1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



209 



As was to be expected, robbers were flj'ing all 

 through the building, nosing into every thing, 

 especially into combs, and about every min- 

 ute one would strike the reel revolving in the 

 extractor, and then be thrown by centrifugal 

 force against the side of the can. These, to- 

 gether with the robbers already on the combs, 

 rattled against the sides of the can as they 

 were thrown out with the honey. Of course, 

 the surface of the honey in the extractor was 

 covered with dead or struggling bees, and 

 these extended to the deptli of an inch or 

 more into the honey. 



I asked Mr. Coggshall if he used any strain- 

 er. " Don't need any," said he. As the bees 



were taken out and "dumped" to be cleaned 

 by the bees. 



Mr. Coggshall probably loses, I should say, 

 anywhere from a quart to a peck of bees at 

 each extracting. But that does not matter. 

 "Why," said he, "I can raise bees for fifty 

 cents a colon}-; and the cost of trying to save 

 those few bees by constructing a bee-proof 

 building, and working slowly and carefully 

 enough to avoid robbers, would amount to a 

 good many times more than the value of the 

 bees." 



Mr. C. makes use of a four-frame non-rever- 

 sible extractor of his own get-up. The Lang- 

 stroth frames, instead of being put down end- 



COGGSHATX'S EXTRACTOR AND THE METHOD OF INSERTING COMBS. 



were lighter than the honey, they would float; 

 and when the honey (and swimming bees) 

 reached almost to the reel of the extractor the 

 operator stopped a moment, placed a pail un- 

 der the extractor-gate, and drew it doM'U pail- 

 ful by pailful, and emjitied into the half barrel. 

 I watched very carefully, but I could not see 

 a single dead bee in the honey so drawn off. 

 After a day's extracting, or perhaps half a 

 day's, there would be from two to four inches 

 of dead bees in the honey. The liquid portion 

 is drawn off through the honey-gate below, 

 and the dead bees — well, I don't just remem- 

 ber what was done with them; but I think 

 that, after they got through extracting, they 



2V!sc^ are set into the machine just as they 

 hang in 'the hive; ; and instead of putting 

 combs into a reel, one on each of the four 

 sides, the combs are placed in the machine in 

 pairs, the two pairs lieing opposite, and each 

 comb of a pair separated off by a sheet of tin as 

 large as the comb. This, of necessity, places 

 two combs nearer the center of the reel than 

 the other two. I told Mr. Coggshall it seemed 

 to me that the outer ones would be better ex- 

 tracted. 



"Well, see if you can see the difference;" 

 and although I looked over quite a number, 

 the combs seemed to Le abotit all equally well 

 extracted. 



