

G LEA >; 1 \ G S 1 N 



FROM THE FIELD 



BEE C f L T U K E 



January, 1921 



THE BEDELL CAPPING PRESS 



An Extensive Producer Favors Pressing the Cap- 

 pings 



During a course of lectures for commer- 

 cial beekeepers given at Cornell University 

 it was u\j good fortune to meet O. W. Be- 

 dell of Earlsville, N. Y. He there put before 

 me a press devised by him, to press the 

 honey out of the cappings, which have been 

 cut from the extracting combs. He also 

 showed me a sample of the cappings after 

 pressing. I was so impressed with the pro- 

 cess that I wrote an article for the July 

 number of Gleanings for 1919, giving illus- 

 trations describing the machine and how to 

 use it. From the number of inquiries which 

 have been received from readers of Glean- 

 ings, I know that Mr. Bedell 's press has 

 made a wide and favorable impression. The 

 accompanying illustration shows the ma- 

 chine in use. It has proved all that I ex- 

 pected it would. Two men can uncap at this 

 mac/line, and at the same time a "cheese" 

 can be in the process of pressing. 



One of the cheeses will be seen turned on 

 its side with the point of a honey knife 

 embedded in it, showing its solid natur". 



OF EXPERIENCE 



Ja 



8o .well had the honey been pressed out of 

 the cappings that, altho half a dozen of these 

 cheeses were piled on a sheet of paper for 

 several days, practically no honey ran from 

 them. There is no question about the thor- 

 ough success of this method of removing 

 the honey from the cappings, and it has 

 given probably 1,000 pounds of honey in its 

 best condition for immediate sale. 



When I secured this extracting-house we 

 secured the best facilities we ever had for 

 extracting. It has water, sewage, and gas 

 connection. We can run our truck right into 

 the building. As the honey is extracted, it 

 is warmed, by means of the gas. 



The building (formerly a church) has 

 room to carry on all operations and store 

 10,000 extracting supers. We were told the 

 robber bees would drive us out, and as the 

 building is on the main street of the town 

 jobbing would have been serious. Particu- 

 larly dangerous was the situation as the 

 honey was buckwheat; but no disturbance 

 was created, and some J5,000 pounds of 

 buckwheat honey was extracted and filled 

 into tins without inconveniencing anyone. 

 A little crude carbolic acid was used about 

 the entrance door. R. F. Holtermann. 



Brantford, Can. 



The Bedell capping press in operation. 



