April V), 1900. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



245 



" ancient history " to correct the first statement made in tlic 

 foreg^oing citation, copied from Gleanings in Bee-Culture, 

 but no one has done so. As I was living in 1869, I will try 

 to show what some of the facts were at that date about the 

 honey-extractor, and to whom belongs the honor of its first 

 introduction to the bee-keepers of the United States. 



In the latter part of February or early in March, 1868, 

 L. L. Langstroth & Son sent me their annual printed circu- 

 lar, dated Feb. 20, 1868, in which they say : 



"A i)lau has been devised in Germany for emptying honey from the 

 comb without injuring the comb or removing the bee-bread or any other 

 impurities. By returning the emptied comb to tlie bees the yield of honey 

 in favorable seasons may be largely increast. An improvement on the 

 German apparatus for effecting this object was devised and patented by 

 L. L. Langstroth and 

 Samuel Wagner, but fur- 

 ther experimenting has 

 resulted in so simplifying 

 the machine that, as now 

 made, it is neither pat- 

 ented nor patentable. We 

 annex a cut of the pat- 

 ented machine. which will 

 give a general idea of the 

 principle on which the 

 modified apparatusworks. 

 As now made it has been 

 thoroly tested and found 

 to work admirably. Two 

 full- combs in the Lang- 

 stroth frames can be emp- 

 tied in less than 3 min- 

 utes after the cells are 

 uncapt, t o accomplish 

 which w e use a knife 

 made expressly for this 

 purpose, and fre<iuently 



dipt in BOILING WATER tO 



prevent clogging of the 

 edge. We make but one 

 size of machine, holding 

 two of the standard size 

 Langstroth frame iSi?^x- 

 ltt% inches inside meas- 

 urements. ) Frames o f 

 smaller size, or broken 



pieces of comb, can be _ 



emptied in it. Price of — "" — '^— ^ — =»=^ 



machine complete, includ- 

 ing knife and barrel, securelv packt and delivered to the express com- 

 panies at the place of manufacture in Central New York— Hi The liiiuid 

 honey, put up in glass self-sealing fruit-cins, we find to sell i-eadily 

 wherever introduced to the market. As we shall have the machines 

 manufactured only as ordered, those wishing them to use this season 

 should order early.'' 



The circular, from which I copy the foregoing, is still 

 in my possession and I will send to the editor the picture or 

 cut of the patented machine referred to by Langstroth cNi 

 Son, with the request that it be reproduced in the American 

 Bee Journal, so its readers may see and examine it for 

 themselves. 



On March 10, 1868, I sent iny order for the honey-knife 

 and the improved machine to Messrs. Langstroth i: Son, 

 and in a short time thereafter the same were sent to me in 

 this city from Central New York, but from what point I do 

 not just now remember. The machine was tried by me as 

 soon as received, but it did not suit me very well, and 

 mainly because it had no gearing — simply a short, hori- 

 zontal crank on top of the spindle to make the extracting- 

 box revolve. Otherwise the machine was a good one of the 

 kind. The outer-case was simply a well-made barrel. 



In the month of May following, I received an order for 

 a Langstroth machine from A. E. Trabue, of Hannibal, 

 Mo., a practical and extensive bee-keeper near that city, as 

 I was acting as agent for Langstroth & Son. As I thought 

 I could improve the machine in many ways, I sent on to Mr. 

 Trabue the one I got from Central New York. I then got 

 up a number of extractors and added a gearing to each of 

 them. One of those machines I sold to Jas. M. Marvin, of 

 this city, in the summer of 1§68, and he used it in his apiary 

 from year to j-ear up to the date of his death. That was a 

 strong, durable, and practical extractor and it is still in 

 good repair and ready to do a fair day's work, so I am as- 

 sured by a nephew of Mr. Marvin who now owns the same 

 machine. This nephew also resides in this city. 



I advertised my make of honey-extractors by circular, 

 and otherwise, in 1868, and for several years thereafter, and 

 sold a number of them to bee-keepers in this and other 

 States. 



Now, my main purpose in mentioning some of the fore- 

 going facts is simply to prove, as a matter of history, that 

 my old friend, Peabody,whom I knew personally quite well 

 while he was a resident of Illinois, did not by any 

 means put on the market of the United States the first 

 honey-extractor ; and, besides, to bestow honor upon whom 

 the same belongs. Kane Co., 111., March 16. 



Some Excellent Apiarian Sug'g'estions. 



BY VV.M. ,M. WHITNEV. 



TO one contemplating bee-keeping I would say, before 

 you commence actual practice—say during the winter — 

 procure some good work on the subject and study it 

 thoroly. Make a plan of your bee-yard and mark the places 

 for your hives and number them. With this diagram before 

 you, open your book of instructions and commence manipu- 

 lating your imaginary hives according to the directions 

 given, noting^ what has been done with each hive. Thus 

 will be fixt in the mind the different operations, so that 

 when the actual practice begins, you will not feel the de- 

 gree of embarrassment which you might otherwise experi- 

 ence in an emergency. 



In the meantime sttbscribe for some good apicultural 

 journal — more than one would be better. Then, in the 

 spring, you are ready to take care of 2 to 10 colonies of bees, 

 with plenty of leisure for other pursuits. 



Adopt standard appliances — hives, supers, cases, frames, 

 sections, etc. — always keeping in mind your particular 

 locality and its needs. To do this your eyes and ears must 

 be quick to catch every important matter pertaining to your 

 business, then if you have a rea.sonably good field for opera- 

 tions, and are a live, wide-awake person, as above indicated, 

 you will meet with a fair measure of success. 



"Let/ads alone, until those who make it a business to 

 experiment, have tested and proven their efficiency. I am 

 not opposed to those who are experimenting along those 

 lines, for many of our very valuable improvements have 

 been duhhed fads, and have met much opposition and ridi- 

 cule. But the beginner in any enterprise should feel his 

 way carefully, if he would escape the pitfalls that lie con- 

 cealed along his pathway. 



Apiculture — if I may be allowed to digress — in its full 

 significance, includes both science and art, and, to some 

 extent, might be taught in our schools of technology. It is ■ 

 as much a distinct branch of business as horticulture, flori- 

 culture, or any other specialty in rural pursuits, and can 

 only be carried on like the others successfully by the spe- 

 cialist ; therefore, it is not adapted to the ordinary or aver- 

 age farmer, so many of whom conduct their farm operations 

 in a loose, slipshod manner. 



Do not understand me as meaning that farmers should 

 not be bee-keepers, for among the rural population is the 

 proper place for the pursuit, but persons should be trained 

 for it, and manj" farmers are experts, but unless one intends 

 to study the business thoroly. and do his work in the best 

 manner, keeping his bees healthy, and everything neat and 

 clean, he should let it severely alone, or he will sooner or 

 later meet disaster, and spread disease and death among 

 the apiaries of the surrounding country. 



To emphasize what I wish, to convey, let me give one 

 illustration only, among many which might be given, viz.: 

 While talking with a man from the country not long ago 

 about bees, he said to me : 



" A neighbor has IS or 20 colonies. He started with two 

 Italian colonies which he bought in movable-frame hives, 

 but concluded he could not afford to buy such hives, so made 

 common box-hives for the increase. When more honey was 

 needed than could be got from boxes on top of the hives, 

 the bees were killed to get it. I bought two hives of him 

 last summer for the honey, and in the fall I butchered the 

 bees and got over 100 pounds of honey.'' 



Now, I would like'to bu/clicr s.\\ such bee-keeping. If 

 the business was in the hands of expert persons, scattered 

 about among the people of the rural districts to fairh- oc- 

 cupy the ground, it would be to the advantage, not only of 

 the manufacturer of bee-keepers' supplies, but of the pub- 

 lishers of bee-literature, and would be much better for all 

 concerned, than the indiscriminate bee-keeping which is so 

 often advocated at bee-keepers' conventions, and thtu the 

 medium of apicultural journals, Kankakee Co., 111. 



Celluloid Bee-Button. — We have had made to order a 

 very neat Jj-inch celluloid button to pin on the coat-lapel. 

 Upon it is the picture of a golden queen-bee, and around 

 the edge these words: " Our toil doth sweeten others." It 

 will especially please the boys and girls, and is a neat thing 

 for members of bee-conventions to wear. It is a nice badge 

 or emblem of the sweet industry in which bee-keepers are 

 engaged. Prices, postpaid : One button, 8 cts.; 2 buttons, 

 6 cts. each ; or 5 or more, 5 cts. each. Stamps taken. 



