1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



555 



from two to four miles wide, on which the gondolas 

 may be seen day and nig-ht. Such position makes 

 of Venice the most wonderful city for the tourist 

 to visit, but, for the same reason, the worst city 

 in which to keep bees, that can be imagined. 

 Hruschka owned in the city a palace, in which he 

 dwelled, though boarding at the hotel, to follow his 

 trade, while his bees were at Dolo. 



From what he narrated, on his invention, to the 

 Italian bee-keepers, it appears that, in 1865, a small 

 piece of comb in a dish having been put in a basket 

 fixed to a rope, and whirled around like a toy, by 

 his little son, a few drops of honej- were slung out 

 of some of the cells. These few drops were, for his 

 observing mind, the germ of the large step in bee 

 culture which resulted from his invention. The 

 application of this idea underwent sev'eral changes 

 and e.Yperiments. 



The first machine made by Hruschka was a square 

 tin box, the bottom of which, covered with wire 

 cloth, was funnel-shaped; a glass was fastened un- 

 der it to receive the running honey. 



different-sized wheels, joined by a string. Nearly 

 all the machines now in use are only modifications, 

 or, rather, improvements, of this (Fig. 3). 



FIQ. 1. HBUSCHKA'S FIRST HONEY-EXTRACTOIt. 



The glass was soon discarded, and replaced by a 

 stopper. The box was suspended by a rope, and 

 turned like a sling (Fig. 1). But as the work of ex- 

 tracting was very slow with such a primitive ma- 

 chine, Hruschka invented a large triangular frame, 

 at the center of which a vertical spindle, turning 

 on a pivot, supported a horizontal beam lU feet 

 long, at both ends of which the boxes were sus- 

 pended. Two ropes, one rolling round while the 

 other unrolled, moved the slinging-boxes, which, 

 dropping vertically as soon as the motion stopped, 

 prevented the honey from running out. The 

 length of the beam helped the extracting by in- 

 creasing the speed of the motion (Fig. 3). But this 





FIG. 2. HRUSCHKA'S SECOND EXTRACTOR. 



big machine proving too cumbersome, Hruschka 

 invented another extractor, with a crank and two 



FIG. 3.- HRUSCHKA'S PERFECTED EXTRACTOR. 



Reduced models of these three first extractors 

 were exhibited at the Exposition of Insects, held in 

 Paris, in 1868, entered under the name of Angelo 

 Lessame, of Dolo, Venetia. It is very probable 

 that the Major de Hruschka, in borrowing this 

 name, was prompted by his modesty. It is useless 

 to add, that the grateful remembrance of Hruschka 

 will last as long as his invention will be used by 

 bee-keepers— I mean, for ever. Chas. Dadant. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Many thanks, friend Dadant, for kindly 

 furnishing us the above particulars in regard 

 to one to whom we are indebted so much, 

 and of whom we have known so little. Per- 

 haps we sliould explain to our readers, 

 that the portrait was copied by the photo- 

 engraving process, from a picture of Major 

 Hruschka, found in (iravenhorst's" national 

 Bee-keeping." The three other engravings 

 are reduced copies of some found in a French 

 journal, entitled Journal des Fermes. loaned 

 us by friend Dadant. The journal is dated 

 1809. And now it transpires, as it has so 

 many times before, that not until his death 

 we discover how much we have been indebt- 

 ed in these years past to the inventor of the 

 honey-extractor. If my memory serves me 

 correctly, the first intimation I ever had that 

 such a machine had ever been made, was 

 from a brief note in a bee-journal published 

 a short time by Mr. VanSlyke, of New York. 

 This came out just before friend Wagner 

 was induced to resume publishing the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal^ and was soon after sold out 

 to the .1. B. J. Just the bare mention of 

 such a machine was enough to set me at 

 work, and pretty soon I found that our old 

 friend Langstroth had already been using 

 one, and found a ready sale for liquid honey. 

 I believe I made the first all-metal honey- 

 extractor, and at the present time it is not so 

 very much unlike tlie large engraving above, 

 only I very soon decided upon gearing in- 

 stead of a" cord and pulleys. The all-metal 

 honey-extractors which we began to make 



