1872.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



29 



V 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Novice. 



Dear Journal :— We have had a very busy 

 month since we last wrote you, and many little 

 successes and some reverses. 



Honey came in steadily until just as the bass- 

 wood began to bloom, when the extreme drouth 

 prevented our index scale from showing more 

 than one pound per day, and then f, and now, 

 July 10th, only about ^ pound increase in twenty- 

 four hours, although the bassvvoods are loaded 

 with blossoms. This may change it, as the 

 blossoms in the dense forests will last nearly 

 two weeks longer, and our usual hopeful dispo- 

 sition prompts us to look for better things be- 

 fore the season ends. We have filled 9£ barrels 

 of very thick honey, for which we are offered 

 only 13f cents, delivered in Cincinnati. This 

 seems a small price, but after all we think it 

 much better than 30 cents for box honey. 



By the way, how many of our friends are 

 having trouble with leaky barrels ? Just listen, 

 and we will tell you a remedy. We don't want 

 any 25 cents either for the information, nor in 

 fact all the information we can give on any 

 point, unless it be a stamp for postage, even if 

 much time and many experiments have been 

 made. What successes we achieve are freely at 

 the service of our beekeeping friends, and all we 

 ask is the benefit of their experience likewise. 

 We have no fear that too much honey will be 

 produced, or that the price will go too low. Now, 

 then ! Leaky barrels. 



Make your barrels clean and dry, even leaving 

 them in the sun a few hours before you drive 

 the hoops on closely will do no hurt; and then 

 pour in at the bung, quickly, about a gallon of 

 melted wax, boiling hot. Now put in the bung, 

 spin on one end and then the other, roll it over, 

 pour out the wax, and if you have been quick 

 only from ^ to 1 pound will be used and your 

 barrel is as tight as a glass bottle, and the honey 

 is kept pure and sweet in the receptacle that 

 nature furnishes. The heated wax expands the 

 air, forcing the hot wax into all crevices, as you 

 will see when you draw the bung with a report 

 like a bottle of soda. If you wish to see how 

 neatly it does the work, look inside with a bit of 

 looking-glass. We put two coats of paint out- 

 side, and then we have some honey barrels that 

 it will pay to keep, so we shall always have them 

 returned when we ship honey. 



To be sure that the honey is free from dust, 

 flies, etc., we make a little sack of cheese cloth, 

 which is dropped into the bung hole as far as a 

 wire ring, a little large, will allow it to go. The 

 ring is sewed around the mouth of the sack. 

 The faucet, or rather the molasses-gate, from 

 the Extractor runs the honey into this, and when 

 we stop work the barrel is closed to flies, &c, 

 but is always ready to resume work. 



And now about Extractors. 



We really feel it a duty to give the result of 

 some experiments, even though it should result 

 in loss to a few individuals ourselves included. 

 Most of our readers know that our first ex- 

 tractor, made about six years ago, revolved the 



combs inside of a stationary tin can. This we 

 have always used until last season, when Mr. 

 Peabody sent us one of his, and we liked their 

 appearance ; we sold a number, and in fact 

 finally sold sample and all for accommodation, 

 before we had used it more than one day, and 

 went back to our old one This season we sold 

 the old one for $10, and fixed a Peabody so that 

 it would strain the honey and run it into the 

 barrel, as we supposed, in the best manner. Very 

 soon our assistant complained of being tired, 

 and finally that the Peabody machine would 

 require a strong man to work it, and insisted 

 that the labor was very much greater than our 

 rude o'd machine. 



" But it is balanced on a pivot, just see how 

 easy it turns !" said we. 



"Exactly, Mr. Novice, but do you not see 

 that much power is required to get up the 

 proper velocity and then much more power re- 

 quired to stop it quickly, which I must do when 

 you are bringing the filled combs at the rate you 

 do now? Give me the old machine and I will 

 keep the full combs out of your way." 



Theories wouldn't do there, Mr. Editor, so we 

 looked for the cause. Gray & Winder's geared 

 machine was then tried. The longer lever 

 gave more power to stop and start the machine, 

 and really requires less labor to turn up to the 

 proper speed, but is so much less convenient in 

 placing and replacing combs that we should 

 hardly decide it more desirable. The trouble 

 with both, and all revolving can machine*, is, the 

 momentum of so much metal, combs and honey, 

 for the honey too is revolved until the machine 

 is stopped. 



Now, then, dear readers, our old machine was 

 only a light wire frame, and very little power 

 brought it up to the required speed, and so soon 

 as the honey flew out it struck the side of the 

 stationary can, so that the machine when it had 

 relieved itself of the weight of honey, could be 

 stopped with little effort at once, and without 

 any serious shock to the machinery, or that 

 "piece of humanity that supplied the motive 

 power." 



Mr. Editor, did you ever observe a woman 

 doing housework and the way in which she 

 would make the implements and utensils play 

 and accomplish more in five minutes than we 

 " lords of creation " could in an hour? Well, 

 this is only possible with light machinery ; pon- 

 derous, awkward implements cannot be made to 

 '• travel" at times. 



We got ahead with our work the best way we 

 could, and then with some strips of thin tin, 

 folded for strength, we made a light, strong 

 squaie frame, just large enough to hold two 

 Lamrstroth frames 10 inches apart. Made a can 

 large enough for it to revolve in, on a steel pivot 

 at the bottom, and the gearing from a cast iron 

 paring machine at the top to turn it by ; fixed 

 it so that the honey was delivered just at the 

 proper height to run in the bung hole of the 

 barrel, and the first trial brought forth an excla- 

 mation. 



"Was it possible! that so little effort re- 

 moved all the honey from a couple of combs." 

 Since then our combs have been emptied with a 



