1907 



GLEAN L\GS IN BEE CULTUiiE 



1575 



—just right for eight 60-1 b. square cans. 

 There are larger sizes; but this, in our judg- 

 ment, will be ample for the need of most 

 bee-keepers. In the Sears & Roebuck cata- 

 log apparently the same thing is called the 

 "Handy" feed- cooker, and sells for a dol- 

 lar or more. 



The water in a cooker of this sort can be 

 brought to a boil, or heated to any tempera- 

 ture desired, making the fire in the stove to 

 meet required conditions. 



There are other feed-cookers that are 

 cheaper, but circular in form; and while 

 these would be all right for rendering up old 

 combs in hot water, their shape is such that 

 they will not take more than one or two 

 square cans of honey at a time, and hence 

 we would not regard them as economical, 

 even if they did cost a less sum of money. 

 The oblong tank feed-cookers first described 

 can be used either for rendering wax and 

 melting up honey, or heating water for any 

 purpose on the farm, and that, of course, in- 

 cludes the general cooking of feed for live 

 stock. 



We are not running a free advertisement 

 for the catalog houses, but we are only en- 

 deavoring to help out bee-keepers who may 

 wish to carry out some of the practices sug- 

 gested in this article. But we would say that 

 any bee-keeper who has as many as 300 col- 

 onies, especially if he does any bottling of 

 honey, would necessarily have to have one 

 of these cookers. It is a shame to vise the 

 good wife's stove, and mess up the whole 

 kitchen; and we desire to suggest to the 

 " man of the house " that he will save money 

 if he does his bottling in a scientific way with 

 the right kind of appartitus and at the same 

 time win the everlasting gratitude of his 

 wife. 



But perhaps one may desire to use a small 

 steam-boiler. We have looked through sev- 

 eral lists, but do not find any thing cheaper 

 than that offered by Sears, Roebuck & Co., 

 called the ' ' Hercules, ' ' listed at $20. 85. These 

 are not large enough to run an engine, but 

 would answer for generating steam to use 

 for heating water around a large tank of 

 honey. 



In this connection the novice should clear- 

 ly understand that honey should never be 

 heated except over a body of water, and 

 never hotter than 160 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Just note that Mr. Coveyou finds it necessary 

 to keep track of this temperature by means 

 of a thermometer; and right here is one of 

 the secrets of his success. Nothing will ruin 

 the bottling business quicker than an over- 

 heated honey. 



We have before explained that a large 

 power-driven honey-extractor has a great 

 advantage over one driven by hand. The 

 engine is not only cheaper than a man, but 

 it will do quicker and cleaner work. One 

 can not begin to extract combs as clean by 

 hand power as he can with an engine. We 

 find the small gasoline-engines offered to the 

 public quite satisfactory for the purpose. 

 But one should be careful to get a standard 

 make from some standard company. Some 



of the newer engines, especially of the bicy- 

 cle type, offered at cut-throat prices, one will 

 do well to avoid. Mr. Coveyou's method of 

 going to his apiaries is certainly unique. 

 Why, it would be just fun to run a bicycle 

 on a steel track. We do not know whether 

 he made the third-wheel attachment or 

 whether he bought the outfit from a bicycle 

 concern; but in either case he shows his up- 

 to-dateness by adopting this rapid means of 

 locomotion to his outyards. The only objec- 

 tion to it is that he can not very well carry 

 any stuff with him. We are, therefore, in- 

 clined to believe that, in the near future, we 

 shall see him going to and from the yards 

 with an automobile. We have used the 

 horseless carriage just enough to know it 

 can be relied on, providing one gets hold of 

 a standard reliable make of machine. We 

 would avoid a high-priced outfit, one which 

 is nothing more nor less than a gigantic lo- 

 comotive. Better get a single-cylinder ma- 

 chine like the Reo, Olds, or Cadillac, any 

 one of which can be bought for between six 

 and seven hundred dollars Many times a 

 second-hand machine can be obtained for 

 half these figures; but be sure to have a prac- 

 tical automobile man look the machine over 

 to see that it is not a junk-heap. 



We note by our advertising columns that 

 Bro. Hutchinson has engaged Mr. Coveyou 

 to write a series of articles, the first one ap- 

 pearing in the November issue of the Bee- 

 keepers' Review. We congratulate our con- 

 temporary on having secured such a genius. 

 Doubtless many of our readers will be glad 

 to follow up this apicultural star. — Ed.] 



THE CAUSE OF BEE FEVER. 



An Interesting Account of an Amateur's 

 Success. 



BY GEORGE HOWARD. 



Last April I bought two colonies of bees 

 for $10.00, and brought them home one night 

 after dark. The frames in the old hives 

 were nailed fast. 



May 30, hive No. 1 swarmed. June 1, hive 

 No. 3 did likewise. June 10, hive No. 1 

 threw out a very small swarm — about two 

 quarts of bees. I thought they might ])uild 

 up for winter and make a good colony for 

 another year, so I hived them. All my 

 swarms were put in new Danzenbaker hives 

 and numbered 3, 4, and 5. 



June 13 I went to work to transfer the 

 two old colonies to new Danzenbaker hives. 

 Each one had five or six queen-cells. I trans- 

 ferred No. 1 first, and cut out all cells but 

 one; then as I was working at No. 3 one of 

 the queen-cells opened up and out walked a 

 queen! For fear ol losing her I picked her 

 up and let her run into No. 1. Then I cut 

 out and destroyed all the rest of the cells but 

 one and finished transferring. 



The next day I noticed that nearly all of 

 the bees were going in and out of No. 1 with 

 only an occasional bee going into No. 2. Ac- 



