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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



give room for more honey, thus calling 

 for expeditious work, I can see where 

 the power-driven extractor of large 

 capacity would be of great help. Where 

 men must be hired to help in the work 

 it might be used to advantage. In our 

 Northern Michigan apiaries the honey is 

 not extracted until the end of the season. 

 There is no great hurry, and the work is 

 done in a leisurely fashion. There is one 

 more point: My brother has three boys, 

 men-grown, and I often go up and help 

 extract, so there is no trouble in getting 

 plenty of help. The question arises, 

 would it pay us to use a power extractor? 

 I doubt if it would if the combs could be 

 extracted as clean by hand-power as 

 with a gasoline engine. This point alone 

 might make the use of an engine desir- 

 able. In this issue of the Review two 

 veterans tell us how to rid supers of 

 bees without the use of bee escapes, 

 even when no honey is coming in. 

 This plan would enable us to cut out the 

 use of artificial heat — to extract the 

 honey just as it comes from the hives. 

 The most of our extracting would be 

 done in the fall or after the hottest 

 weather had passed, and I doubt if the 

 honey would be so warm as we make it 

 in our warming ovens. I think much 

 more honey would be left in the combs 

 than when the honey is heated up arti- 

 ficially. Now then, it is just possible, 

 yes, probable, that the power-driven 

 extractor might clean out those combs 

 cleaner, even if the honey is not warmed 

 up artificially, than they could be cleaned 

 by hand when the honey is warmed. If 

 the honey is extracted without warming, 

 1 think it is safe to assume that the 

 power-driven extractor would secure at 

 least two ounces more of honey from a 

 Langstroth comb. To be safe, let us put 

 it at one pound from alO-frame super. 

 If we get 40 pounds of honey from a 

 10-frame super we do well. In pro- 

 ducing 20,000 pounds of honey, our 

 usual crop, we extract 500 supers. If 

 my estimates are correct, the use of 

 power would save us 500 pounds of 



honey; thus an engine would about pay 

 for itself in one year. The expense of 

 running the engine would probably be 

 not far different from that of warming 

 the honey. 



Another question follows on: Is the 

 honey that is left in the combs lost, or 

 wasted? I know that most producers 

 of extracted honey have these combs 

 cleaned up by the bees; either by putting 

 them out in the open air, or allowing the 

 bees to have access to the honey house, 

 or by placing the combs on the hives. I 

 question if any of these steps are taken 

 at a profit. It is a lot of work to carry 

 out hundreds of supers and put them on 

 the hives, then free the combs of bees, 

 and get the combs off the hives, and 

 back into the honey house. If the bees 

 are allowed to have access to the combs 

 out of doors, or in the honey house, there 

 is excitement, commotion, and demoraliza- 

 tion in the apiary at a time when the 

 bees ought to be settling down for winter, 

 Perhaps the excitement causes the 

 consumption of as much more honey 

 as is secured. Yes. 1 know that the 

 honey will candy unless it is removed; 

 and, in the spring, the bees will consume 

 very little of it. They will dig it out and 

 kick it out of the hive. The honey left in 

 the extracting combs is practically lost. 

 As 1 look at it, the use of a power ex- 

 tractor would enable us to dispense with 

 the warming of the honey, and leave the 

 combs cleaner than when we did warm 

 it and extract it by hand power. If my 

 reasoning is faulty, tell me where. 



How do Bees Recognize one Another? 

 I have just been reading a new bee 

 book, "How to Keep Bees for Profit," 

 written by D. Everett Lyon, and I could 

 not help noticing how many times he 

 referred to the matter of bees recogniz- 

 ing one another by scent or odor. For 

 instance, a queen is caged in introducing 

 that she may acquire the same scent as 

 the colony. If a queen is picked off the 

 combs and handled, then replaced on the 

 combs, she may be attacked because of 



