1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



911 



make the margin wider. Do not let one sea- 

 son's management be a repetition of the sea- 

 son before it. Improve. We enjoy life more 

 when we learn to live it that way. 

 Chatsworth, Calif. 



[Our correspondent makes a good point 

 when he says an opei'ator ought to be able 

 to get close enough to his work so that, his 

 feet can be placed under the machine, thus 

 allowing his body to come in contact with 

 the bench or table, or (as in this case) the 

 uncapping-can over which he is working. 

 In this respect the Dayton outfit is admitted- 

 ly superior to the Dadant; but from ihe man- 

 ner in which many extracted-honey produc- 

 ers work we question whether the most of 

 them would take kindly to this method of 

 balancing the frame on the crosswise arm 

 while vmcapping. The gi'eat majority of 

 them usually prefer a sharpened nail-point 

 on which to pivot the frame while it is being 

 handled over the uncapping-can. 



Then we question whether it would be wise 

 for some bee-keepers to attempt to scrape 

 the knife on a hard steel sci'aper rather than 

 a wooden one. However, if one works care- 

 fully there will be no danger of dulling the 

 knife-edge on the metal cleaner; and we can 

 conceive how, when so used, it might be mox'e 

 satisfactory than a wooden device. 



But the uncapping- box has one distinct ad- 

 vantage over any foim of circular uncapping 

 arrangement, in that it can accommodate a lot 

 of uncapped combs preparatory to beiug put 

 through the extractor. A great majority of 

 the exti'acted- honey producers we have visit- 

 ed seemed to prefor an oblong box having 

 just enough width to take in a frame that 

 hangs on its regular projections; or, in other 

 words, this width is the same as the inside 

 length of the hive. The length of the unc^ap- 

 ping-box may be any thing to suit the re- 

 quii-ement of the producer. As fast as the 

 combs are uncapped they are set down cor- 

 nerwise; and if the uncapper can work faster 

 than the man with the extractor, he has a 

 place in which to put his surplus combs. The 

 man with the machine can then pick them 

 up as fast as he needs them; or where there 

 is only one operator he can uncap twenty or 

 thirty combs, set them up cornerwise in the 

 uncapping-box, then extract them in twos, 

 fours, or sixes, according to the size of the 

 extractor. 



The average uncapping-box is made so 

 that one can get his feet under it the same 

 as under the Dayton outfit hei"e shown; and 

 it can be made to have all the advantages of 

 a circular can except the one of lightness 

 and portability, with an additional advantage 

 of its own — that of a reserve space in which 

 combs may be temporarily placed. 



The greatest objection to the plan of heat- 

 ing the uncapping-knives has been the lack 

 of a satisfactory way of obtaining the heat. 

 Ordinai'ily, to keep a tire going on a hot 

 stove would prove a nuisance on a hot day, 

 and the expense of keeping a gasoline-stove 

 going continuously would be hardly wai'rant- 

 ed. A small one or two burner kerosene- 



stove answers the purpose very well ; but some 

 sort of deep pan or tray is necessary to hold 

 the water. 



As a suggestion based on some ideas we 

 have seen in use, we designed the apparatus 

 here shown. The pan is 9 inches long, 6 

 wide, and 5 deep — the bottom being an inch 

 smaller each way than the top. The not(^h- 

 ed division is made of ^-inch wood, and is 

 held to the pan by means of a small screw 

 through the tin into the wood very near the 

 top on each side, as shown. This piece of 

 wood should be sawed so that the grain will 

 run vertically, in order to avoid the danger 

 of splitting. The wood can be quickly re- 

 moved so that the pan may be used for some 

 other purpose if desired. 



To use, till the pan with water up to with- 

 in i inch of the top. This amount of water 

 will last for a long time without getting 

 sticky from the honey, and at the same time 

 there is not so much Init that it can be heat- 

 ed to the right temperature in half an hour, 

 over an ordinary siugle-wic^k oil-stove. 



With this arrangement there is no danger 

 of dulling the knives, even if they are put in 

 carelessly. One knife is left in the water 

 while the other is being used. 



Such a pan could be made at any tin-shop 

 for a few cents, and the wooden part sawed 

 or whittled out in a few minutes.^Ec] 



SODA AS A REMEDY FOR BEE-STINGS. 



On page 88 you give remedies for sting-". 

 Out here, where cows and horses sometimes 

 get a thousand or more stings in tive minutes, 

 i have used baking-soda. We first pour a 

 pound or so into a pan of water, using all 

 the water will dissolve, and more too. Then 

 with a sponge or cloth put on the soda water, 

 and rub it in well. It always relieves im- 

 mediately. I tried it two years ago on the 

 heads of two men who were caught while 

 running a reaper. Horses and men Avere 

 fearfully stung — the men all over their heads 

 and faces. Soda water, good and strong, did 

 the job for them in short order. Probably 

 washing-soda would in case plenty of baking- 

 soda were not at hand. 



San Marcos, Cal. G. F. Merria:m. 



[Bee-sting poison is an acid, and soda an 

 alkali, and the one would neutralize the other 

 if you can get them together; but can you do 

 this in the case of poison that has been in- 

 jected into the Hesh by a tiny hypodermic 

 syringe? The orifice closes almost immedi- 

 ately, and it is very doubtful if any of the 

 neutralizer gets to the right spot. Any 

 liquid bathed over man or beast that is suf- 



