1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1357 



as a whole, it is certainly one of the most 

 advanced steps in relieving us of laborious 

 work ever made in modern bee-keeping. 



Now the question is, in your mind, "Can 

 I afford to buy this outfit?" Well, I will tell 

 you what it is doing for us, then you can 

 answer that question youi'self. One year 

 ago, with abovit the same number of colonies, 

 we employed two men during the season, 

 and a third man part of the time. Now we 

 can do the work much better and easier with 

 one man. You can figure out the amount 

 here saved. During the extracting season 

 we usually extract our combs six times, and 

 we now find that such sets of combs, when 

 taken from the extractor, are about 2 lbs. 

 lighter than they have ever been before. 

 Here we gain at least 10 lbs. per colony dur- 

 ing the season. I leave this also for you to 

 figure out — the many dollars' worth of hon- 

 ey saved on nearly 700 colonies. 



Now, my friends, I think if you are run- 

 ning 100 colonies, or even less, for extracted 

 honey, you can not afford to be without this 

 outfit. The total expense to run the engine 

 is less than 1| cents per hour; and it is a will- 

 ing laborer, always ready, and never tired. 

 It can be used at any season to furnish pow- 

 er for running the cream-separator, chui'n- 

 ing, sawing wood, grinding bones for poul- 

 try, or any other work requiring one horse 

 power. The directions sent with it are so 

 plain that anybody can use it. Two men 

 can carry it to any convenient place to work, 

 and in a few minutes it can be leveled and 

 ready to commence. 



As I now recall to memory my first ex- 

 tractor, of some 37 years ago, which was a 

 Peabody machine, the can as well as the 

 combs revolved, and they had to be removed 

 from the extractor and reversed by hand, the 

 honey running out through the bottom into 

 a small-sized milk-pan; and the waste and 

 muss were dreadful. I can hardly realize 

 the great improvements that have been made 

 in honey-extractors. 



Some time ago I called your attention to the 

 importance of producing honey with compar- 

 atively small expense; but then the work was 

 all done by hand. Now, when the most la- 

 borious part can be done with gasoline pow- 

 er, it reduces the cost of production to a still 

 lower figure. 



Why, I would as soon think of mowing a 

 large farm with the old scythe as now to at- 

 tempt to do our extracting with that poor 

 right arm. No, that day is past and it will 

 never return. We are surrounded with an 

 element of progress, and every thing con- 

 nected with the life of man is improving. 

 The greatest achievements of the past are but 

 milestones marking his progress to the sub- 

 lime structures of to-day. There! I wish I 

 could keep my mind on my subject. 



Some may think that it is of little impor- 

 tance if one and a half or two pounds of hon- 

 ey is left in a set of extracting-combs, with a 

 few colonies that are extracted only once or 

 twice during the summer. I admit it is but lit- 

 tle; but in our apiary it amounts to more than 

 three tons in a season. This is saving enough 



in one summer to pay for several of these 

 new outfits. You may think, "Well, if I 

 don't get it all this time what is the differ- 

 ence? I shall get it the next time around." 

 Yes, but you don't get it, and you never will 

 get it. Under the excitement caused by dis- 

 turbing them it is mostly eaten by the bees, 

 and you are just that amount out; so I advise 

 you to save every particle you can, every 

 time you extract. It will all help to fill the 

 barrels in the fall. 



BEE-SMOKERS. 



Still another much improved implement is 

 a bee-smoker. Since father Quinby invented 

 the bellows bee-smoker and gave it to the 

 bee-keeping world we have had many differ- 

 ent kinds of smokers on the market — some 

 very good ones; but the latest and most 

 practical of them all is an aluminum-coated 

 smoker. It is light to handle, and the draft 

 is all that can be desired. There certainly 

 will be a large demand for them in the future. 



LARGEK DRIVING PULLEY NEEDED ON THE 

 ENGINE. 



In justice to the pui'chaser of these extract- 

 ing outfits, as well as the manufacturer, I 

 must speak of two defects in the engine as 

 they are now sent out. The fan for cooling 

 the cylinder should always be sent with the 

 machine It is very necessary to have when 

 in use. The other is, the driving-pulley should 

 be of three-inch diameter instead of 3|. This 

 is necessary to acquire suflicient speed to 

 run the comb-baskets of the extractor so as 

 to throw out thoroughly all the honey. 



In regard to the extractor, I can not see 

 how it could be improved. It is the best- 

 made, most practical extractor I have ever 

 seen. Its reversing arrangement is perfect, 

 and you need not be afraid to put the most 

 frail combs you ever have in its baskets, 

 then start the machine so the combs will 

 travel nearly 50 miles an hour, which is about 

 the right speed to throw out all the honey; 

 then slow a little, but do not stop, and the 

 baskets will reverse themselves, when you 

 can again let it hum, and the combs, when 

 taken out, are as nearly perfect as when put 

 into the extractor. 



In the above I have briefly stated the merits 

 and demerits of this recent acquisition to our 

 extracting-implements; and, my friend, it 

 now rests with you to take your place in the 

 ranks of extracted-honey producers, either 

 well in the front with modern methods and 

 these useful implements, or in the rear with 

 all the hard labor and discouraging features 

 of the past. 



If you choose the latter, I am afraid that 

 the inexorable law of competition will soon- 

 er or later drive you to the wall. It will be 

 only a short time before thousands of these 

 new outfits will be in use, and no man can 

 use his muscles to compete successfully with 

 this convenient inexpensive motive power. 



Delanson, N. Y. 



[It is possible that a larger driving-pulley 

 on the engine-shaft might be an advantage; 

 but in our work with the engine we had 



