1873.] 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



133 



,'^ 



off and carried to ^fsfey. different /Jiotels, apd 



returued.to iixe cars, .the trunks canje. back in a 



condition sviitable for another trjp of equal 



length., , A traveling companion, who also 



broj-ight his trunk in perfect condition to New 



] York, had it jammed, broken, and the contents 



\ injured badly, in going, barely one hundred and 



" fiftjr miles from the city. W\\l not our railroad 



managers do a great favor t,o. the public, by 



looking into this matter, — giving a word of 



caution to the careless or mischievous, and 



dismissing the incorrigible baggage smashers .^ '' 



This request of Orange Judd was not heard 

 by;the railroad managers. He could; have add- 

 ed that the travelers themselves are not as safe, 

 on the American railroads, as on the railroads of 

 Europe. Before coming to this country, I was 

 accustomed to the heavy stone railro9,d bri(Jges, 

 that will outlive the pyramids. When I saw 

 the wooden railroad bridges of this country, 

 that shake under the weight of the tra,ins, I 

 was astonished to see the government take so 

 little care of the lives of its citizens. In Europe, 

 thQ governments, l)efore granting the railroads 

 clia*"ters, have a plan made beforehand, and the 

 railroad companies are forced to comply with 

 it. Therefore, accidents are very rare, and we, 

 Americans, are held, by European people, as 

 very courageous, to dare travel on American 

 railroads where accidents are so common. 



All these complaints have been addressed to 

 the railroad managers, time and again ; but they 

 have too much business to do to lose their 

 time in listening to complaints, and mending 

 the bad management of railroads. Are they 

 not in a plot to fill their purses with the money 

 picked from the pockets of the good people of 

 America? Railroads are not made for the 

 benefit of the people, but for the Ijcnefit of 

 their stockholders. 



The time is at hand when the people will no 

 longer endure such base speculations on their 

 lives, and on their purses. The farmers are organ- 

 izing granges everywhere. Let us all join the 

 patrons of husbandry, to compel the railroad 

 managers to become the help of the tillers of 

 the soil, instead of a curse, as they have been 

 till now. 



To encourage the movement in favor of the 

 granges, I propose to make to grangers a dis- 

 count of ten per cent upon all the goods 

 ordered by them from my apiary. 



Chas. Dadant. 



Hamilton, III, Nov. 15, 1873. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Extracting Honey. 



The present spring and summer will show 

 the advantages of the extractor, and of the 

 movable comb hive. During the winter and 

 spring very many colonies that did not entire- 

 ly fail, became very much reduced in numbers. 



,A quQcp yf)i]t\ \i\j ten times the number of eggs 

 that such a colony can keep warm. The eggs 

 of a bee must be, kept waryi ,li.k,e those of a do- 

 mestic fowl or they will not.'hatch. , When 

 honey is abundant, as it has been 'quite early 

 this year, and the weather cool at night, they 

 will bring in honey much faster than the bjrood 

 will consume it. The surplus is stored as near 

 the brood as possible, and, of course, all cells 

 surrounding the brood on every side are filled 

 with honey, leaving no room for more brood, 

 except as a bee hatches, when the cell is at- 

 once used for an egg. A worker bee lives but 

 a few weeks — summertime — and the few hatch- 

 ing in such hive scarcely more than replace 

 those that are dying off. It takes a long time 

 to get a strong colony uuder such circumstances. 



With the extractor, and movable combs, we 

 can help matters greatly. These combs next 

 the brood, filled with honey, can be taken out, 

 bees brushed off", and the honey thrown out, 

 and the combs returned to the hive for refilling. 

 The queen will take the advantage of the empty 

 cells surrounding the brood, and deposit eggs 

 in much larger space than before. Tfie weath- 

 er being warm, the bees will protect and nurse 

 a much larger brood, which will soon greatly 

 add to the number of bees. If but few pounds 

 of honey are obtained, we have gained that, be- 

 side the increase of bees. The honey thus ob- 

 tained is of the purest kind, pure as the box 

 honey, and the chances of box honey are much 

 increased by the operation. 



When the colony is strong early and strong 

 enough to enter the boxes fully, and box honey 

 is the great desideratum, the extracting can be 

 omitted, but the quantity is much less than 

 when the extracting is followed up. The great- 

 est amount of honey can be obtained by ex- 

 tracting as often as once in four or five days 

 during the greatest yields. To test the matter 

 fully, begin early with a strong colony — it in- 

 creases the bees in a strong colony proportiona- 

 bly. Bees have been known to increase, and 

 not swarm till they filled the combs of four 

 ordinary hives, and collected over eighty pounds 

 of honey in one week, and near 400 during the 

 season. Extracting honey extensively from 

 full colonies, has a tendency to discourage natu- 

 ral swarming more than putting on boxes. If 

 an increase of colonies is desired, artificial 

 swarms must be made. But if the beekeeper 

 has no other than the old box hive, it is hardly 

 worth while to attempt making much improve- 

 ment in the management. He must be content 

 many times to allow his strongest stocks to 

 cluster outside, when the hive is full, and dp 

 nothing for half the summer, when the same 

 bees might, in a good season, gather one or two 

 hundred pounds. 



The principle of the extractor is centrifugal 

 force. It is unnecessary to describe fully at 

 this time. We will exhibit to any one Calling 

 on us, the full operation. We have already ex- 



