Si^PTEMBER 1, 1913 



617 



the operator has a strong wrist, he can nn- 

 eap one side of a comb with one long steady 

 stroke. 



It has always been a pnzzle to me why 

 beekeepers who are anxious for just such 

 a result in uncapping will so often reduce 

 the width of a few thousand combs instead 

 of adding a coujile of inches to the length 

 of two or three knives. Now, if a long 

 blade is good in a cold knife, how much 

 better it would be on a knife that is heated 

 with steam ! However, my exiJerience with 

 the steam knife teaches me that in any case 

 a heated knife is very much better than a 

 cold one, especially if the combs are stiff 

 and the honey cold. 



Ever since I tirst learned, several years 

 ago, that some one was using a pump in 

 connection with a power extractor for tak- 

 ing the honey from the extractor, I have 

 been anxious to give it a test ; but reports 

 from those who tried jDumping honey last 

 year were not very favorable. At the con- 

 vention at Amherst, Mass., in June, Mr. E. 

 R. Root demonstrated the honey-pump suf- 

 ficiently to my satisfaction to persuade me 

 to give it a trial. He took 200 pounds of 

 thick cold honey and pumj^ed it from the 

 extractor, raising it about eight feet, and 

 conducting it about ten or twelve feet hori- 

 zontally. The pump works on the rotary 

 131-inciple, and is connected by means of a 

 belt with the cross-shaft of the extractor, 

 a pulley wheel being placed on the outer 

 end of the cross-shaft. The instructions 

 given with the pump indicate that it is to 

 be connected by means of a rubber hose 

 with a special opening in the side of the 

 extractor ; but not having a tinsmith hand}', 

 and wishing to avoid cutting a hole in the 

 extractor-can, we took a longer piece of 

 rubber hose and brought the end of it 

 around to the regular gate of the extractor- 

 can, wrapi^ing it with paper to make it fit 

 snugly in the opening. It took consider- 

 able experimenting to get every thing to 

 work satisfactorily. First, it seemed to me 

 that the pump would be less in the way if 

 it wei'e back near the engine ; so a longer 

 piece of hose was used for conducting the 

 lioney from the gate around to the back of 

 the extractor; but when the pump was in 

 operation we found that the friction in the 

 longer hose caused the honey to travel so 

 slowly that the hose was not able to resist 

 Ihe suction of the pump, and collapsed, flat- 

 tening out so as to interfere very much with 

 the i^assage of the honey. The pump was 

 then moved up to the front of the extractor, 

 near the tap, and a shorter hose used. Still 

 there was trouble because the hose was not 

 strong enough to stand up under the air 

 pressure; so a stronger piece of hose was 



put on, and there was no more trouble from 

 that corner. For conducting the honey from 

 the pump to the storage-can we used about 

 20 feet of ordinary one-inch rubber hose, 

 fastening it up with cords to be out of the 

 way. We found that, when the honey was 

 cold, the pump would not raise it to the 

 height of nine feet and force it along 

 through that length of pipe; but by lower- 

 ing the hose to a height of about seven feet 

 from the floor it worked very well. 



Another source of trouble was the slip- 

 ping of the belt on the pump; and it seems 

 to me it would be much better in sending 

 out a machine to the general run of bee- 

 keepers to send a pulley-wheel with flanges, 

 which would keep the belt from coming off 

 when the alignment and tension are not ex- 

 actly right. We placed a little honey on 

 (he belt, according to directions, and found 

 that that worked well when just the right 

 quantity was used; but a little too much 

 caused the belt to slip off. 



Tlie first thing in the morning we found 

 that the honey which had been smeared on 

 the belt the night before had collected mois- 

 ture, and was so slippery that the belt and 

 13ulley-w heels had to be very thoroughly 

 wiped dry before they would Avork. The 

 honej'-pump, like any other machine, re- 

 quires a certain amount of attention, and 

 is for beekeepers who are adapted to han- 

 dling machinery ; but neither it nor the gas- 

 oline-engine requires any more skill than 

 the multiplicity of machines that are used 

 in all farming operations at the present 

 time. 



The first half-day that I operated the 

 steam-knife and pump I was able, working 

 alone, to uncap and extract about 1100 

 pounds of honey, practically all of which 

 was cold, and mostly capped. While this 

 was not a large record, still it was good for 

 the first half-day with the implements. 



Another suggestion would be to attach 

 the pump direct to the engine or shafting, 

 and not to the extractor. Having the extra 

 load delays considerably the frequent start- 

 ing of the latter after changing combs. In 

 spite of details which need improving I 

 would not care to handle a crop of honey 

 without the help of the steam knife and the 

 pump. I don't see how I ever got along 

 all these years without either. I don't in- 

 tend to be without them in the future. 



The next improvement most urgently re- 

 quired is a hot-water jacket on the extract- 

 or, connected with the water-cooler of the 

 engine. By using this the honey could be 

 pumped more easily, and would strain read- 

 ily through a strainer placed on the store- 

 can. 



Guelph, Ont., Canada. 



