102 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



of the bees were out. I then put in double 

 cones ; but it made little difference. The 

 bees would not "down" out of those full 

 cases of beautiful honey, and the Ramblek 

 was disappointed. This experiment was 

 tried in the height of the extracting season. 

 Later, after cool weather, the escapes were 

 tried on surplus cases and worked well. I 

 see no reason why the new kinds that have 

 been worked out during the past winter 

 should work any better in the height of the 

 extracting season. From our observations, 

 the houey board should be constructed so as 

 to allow at least one escape to the open air. 

 The escapes will be tried again ; and 1 hope 

 for practical instead of theoretical re- 

 sults. 



The honey is thrown out in my apiary with 

 a Stanley extractor. The only fault I hud 

 with the Stanley, reversible, as made at 

 present, is the labor required to run it. 

 Well ripened houey requires considerable 

 speed, and I think it a mistake to make 

 them without a double gear. The first 

 Stanley I ever owned was thus geared, and a 

 rapid motion and quick work were secured. 

 The reversing baskets throw the combs so 

 far from the centre that the motion is higher 

 and more labor is needed to get it than if the 

 combs were near the center. The old two- 

 comb extractors, with the combs close to the 

 center, would throw out the honey so quickly 

 that, after a hard day's labor witli the Stan- 

 ley, I threaten to go back to it ; but then, 

 the result of the day's labor in barrels 

 of honey will cause me to stick to the 

 automatic until something better comes 

 along. 



I intended to write something about large 

 and small hives, but, as I am unsettled upon 

 that point at present, and this article is 

 already too long, I will close. 



The Ramblek. 



Climatic Influences ; Arrangement of Apia- 

 ries ; Getting Bees OflF the Combs : Ex- 

 tractors : The "Single Story" Sys- 

 tem ; Evaporating and Preserv- 

 ing Honey. 



O. O. POPPLETON. 



fN one respect, the raising of extracted 

 houey is much like that of producing 

 comb honey. That is, diflVreut loca- 

 tions, different climates, dift'ereiit sizes 

 of apiaries, etc., are all important factors in 

 determining wiiich methods are best. Hence, 

 it is practically imiiossible for any one per 

 son to give rules or advice, based on his own 

 expeiience, that will be equally applicable 

 in all other locations. 



Again, seasons vary, so that what may be 

 good practice one year, might be very bad 

 the following season. 



In northern Iowa the climate, during the 

 honey season, is usually very drj , as is the 



general rule the world over in countries in 

 tlie center of the continent, composed largely 

 of plains and prairies, and a distance away 

 from any large bodies of water. I judge 

 this is the case in a much more marked 

 degree in California and some other of our 

 western states. Here in Florida, as well as 

 Cuba, the conditions are revert- ed ; and at 

 least some of our methods must be changed 

 accordingly. I think 5 our climate in Michi- 

 gan is between these two extremes ; and this 

 difference in climate is prol)ably one reason 

 why you and I differ as we do in some 

 of our opinions about how to get good 

 honey. 



The leaving of honey in open jars during 

 ordinary seasons in Iowa, would certainly do 

 no harm, probably do good, while it would 

 be ruinous to the quality of honey so left 

 for any length of time in Florida or in 

 Cuba. 



As you say in your editorial, the manage- 

 ment, up to the commencement of the har- 

 vest, is very similar when working for ex- 

 tracted to that employed in comb honey 

 production, but tools and appliances are 

 quite different, especially where honey is 

 produced on a large scale. Even the general 

 plan of the apiary needs to be arranged to 

 save as much labor as possible. First of all, 

 the honey house should be on the lowest 

 ground iu tlie apiary, so that there will be 

 no running of loaded carts up hill. This is 

 a very important point. As we used our 

 carts in Cuba, they held from 100 to 1(10 lbs. 

 of honey in addition to the weight of cart, 

 comb boxes, frames and empty combs, and 

 an ascent of even one foot in fifty materially 

 increased the labor of hauling them. It is 

 easier to lift honey from the extractor to the 

 houey tank than to draw honey, cart and all 

 up the same height on our inclined 

 plane. If the ground will admit, arrange 

 so that neither of these things will have 

 to 1)6 done, even if bees have to be set 

 a short distance away from the honey 

 house. 



The general plan of the apiary, position of 

 hives, etc., should be such as to make as little 

 travelling as possible to and from the honey 

 house. This must, of ciurse, depend some- 

 what upon the shape oi ihe ground. Mine 

 in Iowa was on level ground, very nearly 

 square in shape, with honey house at center 

 of one side. Hives were in rows some 

 eight or ten feet apart, so as to have plenty 

 or room for the cart to be run back of the 

 ones with which we were working without 

 interfering with those in ne^t row back of 

 the cart. An alley was left through the cen- 

 ter of the apiary running straight from 

 the honey house. I liked the plan well. 

 For carrying combs to niul from honey 

 house and hives a two wheeled c;nt will 

 be much better than a wheelbnrrow, as a 

 heavier load can be taktu with ie:^s 1;:- 

 bor. 



In Iowa I had a couple of ordinary two- 

 frame extractors, but in Cuba we had two 

 six-frame ones, one being reversible, the 

 other not. The only objection we had to 

 the reversilile one was tiuit its greater weight 

 required more power and time to start and 

 stop : but tills was more than made up by so 



