700 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



ey-flow ceases, whether the hive has plenty 

 of honey or not. Sometimes the introduc- 

 tion of a young queen in late summer or 

 fall means the saving of a whole colony of 

 bees by next spring; and even if an old 

 queen with her colony survives, the colony 

 may be so weak that it will not be able to 

 do very much by the time the harvest comes 

 on. 



The Genesis of Honey Extractors and 

 Extracted Honey in the United 

 States; Extracted Honey at 25 Cents 

 a Pound 



In this issue, pages 719, 720, is shown a 

 picture of an old honey-extractor made by 

 Captain Sanders as far back as 1875, or 

 forty years ago. This machine is placed on 

 exhibition at the A. I. Root Company's ex- 

 hibit at the San Diego exposition. Captain 

 Sanders knew nothing of A. I. Root's first 

 honey-extractor, built in 1S67; and yet, 

 strangely enough, the machines are alike in 

 principle, with precisely the same gearing. 



Seeing that machine at San Diego brought 

 up early memories. Well do we remember 

 A. T. Root's original machine. It consisted 

 of a milk-can that was stationary, with 

 inside revolving reel and baskets to hold the 

 combs. The reel was geared to a part of 

 an old apple-paring machine mounted on a 

 wooden cross-arm. This outfit was the fore- 

 runner of the Novice honey-extractor 

 brought out in 1873, for A. I. Root did not 

 begin to manufacture and sell supplies 

 until some time after he built his honey- 

 extractor and made his first hive. 



Before A. I. Root put his geared machine 

 in a stationary can on the market Mr. J. L. 

 Peabodj' brought out tlie first extractor that 

 was ever made and sold. This was in 1869. 

 Later Gray and Winder and R. R. Murphy 

 brought out their machines. The Peabody 

 consisted of a revolving can without gear- 

 ing. Referring to this, Mr. J. L. Peabody, 

 the inventor, who was at the National con- 

 vention at Denver last winter, was generous 

 enough to say that Bro. A. I. Root's geared 

 machine with a stationary can was so much 

 superior to his that he took it off the mar- 

 ket. 



Tt was this old original machine that A. 

 I. Root built that took his first thousand 

 pounds of extracted honey. It so fired up 

 his enthusiasm that he turned his attention 

 more and more to bees, and less and less to 

 his jewelry business, for at that time he 

 made silver chains and rings, and other 

 specialties of silver. The first mention of 

 this original all-metal geared honey-extract- 

 or is found in the American Bee Journal 



for 1868, page 4. The honey taken by this 

 machine sold at 25 ets. a pound; and even 

 at that figure he could not supply the de- 

 mand, and had calls for more. Later on, 

 his crops were so large that he talked about 

 building cisterns of brick and mortar to 

 hold his honey; for several times he had 

 more honey than all the wash-boilers, pails, 

 and cans tliat he could borrow of the neigh- 

 bors would hold; and all that honey was 

 taken witli that old original machine built 

 in 1867. It embodied all the principles of 

 the honey-extractor of to-day except that 

 the pockets holding the combs were not re- 

 versible. The machine built by Captain 

 Sanders, illustrated and described in this 

 issue, page 720, was very much like it, but 

 in principle only. 



Well does the writer remember helping to 

 extract in those early days. It was our job 

 to keep robbers out of the honey-house by 

 batting them down as they came in at the 

 doorway; for every member of the family 

 was put at work. Later, as we got to be 

 older, we helped turn the crank. That was 

 jnore fun than batting bees. 



What an amount of honey we could get 

 now if we only had the basswoods we had 

 in those days ! Fifty colonies of bees, and 

 unlimited basswoods in the woods ! for at 

 that time no one considered that kind of 

 lumber of any value, and every tree was 

 standing. Our locality was not overstocked, 

 and no wonder A. I. Root was able to get 

 honey by the wash-boilerful, and no wonder 

 that he was enthusiastic. As stated, this 

 honey brought 25 cents a pound. As the 

 scales showed that some of his hives were 

 actually bringing over a dollar a day, it is 

 not sur]">rising that he should think of giv- 

 ing up his business up town. From some 

 of his best colonies he took off $50 worth 

 of honey,* or an average of $32.00 per 

 colony from his 48. This exceeded even 

 the tales in the Arabian Nights, and A. I. 

 Root was wild with delight. His friends 

 and neighbors when he first took up with 

 bees had been saying that he was foolish to 

 neglect his business and fool with bees, for 

 they said " bees don't pay any m.ore." But 

 when he proved that they did, inquiries be- 

 gan to come in from far and wide, for he 

 wrote up his successes and failures in the 

 old American Bee Journal in the late '60's 

 and early '70's. So numerous were the in- 

 quiries that he was compelled to get out a 

 bee-jonrnal, a bee-book, and sell supplies. 

 A. I. Root's exploits in taking extracted 

 honey gave a great boost to bee culture in 

 the United States, second only to the inven- 

 tion of the movable frame by Langstroth. 



See Aiuerican Bee Journal, page 64, foi' 1 



863. 



