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TIIH KHK-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



EXTRACTED DEPARTMENT. 



HIVE COVERS. 



A Double Cover that Answers Well in 

 California. 



A hive cover that will answer every 

 purpose here in the East is a sad failure 

 in the arid West, although a cover that 

 fulfills all requirements in the West 

 would probably be all right in the East. 

 In the January Review Mr. Gill pointed 

 out some of the difficulties with which 

 the Western man had to contend, in the 

 way of furnishing a roof for his hives, 

 and showed how he overcame those dif- 

 ficulties. In this issue Messrs. Hatch 

 and Schaeffle give their views; and, 

 while we are at it, we may as well give 

 all of the views that we can, hence I copy 

 the following which Mr. Geo. W. Brod- 

 beck of California contributed to Glean- 

 ings. Mr. Brodbeck says: — 



I can fully indorse the hive-cover that 

 Rambler illustrated in Gleanings for 



March 15, page 232, of last year. I had 

 been requested a number of times to pre- 

 sent it to the public, but wished to give it 

 a thorough trial before doing so, and 



now after five years' use in my apiary I 

 prefer it to any other combination of 

 hive-cover and shade-board in use. I ad- 

 vise the use of a single board for each 

 side, for the lapping or grooving togeth- 

 er of two pieces in the center will result 

 in warping in spite of all nailing, etc. I 

 prime all boards thoroughly on the under 

 side before I nail them up, and have one 

 here now to be exhibited at our State 

 meeting, which has been in use five years, 

 and seemingly as good now as the day it 

 was nailed up. 



WAX EXTRACTORS. 



Bee-Keepers Need Both a Solar ;in(l a Press. 



One bv one the little points of bee- 

 keeping adjust themselves. We are get- 

 ting it down fine in regard to the render- 

 ing of wax. We are beginning to realize 

 how wasteful were the methods of only a 

 few years ago, when, from our steam wax 

 extractors, we dumped out upon the 

 ground, the refuse fairly dripping with 

 wax. A sponge soaked full of water is a 

 fair comparison to this slum gum soaked 

 with wax. Some of us have learned that 

 pressure must be used to extract all of 

 the wax, but some of us do not know 

 that a solar extractor is needed, even if 

 we have a steam extractor and a press. 

 Mr. R. C. Aikin has the largest solar ex- 

 tractor that I ever saw. It is perhaps 

 four feet wide and 16 feet long. He gives 

 an excellent description of it in Glean- 

 ings, and, among other reasons why a 

 solar is desirable, he mentions the fol- 

 lowing: — 



You will now say, if we must have a 

 press, why build a solar ? I will tell you. 

 There is scarcely a bit of comb, burr- 

 comb, cappings, or whatever you want to 

 melt, but has in it more or less honey. 

 If you put these through the water pro- 

 cess in either bag or press, you lose this 

 honey. The saving in honey that can be 

 used in feeding or vinegar-making, and 



