GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



A farmer who protluccs extracted houey, and lives 

 five miles from any town, told me that he could not 

 supply the demand in his own neiKhljorhood. By 

 the way, his wife was a wood talker. Mr. Simpson 

 (who brought flgwort into notice as a honey- 

 plant) used to sell a barrel of extracted honey in a 

 day, by selling- it by the jjallon, from his wagon. 

 Bee-keepers blamed him for it; said lie " sold it too 

 cheaply." Others said be did right; sold it, got his 

 money for it. If he had shii)ped it by rail it would 

 have been knocked around, and been leaking, and 

 the barrel would have arrived at the place of des- 

 tination, and the honey fed the bees for a thousand 

 miles. Plant all the Simpson honey-plants you want 

 to; but cultivate best a honey market. 



Peoria, 111. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



At the present writing, Mrs. II., I do not 

 know of any nice honey olfered for 7 cts. 

 Since my notice it seems to hiive been all 

 taken up. I prestune one great reason for 

 tlie low price is, that sugai- is so very low- 

 in fact, lower tlian it evei- was before, so I 

 have been told.— I know tliat giocers often 

 have honey two or three yeai's uncalled for, 

 and there are a good many tilings in our 

 lunch-room that would never be called for if 

 they were kept under the counters all tlie 

 wdiile, and no mention mad'e of tliem. In lo- 

 calities ANlifre extracted lioney has never 

 been inti'odiicpd, jieople never call for it, be- 

 cause they <lo not know there is such a thing. 

 One great reason why so many fall in the 

 gi'ocery business, as well as other kinds of 

 mercantile (K'eui>aii(His, is ))ecause they can 

 not talk and make known to the customers 

 they (k) have what tlrey have got for sale. 

 It takes a man who loves his business, to 

 succeed in selling groceries, exactly as it 

 does to succeed In keeping bees, or any 

 thing else, for that matter. 



SOMETHING ABOUT EXTRACTORS. 



AIIE THERE EXTRACTORS IN USE THAT WILL EX 

 TRACT ALL THE HONEY LATE IN THE FALL? 



SAS the need of a cover for your extractor nev- 

 er been jiresented to youV I was on the 

 point of replacing- my extractor with one 

 having a cover, because of the disagreeable 

 habit which the " Novice " has of throwing 

 the honey out at the top of the can. Before doing 

 so, however, I thought 1 would see if I could not 

 remedy the evil at a less expense. I had a circular 

 piece of tin cut the size of the extractor top, from 

 which a circle four inches in diameter was cut. An 

 embossed handle was added, and one side of the 

 cover was made to conform to the curve of the arm 

 of the extractor. It is a complete success. No more 

 streams of honey running down my honey-house 

 wall; no more beads of lioney standing out like 

 sweat on my face, or glistening like dew in my hair. 

 And now there is anothei- detect in my extractor, 

 which seriously interferes with my |)eace of mind. I 

 can not get it to throw tlio honey from the comb as 

 clean as I would like. Mr. Iledilon claims that a 

 good extractor will throw the honey out clean. I 

 could well afford to pay $50.00 for such an extract- 

 or. I have weighed eoinbs as they came from the 

 extractor, and re-weighed them after the bees had 

 cleaned them out, and I find that the combs will 

 average a pound of honey as Ihcy eoine from the 



extractor. This is a matter of considerable import- 

 ance whei-e the bee-keeper's store combs run up 

 into the thousands; 3000 combs represent a ton of 

 honey, which a man may reckon into his crop if he 

 wants to make it as large as possible, but not into 

 his income. 



Perhaps you will say, give the combs back to the 

 bees, and let them clean them out. This is imprac- 

 tical after the honey season has closed. I have 

 tried it, and I shall not try it soon again. I have 

 sent an order to Mr. Heddon for an extractor which 

 will throw the honey out clean. James McNeill. 



Hudson, N. Y., Aug. 11, 1884. 



Friend M., we have never made a cover 

 such as you describe, for we never expect to 

 furnish " anybody with an extractor that 

 throws over the lop of the can. In your case 

 your combs are revolved too near the upper 

 edge of the can that holds theiu. Another 

 tiling, where the combs run within livUf an 

 inch of this u])i)er edge, and give no trouble 

 during the honey season, if you attempt to 

 e.xtract very old and thick honey, such as 

 will be found in the coml)s in the fall, it will 

 sometimes Hy over, because so much more 

 speed is recjuired to get tlie honey out, and I 

 think this is why you found a wliole pound 

 of honey remaining in tlie comb. I sliould 

 say, without making any experiment, that 

 any good extractor should take out all the 

 lioliey except about a quarter of a pound, or 

 thereabouts. This adheres by capillary at- 

 traction, and I do not believe an extractor 

 can be made that will take it all out. Where 

 the honey is very old and thick, as mention- 

 ed above, of course more will remain stick- 

 ing to the bottom and walls of the cells. In 

 trying to extract honey late in the fall, I 

 have turned the combs so hard as to mash 

 them into the wire cloth, but I did not get 

 the honey ((// out, even then. As our ex- 

 tractors are capable of revolving the combs 

 all tliey will ordinarily bear, I do not know 

 how we can improve on them in this respect, 

 by making the machine larger and heavier. 

 I know i)adaiit recommends extracting hon- 

 ey late in the season, after the yield is all 

 over, and I know tliat we, too, get a very line 

 quality of honey by this meinis ; Imt unless 

 we choose a very warm day for the work, we 

 shall tind it a pretty difficult matter to get it 

 all out, as stated above ; and if we give 

 combs to tlie bees to let them collect what 

 remains sticking to tlie combs, as explained, 

 we shall very likely have rolibing, such as 

 you seem to have had. Will those who 

 have ha<l experience in this, tell us some- 

 thing aliout ity In all our e^xperience in ex- 

 tracting, and we have extracted very late in 

 the fall too, we have ;d\vavs been in the hab- 

 it of giving the coinbs back to tlie bees to be 

 cleaned betowe putting them away for an- 

 other season. I 'iiless tliisis done, the honey 

 will dry down on the combs so hard that it 

 seems "to me it would be a task for even the 

 bees to clean them next season. As for an 

 extractor that woukl throw the honey all off 

 from the coinbs, so that it is all clean and 

 dry, the matter would be an utter impossi- 

 biiity. \'ery thin new honey in very warm 

 weather woukl come of pretty clean, but 

 there would still remain a film, held by cap- 

 illary attraction, as explained above. 



