1006 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1 



extractor nicely. The front end is all 

 boarded up excepting^ a small window 10 X 

 15 inches. The sides are boarded up to one 

 foot above the shelves (which keeps the 

 bees from bothering- the honey that might 

 be on the shelves) ; then I have a yard-wide 

 screen, and at the top an eight-inch board. 

 The sides are made of one- inch ceiling, and 

 the roof of half-inch, alltongued and groov- 

 ed, which makes a light structure. I have 

 a false floor which rises one foot, and in 

 this space between the floors I have a tank 

 one foot deep and 3'2X4 square, covered 

 with galvanized cover, over which this false 

 floor is laid, which is made in an L shape, 

 and easily removed. Upon this floor I set 

 my four frame Cowan extractor, pushed 

 well back in the corner, and fastened to 

 stay for the season; and directly under the 

 faucet of the extractor I have a hole cut to 

 hold a strainer, which is detachable with- 

 out removing the extractor; consequently I 

 make the honey self-straining; and to my 

 right, as I go in, I have a tank one foot 

 deep, one wide, and three long, on top of 

 which I have two boxes the size of an eight- 

 frame super with perforated zinc bottoms, 

 which are used for uncapping-boxes, which 

 I think are a success; and to the end of this 

 tank, next to the raised floor, I have a two- 

 inch pipe attached which carries all of the 

 drainings from the uncappings to the strain- 

 er, and into the main tank from which I 

 draw off the honey from the outside of the 

 house. 



Said tank holds about 100 gallons, or an 

 average day's extracting, though I will say 

 right here that my brother and I, in 189^, 

 put 43 cases of honey through it in two days, 

 which was not bad extracting. 



On the shelf at the end of the uncapping- 

 tank I have another small tank made '* troft- 

 ing-," in which the uncapper puts the combs 

 if he should get ahead of the man at the 

 wheel, in the end of which! have a small pipe 

 which drains into the draining-tank of 

 uncappings the honey that may drip, so 

 you see after I get started I have only to 

 measure up at noon and night. Thus I 

 save lots of time that most bee-keepers have 

 to put in in draining and cleaning up, 

 which is quite a figure when it comes to ex- 

 tracting several apiaries. I have 18 apia- 

 ries in all, ranging from 50 to 150 hives, 

 and in three townships. To reach them all 

 we have to drive about 50 miles, so you can 

 readily see that we have to clean up a little 

 more than an apiary a day to get around 

 in time for another start. 



Another very handy thing is a wheel- 

 barrow, which many bee-keepers do with- 

 out. I always take along one about fifteen 

 years old, and has been a great deal of ser- 

 vice to us. Brother McCubbin gave it to 

 me in 18*^3, after he had used it for several 

 years. It has wheeled many a ton of hon- 

 ey, ranging from 5 to 30 tons a season. It 

 is getting- old and wrinkled, and crippled 

 in the hind legs. Sometimes I think I will 

 turn Republican and put her on the pen- 

 sion list and retire her from active service. 



Some other handy tools are hauling-boxes 

 which I have. These boxes are the same 

 size as the extracting-supers, only one inch 

 deeper; they are lined in the bottom and 

 three inches up the side with tin, and there- 

 fore catch whatever honey may drain from 

 the combs, which saves taking off the su- 

 pers and smearing every thing up with hon- 

 ey, etc. 



Selma, Cal. 



[This scheme of a portable extracting- 

 house, while not entirely new, is carried 

 out by Mr. Crowder in a very unique and 

 practical manner. The plan of having the 

 honey- tank at the lowest point possible in 

 the general structure, and having overhang- 

 ing shelves just over the rear wheels, is 

 most excellent. All in all, the Crowder 

 wagon is, I believe, by all odds the best of 

 any thing of its kind that has ever been 

 presented to our readers. So excellent is 

 it as a whole that we expect to have it in- 

 corporated in the next edition of our ABC 

 of Bee Culture. 



In a series of outyards it makes it possi- 

 ble to use only one extractor and outfit, and 

 to carry away the honey as soon as extract- 

 ed, where it will not be subject to the dep- 

 redations of thieves. I have always felt as 

 if it was a dangerous practice to leave tons 

 and tons of extracted honey at the outyards. 

 It is an invitation as well as a temptation 

 to persons of low moral standing to help 

 themselves. There is only one extractor to 

 muss up, only one general outfit, and the 

 building is quite large enough, with proper 

 management, to take care of the extractor, 

 the honey extracted, and the operator or op- 

 erators inside. Obe does not need a lot of 

 floor space to walk on; indeed, too much 

 floor space is a real detriment, for one is 

 apt to make useless steps over the room to 

 perform his work. With the right kind of 

 system I feel very sure one can make an ex- 

 tracting house of this kind that will beat 

 the scheme of having several cheap build- 

 ings at the several outyards. It will save 

 the first cost, and render necessary the pur- 

 chase of only one outfit. 



There is one thing that friend Crowder 

 has not spoken of; and that is. that, while 

 going- to the several yards, the men " in- 

 side" the wagon can slick up and get things 

 read}' for the next yard. I should suppose 

 that three men could handle the whole out- 

 fit nicely. Possibly two might do it — one 

 to take oft' the combs, and the other to ex- 

 tract and uncap. 



I suggest that our extracted-honey men 

 give this article their thoughtful attention. 

 The business of producing extracted honey 

 is getting to be more and more of a science, 

 and our friend Crowder, in my humble opin- 

 ion, has made a long scientific stride for- 

 ward. When sections become more scarce 

 and expensive, and when there are pure- 

 food laws in State and nation, extracted 

 honey will to a great extent supplant comb 

 hone3% and its production will become more 

 general. — Ed.] 



