1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



tracted rapidly, cost is reduced to the finest 

 poirt; and yet under such a condition one 

 person is kept pretty busy attending to the 

 drawing-off and emptying of the honey. 

 Who has not had the experience of allowing 

 honey to run into a can or pail, and, in at- 

 tempting to do something else while the ves- 

 sel was filling, allowing the honey to run 

 over, with its consequent loss of the same, 

 also the loss of a valuable hive in cleaning 

 up the mess? 



^ We long ago considered the only safe way 

 was for one person to make this his only 

 business. Next in the act the honey has 

 been allowed to reach the level of the floor, 

 and then it had to be lifted up to the top of 

 the can upon which the strainer stands or 

 lies. The scientific way of figuring this is 

 foot pounds; from the floor to the top of the 

 strainer, say 5 feet, 4500x5 = 22,500 foot 

 pounds or lift per day. This work and risk 

 can be avoided. Next, honey strains more 

 readily when warm than when cold. The 

 person who is doing rapid work, and passes 

 the combs from the hive through theuncap- 

 per, the extractor, and out, has the advan- 

 tage of the person extracting slowly and 

 allowing the combs to become more or less 

 cold. 



In this process of emptying into a pail 

 from the extractor, and then lifting to a 

 strainer, the honey cools and thickens and 

 becomes more difficult to strain— heat is lost. 



Again, with any strainer, where the honey 

 is directly above it, every particle of scum, 

 after the honey has run through, will fall on 

 and stick to the cloth; hence the strainer be- 

 comes readily clogged and slow in operatinsr. 

 The portion of the strainer that is highest 

 will first become clogged. I refer particu- 

 larly to such a position as is found in a cloth 

 sagging toward the center, and thus the 

 cloth becoming readily clogged. 



The extractor with the strainer iliustrattd 

 in this article is placed by us either upon 

 legs (I prefer this, and in this matter we 

 might well take a lesson from our European 

 brethren) , or upon a high stand. The uncap- 

 per, instead of lowering the comb into a 

 super with a drip-tray underneath, puts it 

 into a super about on a level with his arm. 

 The extractor- operator's position is on a 

 stand conveniently high to the extractor. 

 His empty supers are on a convenient pile to 

 dispose of the empty combs. The extractor 

 is set at a height so that the opening from 

 it is higher than the top of the tank, can, cr 

 other vessel into which the honey is to be 

 conducted. We, without inconveniencing 

 ourselves, and without discomfort or unnec- 

 essary bringing up and down and again up 

 and down, raise the comb to the uncapping- 

 tank, then place it on the super on the same 

 level; then put it in the extractor; work up 

 to a definite point, the top of the extractor, 

 and then by gravitation let it go to the stor- 

 age-tank. Few are so situated that they 

 can; or would it suit their purpose to run 

 honey down a hill? If they are, the only 

 difference will be that the honey-extractor 

 will not need to be set up so high. 



Now for a description of the strainer. A 

 is the extractor-shell; B is the point at which 

 the extractor-reel rests on the cone, which 

 rises above the strainer. The strainer is 

 fastened to the bottom of the extractor by 

 four buttons or a similar device, M (closed) ; 

 N (open). The strainer is constructed just 

 the opposite way of an ordinary strainer. 

 The pan, let us call it that, is inverted, and 



a///?F SCRCEN 



holtermann's honey- strainer. 



the outside surface used instead of the in- 

 side. The upright surface is used, and the 

 honey approaches the strainer and passes 

 through it side wise; but only in case of a 

 partial or threatening block does the honey 

 rise above the sides of the strainer, when 



