MAY 1, 1916 



357 



IT TAKES NO MORE TRIPS TO OPERATE OUTYARDS FROM A CEN- 

 TRAL EXTRACTING-PLANT 



BY A. B. MANK 



i 



T believe in the central extracting-plant 

 system, for I think it is by far the safest 

 and most economical plan. Forget the port- 

 able or the separate plant at each j'ard, and 

 pnt np a central extracting-plant, and in- 

 stall a friction -drive power extractor, and 

 be happy. I care not whether you use team 

 or auto truck, it pays- just the same. Of 

 course, an auto truck is mucli to be prefer- 

 red; but you can get along with horses. 

 Leave your wagon a few rods from tlie 

 liives and out of the bees' line of flight, and 

 keep all honey well covered after it is taken 

 from the hives, and you are not liable to 

 have trouble. 



It takes no more trips to opei-ate your 

 outyard fi'om a central plant than it does to 

 extract at the yard ; but it does take a few 

 more supers. Load on the wagon your 

 extra supers, as many as ^(lu will need, and 

 go to your outyard toward evening. Take 

 off the hives the full supers, and in their 

 places put supers with empty combs or full 

 sheets of foundation, as the case may be, 

 on these the bee-escapes, and finally the 

 supers of honey whicli you Avish to take off. 

 In the morning go back and get your honey. 

 You will find the bees all out of the sujiers 

 providing you me good, clean, double Por- 

 ter escapes. (I have used them all, and the 

 Porter double escape is the only one that 

 has given entire satisfaction and cleared 

 the supei-s of bees.) Load your supers, to- 

 gether with the escapes, and haul them 

 liome and extract where cveiything is 

 handy. Tlie wox'k can be done in le=s time, 

 and in a more satisfactory manner, than is 

 possible at an outyard without too great 

 a cost for equipment ; and as soon as honey 

 is extracted you are ready for another yard. 



The interior of the honey-house you 

 aiTange to suit yourself. I use an eight- 

 frame eytractor and a tank 1 foot deep, 2 

 feet Avide, and 6 feet long, standing on a 

 loAver level so honey runs from the extractor 

 thru the strainer and into the tank, and 

 then f' hole cut in the floor, and boxed off 

 underneath to hold the scale. So you see 

 the honey goes directly from the extractor 

 to the can, where it is weighed without any 

 effort of mine, and then it is labaled and 

 packed ready for shipment. If your time 

 is worth anything, and you liave enough 

 bees to Avarrant it, by all means get a poAver 

 extractor. It Avill pay you, as one man can 

 accomplish as much as two with a small 

 extractor turned by hand, and do a cleaner 

 job of it. 



I also believe that the foul-brood sitr.alion 

 is more easily controlled by the use of a 

 central plant than the portable or separate 

 plant. Where there is American foul brood 

 it is necessary that the extracting-room 

 be absolutely bee-tight, thus preventing rob- 

 bing, as it is an established fact that the 

 honey from a diseased colony is contaminat- 

 ed, and thus it may easily be seen Avhat dis- 

 astrous results may folloAv carele.«sness and 

 robbing. After the bees leaA'e your lioney- 

 house, and even assuming they did not get 

 any contaminated honey there, their rob- 

 bing instinct has been stirred up and they 

 Avill look around for more of the precious 

 SAveet ; and if you have any Aveak colonies 

 they are pretty apt to find it; and if you 

 have foul brood you are sure to have Aveak 

 colonies. By o])erating a central plant you 

 are in better position to keep it up in shape, 

 neat and tidy, and free from i-obbers. One 

 thing I Avould suggest to those unfortunate 

 enough to have American foul brood is to 

 have a small extractor for extracting the 

 honey from combs of diseased colonies only, 

 and never place those combs over healthy 

 colonies. If you extract them in the same 

 extractor Avith the rest, even tho you keep 

 the combs separate, more or less of the good 

 combs are sure to become contaminated by 

 coming in contaet with the baskets of the 

 extractor after the diseased combs have 

 been extracted. If you are careless about 

 liandling the honey when you ]?ave Ameri- 

 can foul brond you can hardly expect to be 

 able to eradicate the disease. Shake and 

 Avork all you haA'e a mind to, and be care- 

 less about extracting and putting combs 

 back, and you will still have the disease. 

 Better still is it to run every diseased colo- 

 ny for comb honey and take no chance with 

 extracted. I believe you will all find that it 

 is a great deal easier to get rid of the dis- 

 ease Avhile running for comb honey than 

 extracted, and that is one of the reasons 

 why some succeed in stamping out the dis- 

 ease Avhile otliers meet with flat failures. 



With European foul brood Ave have a 

 different proposition. The bacilli are found 

 in the brood and bees themselves, also the 

 queen, not in the honey, and therefore this 

 di^^ease requires different care and treat- 

 ment; but in both cases the preA'ention of 

 robbing is of paramount inqwvrtance — yes, 

 an absolute necessity. Thei-efore contract 

 tlie entrances to Aveak colonies and do all 

 in your power to prevent robbing. 



Regarding prevention of swarming before 



