THM MMERICJtJfi WMm JQtfRNKI,. 



153 



Mr. Boyd said the profits from 40 

 colonies of bees doubled the profits on 

 40 acres of land. 



Mr. Horton advised bee-keeping 

 mixed with farming. 



"Advice to Young Farmers' Wives," 

 could not have came from a better 

 source than Mrs. M. W. Scott ; it was 

 a most excellent essay. 



Upon a vote being taken, it was de- 

 cided to hold the next annual meeting 

 at Hesperia, Mich. 



The election of officers resulted as 

 follows : President, M. W. Scott ; 1st 

 Vice-President, T. H. Stuart, 2nd "Vice- 

 President, M. Thompson ; 3rd . Vice- 

 President, Geo. W. Ada ; Secretary and 

 Treasurer, Geo. E. Hilton. Commit- 

 tee on Resolutions, M. W. Scott, Wilkes 

 Stuart, and Wm. E. Gould. 



"Practical Butter-Making," by Mrs. 

 S. V. Walker, brought out many use- 

 ful suggestions. 



Mr. Walker said he knew butter 

 would attract the odor of vegetables 

 through a brick wall. 



The general verdict was that the 

 cold setting of milk was preferable, 

 both as a saving of labor and an in- 

 crease of protits. 



Mr. Wm. E. Gould then read the 

 following essay on, 



Xlie Use of tlie Extractor— Ex- 

 tracted Honey. 



Prof. A. J. Cook has well said, 

 " Since Mr. Langstroth gave the mov- 

 able-frame hive to the world, the api- 

 arist has not been so deeply indebted 

 to any one inventor as to him who 

 gave us the honey-extractor, Herr von 

 Hruschka, of Germany." 



The latter half of the Nineteenth 

 Century will be styled by future bee- 

 keepers, "The golden era of apicul- 

 ture." But a few years ago bee-keep- 

 ing was in a barbaric state : following 

 the invention of the movable-frame 

 hive by Rev. L. L. Langstroth in 1852, 

 came many inventions of apiarian im- 

 plements — some poor, but many of 

 great value — which have made bee- 

 keeping what it ?s to-day. 



One of Michigan's leading bee-men 

 has said, that bee-keeping has reached 

 its maniimum greatness, or something 

 to that eftect. I differ from him — our 

 chosen pursuit is yet in its infancj' — it 

 will not have reached its maximum 

 greatness until on ever}' hill and by 

 every stream is heard the low murmur- 

 ing of the busy bee, and no flower 

 shall bloom in vain, or "waste its 

 fragrance on the desert air." 



Extracted honey should never be 

 called "Strained honey." In the good 

 (?) old days of the box-hive, when a 

 colony had died, or had been brim- 

 stoned, the comb containing honey and 



pollen was cut out of the hive, mashed 

 up, and then strained. Honey secured 

 in that way is strained honey, not ex- 

 tracted. Of necessity mucli pollen re- 

 mained in the honey, often imparting 

 a llavor not to be desired. Extracted 

 honey is thrown out by a machine 

 called "the extractor," and never con- 

 tains pollen. Pollen in unripe honey, 

 or, more properly, lioney that is ex- 

 tracted before tlie bees have capped it, 

 w-ill ferment, thus giving the honey a 

 disagreeable taste. 



The extractor is simply a large can 

 cantainiug a basket made of coarse 

 wire-cloth. The basket can be re- 

 volved, and will contain two or more 

 frames of comb. Before the combs 

 are placed in the extractor, the cap- 

 pings are shaved oft' with a knife made 

 especially for the purpose ; then the 

 basket is revolved. The centrifugal 

 force thus created causes the honey in 

 the outer side of the combs to fly out 

 against the inside of the can, then, by 

 reversing the combs, the honey may 

 be thrown out of the other side. 



Ativan ta$>:e!i« Uerived from tlic 

 Use ol' (lie Extractor. 



The use of the extractor enables us 

 to secure double the amount of honey, 

 and the combs after being extracted 

 from, ma}' be placed back in the hive 

 to be filled again, thus saving the bees 

 a great deal of work just at the time 

 when every minute counts. Nor is this 

 all. Every bee-keeper knows that 

 large quantities of honey are consumed 

 by the bet's when secreting wax for 

 comb-building ; now if empty combs 

 are placed in the hive when needed, 

 the honey that would have been used 

 for making wax, is stored along with 

 the surplus honey, thus increasing the 

 product of the colony for the season. 



Honey must be coming in in large 

 quantities to insure comb-building, 

 hence in a poor season the bees are 

 very slow to occupy the sections. In 

 such a season a fair crop of extracted 

 honey may be secured when the comb 

 honey crop would be a failure. 



When we do not desire any more 

 bees, increase may be prevented much 

 more rcatlily by the use of the extrac- 

 tor than by any other method. 



As extracted honey can be produced 

 in larger quantities than comb honej% 

 and can be produced cheaper, hence 

 it finds a more ready sale among the 

 laboring classes generally than comb 

 honey. Extracted honey is rapidly 

 gaining in favor, more than one-half 

 of the honey produced in the United 

 States being extracted. 



At the end of tlie season all un- 

 finished sections may be extracted, and 

 thus what honey is in them is secured 

 in salable shape. The sections, after 

 having been cleaned up by the bees, 

 should be storeil away where they will 



be safe from dust. The next season 

 they will be valuable to entice the 

 bees into the crates of sections. 



By using conil)-ba.skets,broken pieces 

 of comb and pieces of drone-conii),that 

 have been cut out of the hive, may be 

 extracted, and the comb used for 

 starters. 



By proper arrangements, extracted 

 honey may be secured in the spring 

 and late in the fall, and comb honey 

 in the summer ; thus we would secure 

 the best honey in the sections, and the 

 poorer as extracted. By this system 

 more honey is secured, for as I have 

 before said, extracted honey may be 

 secured when the bees will not work 

 in the sections. 



The mistake made by amateur bee- 

 keepers is in extracting so closely that 

 the bees starve. When the honey has 

 been taken too closely, the bees should 

 be fed. 



Often in the spring the bees till the 

 brood-combs so full of honey that the 

 (lueen has not room to la}", thus the 

 value of the colony for the season is 

 impaired ; now if the bee-keeper has 

 his eye on att'airs, he may throw the 

 honey out of all the combs but the two 

 outer ones, and thus give the queen a 

 chance to lay ; but a watchful eye must 

 be kept, for the bees are apt to do the 

 same thing over again. This extract- 

 ing usually stimulates the bees. 



In the fall, all objectionable honey- 

 may be taken from the brood-nest, 

 thus giving more surety of safe winter- 

 ing. 



After being thrown out, the honey 

 should be passeil through a cloth to 

 free it from little particles of wax — I 

 purposely refrain from the use of the 

 word "Strainer." In cold weather it 

 is well to heat the honey, as it 'flows 

 more readily when warm. In warm 

 weather, if the honey is allowed to 

 stand over night, the wax will rise to 

 the top, when the clear honey may be 

 drawn from the bottom. 



Honey should not be extracted until 

 capped ; if extracted before, it is thin 

 and watery, and is said to be " green " 

 or " unripe." (ireen honey is not very- 

 palatable, and most of what is thought 

 to be adultcratcil honey is this very 

 same green honey. With sugar at 8 

 to 9 cents per pound, and honey at 10 

 cents, and dealer's commission 20 per 

 cent., what profit could there be in 

 adulterating with sugar ? 



" But," says one, "how about feed- 

 ing cheap sugar to bees, and letting 

 them store it in the surplus apart- 

 ments ?" That amount will be used, no 

 matter what the source of the food. 

 Now where is the profit ? 



The best proof of the purity of honey 

 is its candying. When the tempera- 

 ture goes below SO-", Fahr., honey will 

 cantly. Remember that sugar syrup 



