THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The Honey Extractor. 



AN ADDRKSS BY A. I. ROOT, OV MKUINA. OHIO. 



HEFORE TilK MICHIGAN BEE-KEKP- 



EUS" A.^SOCFATION. 



Jfi: President, Ladies and CTentlemen — 

 \Vc have been requested to address you 

 on the ••Honey Extractor, its use and 

 bcnotits," but i)efore so doing would re- 

 nuirk. that should Ave here repeat much 

 tiial has been gone over betbre, we hope 

 to be excused on tlie ground that much 

 repetition seem» to be necessary to induce 

 bee-ke(*per« to give the credit that is due 

 to thislimplement of the apiarj'. 



Aboijt the year 1856, we, as- an experi- 

 ment, moved a small colony from its stand 

 in the month of June, and placed in its 

 stead a 'hive containing only empty combs 

 with a caged fertile queen. On releasing 

 the qiieen. fbrty-eight hours afterward, we 

 wei-e so astonished at the appearance of 

 things that we weighed the hive, bees and 

 all, and to and that it had gained in the in- 

 terval, thi 'ty pounds. 



The question at once arose whether they 

 would not go on increasing at the rate of 

 fifteen pounds per 'lay, for some days to 

 come, were the}^ furnished with facilities 

 in the shape of empty combs as fast as 

 they Avere filled, for none of our other col- 

 onies, though equalh^ strong, had made 

 any such increase in the same time. 



Shortly afterward, E. Van Slyke, in the 

 Bee-keepers' Gazette, solved the problem for 

 us by his notice of the German Centi'ifugal 

 ^lachiue, and soon we had hastily extem- 

 porized a rude tin can with revolving- 

 frame inside, made of iron wire and hair- 

 cloth. A brief trial of this rude machine, 

 in a half finished state. epiiAinced us that 

 combs cojajd be made emjjty in a twink- 

 ling anrf without injury, and befojre the 

 season closed we had half a ton of nice 

 honey [lat, up in quart ghiss jars, neatly 

 labelled, aad these sold rapidly for a time 

 at one loILar each. w 



.\tter cold weather came on, the honey 

 of coarse, candied, and our beautiful honey 

 that had been so much admired for its 

 "transpareiKy^ and purit}', presented more 

 the api^earance of Jars of lard than any- 

 thing else, and in spite of the fair reputa- 

 tion that we had always borne, there be- 

 gan to be considerable -'talk" that we 

 had manufactured tlie honev. and our bees 



didn't gather so much, for it was •• actually 

 turning back to sugar." However, the 

 honey all went somewhei-e before another 

 season, and we ii\dulged through the Win- 

 ter in "bright visions," and before •'fruit 

 blossoms " we had purchased one pound 

 jai's to hold a ton, and labels in two colors 

 for all sources we could think of li-om 

 which our bees might gather honej', so as 

 to be all ready tor the coming harvest. 

 By the way, we have just l)een hxjking 

 over our unused labels and find thost- jn-int- 

 ed for Fruit blossoms. Locust blossoms. 

 Alsike Clover, (we had all of an eightli of 

 an acre,) Buckwheat, and Autumn wild- 

 flowers nearly all remain on hand. White 

 clover and basswood being the principal 

 well defined sources. 



Well our jars to hold a ton were soon 

 filled, and we need not tell here how we 

 borrowed all the wash boilers in the neigh- 

 borhood, and washing day did come, and 

 onr bottles didn't come ; but it was all 

 made " lovety " and we sold nearly three 

 tons of honey in the one and two pound 

 bottles. But cold weather came again, 

 and again it looked like lard and wouldn't 

 sell, and, "more too," in the candying 

 process it pushed the corks out of the bot- 

 tles, and some of the boxes had been left 

 "wi-ong side up," and the labels were 

 spoiled on those that weren't wrong side 

 up, and as a last resort we ])oured or tried 

 to pour the honey out those little bottles 

 into barrels, and they had to be warmed, 

 and if we hurried them to get through the 

 " muss " they broke, and now we don't put 

 our honey into glass jars until they are 

 ordered in that "shape. We use nothing 

 STnaller than quart fruit jars, and never try 

 to hold honey with corks, but use those 

 jars that have secure fastenings equal to 

 all emergencies; those with glass covers 

 and a metal clamp, called the Haines Fruit 

 Jar, we like best. 



Again, during a very rapid 3'ield of hon- 

 ey, combs are sometimes filled betbre the 

 honey has had time to ripen, and some 

 that we bottled in that state came so near 

 fermenting that it gave extracted honey 

 rather a bad reputation, and justly so, for 

 we were astonished at the contents of 

 some of our own when picked out at ran- 

 dom and brought to the table. At first 

 the idea was quite romantic of bottling 

 the " nectai* " fresh from the floAvers the 

 same daA- it Avas crathered. Imt even our 



