474 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
200 revolutions per minute. With 6in. or more radius- 
distance, gearing is not required, as sufficient pace — 
which should be kept at the lowest that will accomplish 
the work — can be reached without it. Then brood — 
even drone-brood, should such be found in the comb — 
will not be displaced ; but brood should only under 
exceptional circumstances find its way into the ex- 
tractor. Care should be taken to place combs of 
nearly equal weight on each side of the cage, for 
the latter, according to a law of dynamics, will 
endeavour to revolve around its own centre of gravity. 
The effect of this: will not be felt until the combs 
revolve quickly, when their increased pressure, if they 
be badly balanced, will set the can rocking in an almost 
uncontrollable manner. 
The pressure on the wire net is of necessity so con- 
siderable, that that of ordinary make is driven into 
a concave form, which the comb fills, and is, in con- 
sequence, often so bent that it cracks and, after its 
return to the bees, breaks. Mr. MeadoAVS has remedied 
this grave fault by a simple but effective device. 
Behind the wire net (wn^ A and C, -Fig. 115) he 
fixes, edgeways, strips of tinned iron (ze/^), which, like 
the joists of a floor, give to the net perfect rigidity. 
This plan is a patent, but surely all makers can do 
something towards securing greater stiffness than is 
usual. 
Not only does the honey fly by centrifugal force, 
but the air around the comb made rapidly to revolve, 
also flies off, occasioning a strong and prejudicially 
cooling air current. Mr. S. J. ' Baldwin was the first to 
remove this disadvantage,, by placing the comb within 
