620 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



sons of the year they are thinly 

 "stocked." 



Finally, my apiary may be said to be 

 well "stocked" with bees, but I would 

 not like to say it is "stocked" with TO 

 " stocks." 



The above will suffice to show how 

 confusing and inappropriate the word 

 "stock," or " stock of bees," would be 

 if adopted as a nomenclature. 



Christiansburg, Ky. 



[Brother Demaree is right. The word 

 stock furnishes a regular kaleidoscope 

 of meanings, and is indefinite and in- 

 appropriate when used for the word 

 colony, as applied to bees. — Ed.] 



Electricity and Apicultiire. 



HENEY K. STALEY. 



Electricity and apiculture should go 

 hand in hand. They are two pursuits 

 that have made mighty strides, and 

 accomplished great achievements for 

 the benefit of mankind in the last 

 few years, yet it seems that the two 

 have been completely isolated as regards 

 any mutual benefit existing between 

 them. 



Electricity is proving Itself utilitarian. 

 Indeed, there is seemingly nothing to 

 which it cannot be applied with greater 

 economical efficiency than the agent 

 applied to that object or pursuit before. 

 Thousands and thousands of men are 

 now numbered among its laborers, and 

 millions upon millions of capital have 

 been laid at its feet. 



We see it taking an active part in 

 electro-plating, making it possible for 

 people of small means, who are en- 

 dowed with a love of art, at once able to 

 procure copies of some of the costliest 

 and most renowned pictures in the world 

 to-day, at a mere bagatelle. 



We see the electric street railway cars 

 displacing those of the old horse type, 

 and doing away with all that beastly, 

 inhuman suffering. We see the clean, 

 frugal, responding-at-the-touch motor in 

 stores for ventilation, and in the work- 

 shops for manufacturing purposes, ap- 

 plied to almost every kind of mechanical 

 d.evice ; yet I have never heard of honey 

 extractors being operated by electricity 

 where a great deal, or even a small 

 amount of extracting was to be done. 



From one to any number of extractors 

 could be manipulated simultaneously by 

 means of shafting and gearing, in con- 

 junction with electricity, at a small 



expenditure of money. If the apiarist 

 lives in a town, he could either buy or 

 rent a motor, and then contract for 

 power from some electric light company. 

 The motor could be adjusted to operate 

 a great many devices. He might want 

 to run a buzz-saw, and manufacture his 

 own hives, surplus sections and other bee- 

 paraphernalia ; or by attaching it to a 

 churn or washing machine, relieve his 

 wife of a great deal of manual drudgery 

 in the way of making butter and wash- 

 ing clothes. 



Now, with reference to those enormous 

 apiaries situated away up on the Rocky 

 Mountains, or down deep in the valleys 

 of California, which are practically in- 

 accessible to any kind of power save 

 steam and compressed air, and that at 

 great expense on account of the exorbi- 

 tant price of fuel. We see that to run a 

 steam plant would require a great 

 amount of fuel, along with the other 

 operating materials, and experienced 

 and skilled labor, which the apiarist 

 could ill afford. 



But take, for instance, the great 

 natural resources of energy in the West 

 which are going to waste, in the way of 

 waterfalls, having a drop of from 20 to 

 30 feet within 2 or 3 miles of the bee- 

 keeper. By means of turbine wheels 

 and a dynamo at the waterfall, this 

 energy could be electrically transmitted 

 through insulated copper wire to the 

 motor at the home of the apiarist, and 

 do all of his work ; and not only that, 

 as the surplus current could be put to 

 charging storage batteries, by which he 

 could have electric fans and electric 

 lights in his own house. 



Bee-keepers with a few colonies, if 

 not too far distant, could bring their 

 storage batteries to him, have them 

 charged for a small sum, and go on their 

 way rejoicing. I am sure this would be 

 both beneficial and economical for the 

 bee-keeper. It has proven itself so for 

 heretofore unprofitable mines, on ac- 

 count of being situated in uneconomical 

 locations with respect to power. 



As energy transmitted electrically is 

 able to turn out about 70 per cent, of 

 the primal energy of the waterfall, after 

 3 or 4 miles travel, it will be seen that 

 if the apiarist is on the very peaks of the 

 Rockies, he can have cheap power at his 

 command, and utilize it in ways greatly 

 diversified. Of course, I am now re- 

 ferring to large apiaries, where a great 

 deal of work is to be done, and which 

 are depended on for the bread and but- 

 ter of the family. 



Now, I believe this could be made 

 thoroughly practicable in view of what 



