MARCH 1, 1916 



189 



Nos. 1 and 2 are the strainer. On the 

 bottom of frame No. 1 is nailed a galvan- 

 ized screen wire of the finest mesh obtain- 

 able in common screening stock. This sets 

 in frame No. 2, resting on a rabbeted edge, 

 which leaves the wire two inches above the 

 bottom of the frame. Frame No. 2 is cov- 

 ered with a heavy piece of tin into which 

 is made a spout forming a large funnel 

 wliich fits into the pipe leading to the tank 

 below down thi'u the floor. 



The tank may be seen in another picture. 



A pair of scales stands under the gate of 

 the tank at a level which will support a 

 sixty-pound can at the right height. The 

 honey is drawn into the can until the beam 

 goes up which is a sign there is a little more 

 than sixty pounds of honey in the can. 

 Now comes the first heavy lifting of the 

 entire operation, as the can must be lifted 

 into its ease to be labeled 60 pounds net, 

 and with its partner nailed up ready for 

 the journey to the warehouse. 

 Redlands, Cal. 



ADVANTAGES OF THE CENTRAL EXTRACTING -PLANT 



A First-class Carrying-rack for an Automobile 



BY W. H. CRAWFORD 



By our plan honey from all tlie outyards 

 is extracted at home, which reduces labor 

 and expense to a minimum, and at the same 

 time allows the beekeeper to be at home 

 most of the time during the harshest. The 

 boney-house is large, and equipped with an 

 eight-frame power extractor, and l^A H.P. 

 engine, uncapping-can. Iwo large . honey- 

 tanks, etc. 



The honey is produced in full-depth 

 eight-frame supers above queen-excluders, 

 with seven combs spaced so as to fill all the 

 space without using division-boards. Fifty 

 extra supers are ijrovided and filled with 

 combs or full sheets of foundation before 

 extracting begins. When the honey is ready 

 to extract, as many supers filled with combs 

 as ■will be needed to make a day's work are 

 loaded on the auto and carried to the out- 

 yard. The hives that are ready to extract 

 are located, and one su])er full of empty 

 combs is placed near each hive so located. 

 The combs in the empty supers are spaced, 

 and an escape-board is put on top of each 

 one of them. One man with a hive-tool 

 pries loose and lifts up the super full of 

 honey, when another man quickly places 

 the empty super in its place and puts an 

 escape-board on the empty super. The first 

 man then sets the full super on top. The 

 quilt and cover are adjusted so as to m,ake 

 (he full super absolutely bee-proof so that 

 robbers cannot get into it ; for often they 

 make mischief as soon as the bees desert it, 

 if allowed to do so. Now Ave have a super 

 full of empty combs between the full combs 

 above and the brood-chamber below, so that 

 the bees are escaped into the second story 

 containing the empty combs, instead of into 

 the brood-chamber. Hence not a moment 

 of time is lost to the bees in storing honey 

 in the super, which fact is very important. 



The full supers are allowed to remain on 

 the hives over night, giving time for the 

 bees to desert them. Each day in going for 

 the supers of honey, now ready to be car- 

 ried to the honey-house, other empty supers 

 of combs arc carried along, and placed on 

 other liives that are found ready to be 

 extracted in the same manner as already 

 described. Next the fpll supers now ready 

 to be loaded are loaded on to the auto and 

 taken to the honey-house at home. During 

 this whole time, not a comb was taken out 

 of a super nor a bee brushed off a comb. 



The honey is extracted the same day that 

 it is taken from the bees while it is yet 

 warm; for if allowed to remain over a night 

 after being taken off the hives it is twice as 

 hard to uncap and extract. 



By this method we have the same amount 

 of empty combs and supers on hand all 

 thru the season to be used as described 

 above, and they certainly do yield as large 

 profits as anything used in the production 

 of extracted honey. 



We work each yard once a week, picking 

 out such hives as are ready to extract and 

 passing over such as are not ready, for 

 another week. Only one super at a time is 

 given each colony ; therefore it means the 

 loss of quite a bit of honey to allow the full 

 combs of ripe honey to remain on the hives 

 after being finished. 



For hauling the honey we use a platform 

 on the automobile 51/^ feet wide and 5^2 

 feet long, made of boards 1 x 12 inches 

 hy 5V2 feet long, eleated together with 

 strips 2x2 inches by 5^2 feet long, put 

 together so as to make a solid floor. Three 

 sides of it arc provided with five rods V2 

 inch by 3 feet long to each side, both ends 

 of them tlu'eaded and provided with nuis; 

 also both ends of ea.ch ]od are bent to a 



