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35tli Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., JANUARY 17, 1895. 



No. 3. 



Coi;)tnbutcd /Vrticles* 



On Iini>ortant jA-piarian Subjects. 



The Production of Extracted Honey. 



The second in a series of articles on the subject. 

 BY CHAS. DADANT. 



When I heard of the Hruschka invention, in 1868, I had 

 abont 100 colonies of bees in movable-frame hives, and I, at 

 once, ordered from a tinsmith a large round can, and bought 

 a gearing similar to the ones used at that time on patent 

 churns. I then requested our blacksmith to make a square 

 iron frame, which I covered with metallic gauze all around. 

 A revolving iron pivot in the center, and a wooden frame on 

 the outside, finished up the extractor, in which we could ex- 

 tract the honey from four Quinby frames at one time. It was 

 a very bulky machine; but it worked splendidly, and was 

 soon busy, for it was made in June, just at the time of the 

 honey-flow. 



We began extracting as fast as the bees filled the combs, 

 and the results were far above all that I had anticipated. I 

 was so eager and so proud of success that I took the honey, 

 not only from the surplus combs, but from the brood-frames 

 as well, and filled barrel after barrel, like A. I. Root, who 

 thought of emptying his cistern to store his crop. But a little 

 of my enthusiasm dampened when I found that we had ex- 

 tracted our honey before it was ripe, and that a part of it 

 ripened unevenly. We found thai, in some cases, a part of 

 the water separated from the honey at the time of granula- 

 tion, and remained liquid, though somewhat sweet at the top 

 of the honey. This had to be drawn off for spring feed and 

 for vinegar. 



RIPENING AND UNCAPPING THE HONEY. 



Then the following question came to my mind : How can 

 we ripen honey— by evaporating it after harvesting it, or by 

 waiting until the bees have ripened it in the hive? The sec- 

 ond way was the best, without a doubt. But if we wait until 

 it is ripened in the hive, we will have to uncap the combs, 

 since bees usually seal it as soon as it is ripe. 



I had uncapped several combs, but had found it a difficult 

 and unpleasant job, especially as I first used a common table- 

 knife. The knife, being straight, would rub against the edge 

 of the frame, the more so as the combs were not always built 

 straight in the frames, comb foundation not having been yet 

 made and used practically. Besides, the cappings stuck to 

 the knife or to the combs. 



I was not alone to notice these diEBculties, for several 

 methods of uncapping were invented. One bee-keeper tried a 

 "card," to scratch the combs, like the cards used to card 



wool ; another invented a revolving scraper. These inven- 

 tions were discarded as soon as tried, and the thin-blade 

 curved-handle knife succeeded better, notwithstanding the in- 

 convenience of the capping sticking back to the combs; a 

 defect which was later avoided by the invention of a knife 



Wm. McEvoy and Family. Woodhum, Ont.—See page 39. 



with a wide thick blade and beveled edges (invented by T. F. 

 Bingham), and which, so far, has not been surpassed. 



DIFFICULTIES IN DISPOSING OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 



So we had a good crop of extracted honey on hand, but a 

 difficulty arose. How were we to dispose of it ? So far, the 

 only honey offered for sale, in the United States, was comb 

 honey, whole or broken, and the ugly, dark and dirty article 



