844 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



quality, and sells itself. It has become a 

 staple, a necessity, and the producer thinks 

 it a good way and a good place to fight 

 liquor. When a club fails, try sugar plums. 

 Providence, R. I. 



A VISIT WITH R. F. HOLTERMANN IN CAN- 

 ADA. 



A Modern Twelve-frame Power Extracting Plant; 

 Troubles with the Honey-pump Overcome; the 

 Steam Uncaping-knife vs. the Cold Knife; Cap- 

 ping-melters vs. Draining-cans. 



BY H. H. ROOT 



Ever since ]\Ii'. 

 R. F. Holtermann 

 bought his twelve- 

 frame extractor I 

 have been promis- 

 ing to cross over 

 into Canada in 

 order to see it 

 work and to see 

 several other 

 things work be- 

 sides; hut circum- 

 sianccs prevented 

 my going until 

 Jr.ly of this year. 

 Tarly in July Mr. 

 H. wrote that the 

 honey-pump was 

 not working prop- 

 erly, and tliat I 

 would simply 

 have to come. I 

 learned later that 

 there had been 

 some speculation among the students work- 

 ing for Mr. Holtermann as to whether I 

 would dare show up, and that Mr. Glen 

 Holtermann, who, by the way, is six feet 

 tall and then some, had said that they would 

 see when the time came that 1 would make 

 some excuse and stay at home. However, 

 contrary to expectations. Glen, who was 

 waiting at the station with the auto, saw 

 me get off the train at the appointed time. 

 We started at once for the i^articular yard 

 that was being extracted, several miles 

 away. 1 had no need to ask Glen whether 

 they had already begun work for the day, 

 for he was decidedly " stuck up," in spite 

 of the fact that he was dressed in bib over- 

 alls. 



Although the distance from the station to 

 the 3'ard was between five and six miles, Ave 

 covered it in a very few minutes in the 

 auto. About a year ago Mr. Holtermann 

 decided he could no longer waste his time 

 in going from yavA to yard behind a horse, 



R. F. Holtermann, of B-ant- 

 ford, Ont., Can. Mr; Hol- 

 termann is wintering 700 

 colonies in Ontario, and 150 

 in Missouri. 



and so he purchased a five-jjassenger auto- 

 mobile — an Overland — which has proven a 

 good investment in more ways than one. 

 Frequently the " democrat," loaded with 

 fixtures, is towed behind the machine. Light 

 loads in a single wagon may be pulled eas-- 

 ily over good roads, and much better time 

 made, than with a horse. Of course, the 

 average automobile is not adapted for tow- 

 ing heavy loads. 



When we reached the yard I went at 

 once to the honey-house, and a busy scene 

 met my eyes. In all, there were six helpers 

 keeping the twelve-frame extractor going, 

 besides these out in the yard. Fig. 1 shows 

 the whole plant, although this particular 

 view .was taken at another yard. 



Before describing in detail the various 

 l^arts of the extracting outfit it may be well 

 to mention that Mr. Holtermann drives his 

 twelve-frame extractor with a gasoline-en- 

 gine, which, to economize space in the room, 

 is located outside the building, the belt run- 

 ning through a hole cut in the wall, Fig. 2. 

 The pump conveys the honey from the bot- 

 tom of the extractor to one after another of 

 the large tanks seen in the background of 

 Fig. 1, each of which holds about 3400 

 pounds. The tanks, of which there are 

 about 26 in all, are six feet high and three 

 feet in diameter. Mr. Holtermann does not 

 use a capping-melter, having, instead, two 

 large uncapping-tanks in which the cap- 

 pings drain. He is using for the first time 

 this season two steam uncai^ping-knives. 

 Heretofore he has always used cold knives 

 entirely. After being uncapped the combs 

 are placed diagonally, as shown, in a super 

 wliicli stands over a large square pan to 

 catch the drip. 



When I arrived I noticed that the belt 

 was not on the pump. It would not stay 

 on, in fact; and the pump, while a tiling of 

 beauty, was hardly a " joy forever." Near- 

 ly tlie whole time of one man was taken in 

 drawing off pails of honey from the bottom 

 of the extractor and lifting them up and 

 pouring the honey into those high tanks. I 

 at once saw that two mistakes had been 

 made in following the instructions, and we 

 proceeded to make them right. In the first 

 place, the large pulley was located on the 

 extractor shaft and the small one on the 

 pump. We exchanged pulleys, putting the 

 small one on the extractor-shaft, and the 

 large one on the pumji, thus reducing the 

 speed greatly. It dejiends somewhat on the 

 temperature of the room, and of the honey 

 also, on the heiglit to which the honey must 

 be elevated ; but if the pump runs 60 to 100 

 revolutions per minute it is fast enough for 

 all requirements. Mr. Holtermann's ex- 

 tractor being a twelve-frame, the pump was 



