44 



THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



If he had ^100,000 and men pointed 

 to him and said he was a fraud or mis- 

 take that would not satisfy him. 



At the Detroit Convention, several 

 members concurred in the importance 

 of attention being given to sowing and 

 planting for honej' production. 



QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



QUKSTIONS BY A BEKKEEnCR. 



1. What honey extractor do you use ? 

 How many frames does it take? 



2. What do you think of feeding 

 sugar dry or moist, as given in the 

 article on page 256, Vol. II, ''Apicul- 

 turist." 



3. Do you use wide frames or racks 

 for sections ; also what kind of separa- 

 tor and wliy? 



Please describe your system and its 

 advantages. 



Do you use tlie queen-excluding 

 honey board? 



4. Do you consider packing beneath 

 the bottom-board benericiiil when win- 

 tering on summer stands, and what 

 are your reasons for or against it? 



5. Do you ever discard or melt 

 nice straight combs in frames on ac- 

 count of age or long use in brood cliam- 

 ber? If so, how many years do you use 

 a comb in brood nest? 



ANSWKKS BY L. C. KOOT. 



1. The first honey extractor I used 

 was very hastily constructed. As soon 

 as we received the words "centrifugal 

 force" for throwing honey from the 

 combs, we removed the gearing from 

 an old fanning mill and for a reel we 

 used the arbor and pieces to which the 

 fans were attached ; these we arranged 

 in a square box. In some respects that 

 was the best machine I ever used. 

 The crank was long, the gearing firm 

 and strong. I could maintain an even, 

 steady, firm motion, which none of the 

 later machines will allow of. 



I next used the Peabody machine. 

 This machine revolved, can and all. 

 This had its obvious objections, and 

 was soon dropped from the market. 



For the past few years I have used 

 the Everett and Muth machines. Tiiey 

 are both good ones and for ordinary 

 work they answer every purpose. 



I took, in one day with the Everett 

 machine over 4000 lbs. To do this I 

 made some changes in the machine, by 



supplying a longer crank and changing 

 the gearing. The past season I pur- 

 chased a Stanley reversible machine. 

 The manner in which the combs are re- 

 versed is as perfect as could be de- 

 sired and will prove a great saving of 

 time and labor. 



Their two- comb extractor seems to 

 work perfectly and is, I think, all that 

 they who extract honey in a lim- 

 ited way could ask in a machine. 



Those who extract largely and need 

 to do it rapidly and with the greatest 

 possible speed, find all of the extract- 

 ors offered to the trade unsatisfactory. 

 They lack in length of crank, strength 

 of gearing, reel, and can, and none of 

 them are supplied with a needed brnke 

 to be operated with the foot. They are 

 also deficient as regards the construc- 

 tion of the reel which should admit of 

 the combs being readily placed in the 

 extractor or unmoved from the same, 

 and at the same time be held in place 

 against the wire cloth. 



2. I am opposed to the use of sugar 

 in any way in connection with our bus- 

 iness. 



3. I use a rack or case to inclose my 

 boxes when placing them upon the 

 hives. 



I use wood separators and consider 

 them better than metal. If the wood 

 separator is | in. or more in tliicl^:ness 

 it enlarges the entrance to the boxes, 

 which I find beneficial. I use no honey 

 board. I consider ample room for the 

 bees to enter the boxes very desirable. 



4. I have used packing under the 

 hives, but do not think it desirable. 

 Moisture seemed to accumulate and the 

 dead bees mould more than wlieu the 

 bottom is not packed. 



The great need is to have the inclo- 

 sure about the hives very tight so as 

 to aflord ample protection from cold 

 winds. 



5. With me, combs seem to improve 

 with age. I have those that have been 

 in constant use for over twenty years. 



ANSWERS BY W. M. KEFXOGG. 



1. My own make. Two frames. 



2. Have not read the article. But I 

 do not think it pays to feed dry sugar, 

 or in fact any sugar, except to stimu- 

 late brood rearing. 



3. I use a rack for sections hold- 

 ing three sections, with a tin separa- 

 tor nailed across one side. I use 

 tin because I have never used any other 

 material enough to convince me there 

 is anything better than tin. By us- 

 ing these three section racks, 1 can 

 put on more or less at a time, sections 



