:jciI<j BKJ^- KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



283 



California Exchange boys don't seem to 

 know yet how much their bund will boost 

 their boodle, in the matter of honey prices, 

 but they are comfortably and conscientious- 

 ly coucious that they got their sections a 

 dollar a thousand cheaper. 



According to Gleanings 457 the California 

 adulteration law is a tough one to secure 

 convictions under. Got to prove that the 

 substance introduced is iujarious in some 

 way. And a special proviso protects mix- 

 tures where the ingredients and percentage 

 are plainly marked on the package, as 

 " Honey, 30 per cent Glucose.)" 



Doolittle says it, and therefore we need 

 have little hesitation in laying it down as a 

 sound bit of practical doctrine, that a queen 

 enraged enough to pipe will not lay eggs 

 while she remaines in that state of mind. 

 Gleanings IfiH, 



W. K. Morrison of Bermuda, who is writ- 

 ing many articles for Gleanings lately, is a 

 breezy sort of Briton, pleasant to listen to. 

 even if we do have to kick at most of what 

 he says. ()u page 497 he lays it down, " No 

 swarming without drones. " All in imag- 

 ination probably. Might as well say. No 

 May-day moving without a mother-in-law 

 in the house. Colonies encouraged to 

 raise extra quantities of drones seldom 

 swarm at all. And the worst swarming I 

 ever had was when 1 tried very hara and 

 persistently to entirely suppress drones in 

 most of my colonies. I don't suppose the 

 scarcity of drones directly made swarming 

 any worse, or better: but the excitement of 

 struggling to get some drones out in spite of 

 me, and the frequent overhauling of the 

 combs, evidently did make the situation 

 worse. In my judgement just one grain of 

 value lies behind the mistaken canon quot- 

 ed above. So long as a colony dori'trvant to 

 raise any drones so long you may feel pretty 

 well assured they will not swarm. 



But he makes a good shot when he tells us 

 that a bee looks at a sixteenth of an inch as 

 we look at a yard. 



"Poorest of all the bees ever brought to 

 this country, " is what Doolittle thinks of 

 the Syrians. Gleanings 4i)8. 



A good tool to break cappings with, as a 

 hint for bees to remove the honey, is quite 

 a desideratum. I have a home made one 

 like a diminutive curry comb with a long 

 handle and sharp wire nails for teeth. The 

 design i^ to pat the honey full of fine per- 

 forations. In practice it pulls off the cap- 



pings and soon gets all clogged up. An old 

 table fork (used scratch- wise instead of 

 prick-wise ) is somewhat better. But Dr. 

 Miller in a straw in Gleanings ()2;{, seems to 

 have gone one better. Piece of very coarse 

 wire cloth four inches square, with one edge 

 raveled out. Scratch the cappings with the 

 ragged ends. 



Richards, Ooio. August 17, 189G. 



eXXRKOXED. 



NeedeJ Improvements in Honey Extractors. 



Many times Mr. Heddon has said that 

 our honey extractors were far behind the 

 times. In his last issue of the Quarterly he 

 mentions some of these needed improve- 

 ments. He says: — 



"Some years ago we penned an article 

 regarding the state of the art, at the time, 

 relative to honey extractors. We said at 

 that time that we had never seen what we 

 could call a good honey extractor, either in 

 principle or mechanical construction. We 

 have seen machines embracing some correct 

 principles, the mechanical clothing of 

 which was so poor that said principles were 

 not carried out. But there are desirable 

 functions not yet attempted by extractor 

 dealers that the larger apiarists sorely needs, 

 and can well afford to pay for, so it would 

 pay some well equipped supply manufac- 

 turer to place upon the marktt a limited 

 number of first-class machines embracing 

 new and desirable features. 



Perhaps the best extractor we have ever 

 used, is a large four basket machine made 

 by the A. I. Riot Co., and named 'The 

 Cowan Improved. ' Mr. Cowan is the editor 

 of the British Bee Journal, about the last 

 place that we are in the habit of looking for 

 'improved,' short-cut machinery. The 

 next question is who is Mr. 'Improved?' 

 'Of what does the improvement consist?' 

 If we are not misinform id the improve- 

 ment is all there is new or of special 

 value about 'The Cowan Improved,' and con- 

 sists of a sprocket and chain arrangement, 

 by which the turning of one basket turns all 

 the others, constituting an enormous labor- 

 saving arrangement. This element is claim- 

 ed by VanAllen it Williams, of Barnum, 

 Wis., and they further claim to hold a patent 

 on the device. If this be so they have only 

 to send to me their bill for royalty on the 

 machine which I use, and I will be glad to 

 pay the same. 



Yes, this 'Cowan Improved,' put out 

 by Mr. Root, is a very good machine, not 

 only because of the valuable chain, and 

 sprocket function, hut because the work- 

 manship and material are of superior qual- 

 ity as comared to the honey extractors of the 

 present day. But why can't we call things 



