442 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



of Ventura's apiarists not only sees to 

 the packing of his tons of honey in the 

 cars, but afterwards boards the train 

 and personally superintends their trans- 

 portation to an Eastern market. 



In all extensive apiaries, machines are 

 used to simplify certain processes con- 

 nected with the business. Of these the 

 most important is the extractor. This 

 happy invention is based on the princi- 

 ple of centrifugal force, and was sug- 

 gested to Herr von Hruschka, of Ger- 

 many, by witnessing the honey thrown 

 from a piece of comb which his little son 

 was swinging from the end of a string. 



The reversible extractor consists of a 

 large tank of galvanized iron, in which 

 is hung a wire frame-work made up of 



\-ZD 



THE EXTRACTOR BASKETS. 



four baskets. In these the comb is 

 placed, after it is first uncapped by one 

 or two dextrous strokes of the honey- 

 knife. By means of a crank the baskets 

 are then set in motion, and their rapid 

 revolutions cause the honey to fly out 

 into the tank. The combs are reversed, 

 and the other side emptied in like man- 

 ner before returning them to the hives. 



If the forage is abundant, the combs 

 will be refilled and capped in six or eight 

 days, when the extracting process is 

 repeated. A careful hand can gauge 

 the machine so as to eject the nectar 

 without injuring the larvas, should the 

 comb have both brood and honey. 



The extracted-honey in the tank is 

 usually d-rawn off into 60-pound tin 

 cans, which are shipped in the cases. 

 Shrewder apiarists adopt showily labeled 

 glass jars and jelly-cups, through which 

 the transparent contents are displayed 

 to great advantage. It is the purest of 

 all sweets, and the majority of California 

 bee-men do not buy a pound of sugar 

 throughout the year. 



Everyone knows that honey comb is 

 indigestible and innutritious ; yet so in- 

 viting is its appearance, that it is no easy 



matter to create a like appreciation of 

 the extracted article, though it be equal 

 in color and flavor. Unfortunately there 

 still exists a reasonable prejudice against 

 the old-fashioned "strained" honey, 

 which reflects more or less discredit on 

 the extracted, which is now put upon the 

 market. 



San Diego, whose drouth is the problem 

 of agriculturists, is admitted to be the 

 very paradise of the honey-bee. The pio- 

 neer apiarist here owns 6,000 colonies 

 oflihe best imported varieties. His nu- 

 merous ranches are scattered throughout 

 the county, each numbering from 200 

 to 300 colonies. Unless urged by hun- 

 ger, the usual range of a bee is two miles, 

 so it is poor economy to crowd too many 

 colonies within that radius. 



In 1884, there were shipped from this 

 port 1,000,000 pounds of honey, one- 

 half of which was in the comb, and 

 55,000 pounds of wax. No account was 

 made of honle consumption, which would 

 have added thousands of pounds to the 

 above figures. 



San BernardinQ's honey product the 

 past year was nearly 400,000 pounds ; 

 while Los Angeles county sent out 

 1,037,000 pounds, and Ventura up- 

 wards of 520,000 pounds the same sea- 

 son. In 1884, an exceptionally good 

 year, the honey export from this State 

 reached as high as 9,000,000 pounds. 



The entire amount of California honey 

 furnished home and foreign markets in 

 1887, was 4,647,000 pounds. The 

 shipments by sea direct were 3,700 

 crates to England, 600 to France, and 

 an aggregate of 1,300 crates forwarded 

 to Australia, China, Hawaiian Islands, 

 and' British Columbia. Two thousand 

 more crates, destined for the European 

 market, went overland to New York and 

 New Orleans. The total honey product 

 marketed here in 1889, was nearly 

 4,000,000 pounds. 



Most of this is gathered from different 

 species of sage, that tuft the hills often 

 to their steepest summits, and extend far 

 down the slopes into the valleys. This 

 sage honey is as delicious as that taken 

 from the wild thyme of Hymettus and 

 Galloway, or the nectar from the rose- 

 mary of Narbonne ; and more translu- ^ 

 cent than the clover honey of Cumber- 

 land and Lancaster, and more finely 

 flavored than the celebrated honey of 

 Atacama. 



During a favorable season, bees in 

 California will average 200 pounds of 

 honey to a colony, but 75 pounds is 

 considered a profitable yield. A Los 

 Angeles apiarist, in one year, took 

 1.000 pounds of extracted-honey from a 



