770 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



treme. It is these latter that we should try to 

 single out.] 



EXTRACTING HONEY BY THE AID OF A 

 STEAM-ENGINE. 



A. W. OSBURN, OF CUBA. TELLS US ABOUT HIS 

 MAMMOTH EXTRACTOR, AND HIS PLANS 

 FOR DOING EXTRACTING ON AN IM- 

 MENSE SCALE. AN EXTRACTOR 

 THAT WEIGHS 1730 LBS. 



FHend Root:— I am happy to s^y to you and 

 the readers of Gleanings" that my :il-frame 

 extractor, and engine to run it, are both in their 

 I'espective rooms, and we are now busy putting 

 them in position for business, which, by the 

 looks of our 600 colonies, will not be long in 

 coming. This has been no unusually good 

 year for honey. It has been too dry. P^rom 

 Jan. 1 to Aug. 15 we had only dJo inches of rain: 

 yet for all that. GOO colonies here in this one 

 apiary have done well. We have not fed one 

 pound of extracted honey this summer; and 

 now at this date many of them need extracting, 

 and will have their honey taken away as soon 

 as we can get the machinery in position to do it. 



Now, friend Root, you know in years gone by 

 you have heard me speak several times of ex- 

 tractors: and I once gave you ray ideas of 

 what I thought an extractor should be for busi- 

 ness. You made fun of it (but I forgive you. 

 as you are sorry for it now). Well. T have got 

 now the only extractor I ever saw. The others 

 have been but toys, playthings to be broken 

 and smashed every time a man got the least bit 

 in a hurry. But it will lie a cold day and a 

 slippery afternoon wlien the operator smashes 

 this one. To give you a little idea of its 

 strength and dimensions, I will say that the 

 reel is 7 ft. 3 in. across: the upright shaft is of 

 3-inch round steel, and weighs (the naked shaft) 

 127 lbs. The horizontal shaft is 2}.<-inch I'ound 

 steel. The arms that sup])ort the combs are % 

 square steel, and the whole machine complete 

 weighs 1730 lbs.: so you can see it is no toy or 

 plaything. It is all built of steel, and is "the 

 very best workmanship. It was built by E. R. 

 Newcomb, Pleasant Valley. N. Y., after plans 

 I sent him. The engine is a Bookwalter, built 

 by James Lettel & Co.. Springfield, Ohio, and is 

 first class in every respect. 



Now, will it pay? Well, let's see. I calculate 

 to be my own fireman and engineei'. and to ex- 

 tract ail the honey two men can bi'ing to me 

 with two comb-cai'ts that cany 80 combs each. 

 Now. how many men would it take to throw 

 out what honey these two carts can bring in in 

 a day ? Well. I can tell you pretty nearly. It 

 would take about six. The engine I can run 

 for 75 cts. a day for fui'l: oil, 15 cts.. all told, iiO 

 cts. Now. which would be the cheaper, do you 

 think? I will take the steam extracting-plant. 

 and let those extract by hand who like it better 

 than I do. 



Now. I know I have told you before that no 

 man knows what the honey resources of this 

 counti'y are. I have b^en trying to find out 

 something about it. but as yet I have not been 

 in position to judgi^ for I havt^ not had colonies 

 enough to test it. Does not this summer's ex- 

 perience prove that the resources are entirely 

 unknown? for. with all the dry weather, my (iOi) 

 colonies have done well. Why have they done 

 better than last year? I will tell you." Last 

 year I put in 4.50 young queens, and made 3(X) 

 new colonies, so you can see that all x\\(' colo- 

 nies were weak, and you need not be told that 

 weak colonies gather little or no honey to store. 

 This year I had but few colonies to make, and 

 but few queens to put in. so the colonies have 

 been strong all summer, and their hives wi-ll 



supplied with honey. So I tell you for a fact, 

 that I do not know what the resources of this 

 range are. I shall put 100 more colonies next 

 spring in this apiary, and try the range with 

 700 colonies. 



By the way, I want to tell you I took 3400 lbs. 

 more honey last spring after I sent in my re- 

 port, making 73.400 lbs. foi' last winter's crop. 

 To I'esume, I look at it like this: Suppose I get 

 more bees in this one apiary than can get a 

 good living all summer long: ^^iH it not pay to 

 feed a little in the summer? for. as I have told 

 you before, it is practically impossible to over- 

 stock in the winter. Well. 1 have the machinery 

 for throwing out an almost unlimited amountof 

 honey, and it is all under the same roof, with 

 the same set of hands, and the same manage- 

 ment. It is worth the trial, anyhow. 



A. W. OSBURN. 



Punta Brava, Cuba. W. I., Sept. 5. 



[No. friend O., we did not mean to make fun 

 of your extractor: wejonly desired, in a pleasant 

 way. to warn small bee-keepers of this country 

 against investing too much in appliances for 

 extracting. In your case we must certainly 

 consider the matter of locality. There are very 

 few places indeed that will support so large a 

 numbei': and where so many are in one place, 

 it is possible that you might use to advantage 

 steam power, providing you have other uses 

 for the engine outside of the extracting season. 

 An engine and boiler are expensive, and. if not 

 kept in use. will deteriorate, unless a great deal 

 of care is exci'cised. We should also considei" 

 first cost, and interest on the money. After all 

 it is a question whether you can extract the 

 honey as cheap by means of these extra appli- 

 ances as you could by the use of more small ex- 

 tractors and more men. Labor is cheap in 

 Cuba, we understand. Your enthusiasm is com- 

 mendable: and if any man will make it suc- 

 ceed, you piobably will. We shall read with 

 intei'est your further reports, and we hope you 

 will keep us posted right along.] E. R. 



PROGRAMS FOR CONVENTIONS. 



DR. MILLi:i! T?:LLS how HF. would H.A.VE 

 TIIEM. 



Well, about that program. What's a program 

 for? When yon attend a concert, a program is 

 placed in your hands that you may better un- 

 derstand what is going on. You hardly need 

 one for that purpose at a bee - convention. 

 Even if the program is not placed in your 

 hand at the concert, the performers need one 

 in order to have a plan to go by. So a plan is 

 needed at a bee-convention. And yet some 

 excellent conventions which I have attended 

 had no program made out beforehand. Tlie 

 fact is, you do not know beforehand who will 

 be in attendance, and it is too often the case 

 that a name is put on a program when the man 

 does not come at all. So I would make a point 

 right there, that no one's name should be put 

 on a program unless he had positively agreed 

 to be present t. 



Another object of a program is to advertise 

 the convention— tliat is, where the program is 

 published in advance. Indeed, is not that the 

 most important use? And an entirely legiti- 

 mate use it is. Get up a fine program, having 

 on it a number of tot)ics in which I am deeply 

 interested, and will not the reading of tliat pro- 

 gram make me anxious to attend? Snpi)Ose I 

 find on the program tht> two following items: 



'• The successful prevention of the desire to 

 swarm when working for comb honey. — 



Theodore StuU. 



Nailing hives together. — G. M. Doo?itt/e." 



