

 The case was, of course, decided in favor of 

 the bee keeper. 



This is an important decision, as there 

 are several hundred bee-keepers in San 

 Antonio; and important in a larger way be- 

 cause it adds another decision or law prec- 

 edent to be used efiectively in ca.ses of a 

 like nature. 



General Manager France says that Di- 

 rector Toepperwein deserves very much 

 credit for the promptness and skill with 

 which he handled this case. As Texas is 

 already a very large honey-producing State, 

 and is bound to be much more important in 

 the future, this early decision in favor of 

 the bee-keeping interests of this great com- 

 mon wealth is highly gratifying. 



COMING IN CONTACT WITH THE BEES. 



Editor Hill, of the American Bee-keep- 

 er, writing on another matter, incidentally 

 speaks of the value of having the editor of a 

 bee- paper come into actual contact with the 

 bees. He adds: 



Note the zest characteristic of editorials written 

 under the inspiration of a day's contact with practical 

 apiary work, as displayed, for example, in the case of 

 Mr. kijot. editor of Gleanings, occasionally. Whence 

 cotneth this distiniiui^lrng activity and practi al lone 

 which arrests the attention and causes one to feel that 

 he is an ev e wtness if not a participant in the opera- 

 tions about which he reads? Whence? From the 

 fountain head which is the source of knowl> dge upon 

 which our industry is based, and without which it is 

 improliable, to our mind, that any man is better quali- 

 fied to direct than those who have fieely imbibed. 



Bro. Hill practices what he preaches; for 

 he is quite a man to rub up against bees. 

 His editorials show it. 



FOUR-PIECE SECTIONS. 



A CORRESPONDENT in the Bee-keepers^ 

 Reviciv wishes to know where he can get 

 four-piece sections " in perfect shape. " The 

 truth of the matter is manufacturers have 

 not catered to this kind of trade, as the de- 

 mand has been so liL;ht that it did not pay 

 to keep special machinery for the purpose. 



EXTRACTING-HOUSE ON WHEELS. 



How to Build; its Use, etc.; a Valuable Article. 



BY JOHN F. CROWDEK. 



Having seen inquiries in Gleanings 

 in regard to a honey-house on wheels, I 

 send you a description of one I have, which 

 has been in operation the sixth season, and 

 which I would find it impossible to do with- 

 out. The same is built on a goose-neck 

 draj', as you will notice in the cut. The 

 floor of this dray is 4 X 12 feet, with stake- 

 keepers around the out edge about every A 

 feet, which enabled me to make a detach- 

 able house, and from which I mav remove 

 the house and use the trucks around the 

 ranch. As I said, the floor of the dray 

 was 4 X 12 feet, so I began from the bottom 

 and raised the walls up 30 inches high; 

 then I made a jog of 14 inches, which makes 

 shelving to set the hauling-boxes on, and 

 any thing else that ma}' be in the way up- 

 on the floor; and under this shelving I have 

 for braces cornice- braces, which I have bolt- 

 ed well to uprights, which are 2 X 3's, and 

 this gives me a solid foundation to go on; so 

 from here up it is 6 X 12 and 7 feet high in 

 all. In the rear end is a door 2% X 6>2 

 which will just admit a four-frame Cowan 



