THE BEE-KEEPERS REi^ lEW. 



169 



the baskets at once, but I have to stop the 

 machine to do it. I don't like so mucli ma- 

 chinery to be started and stopped every 

 time we extract a set of combs. The heavier 

 the load, the longer it takes to start it and 

 stop it. It could be stopped with a brake. 



As to the use of bee-escapes to rid the ex- 

 tracting combs of bees, I don't want any. 

 The most of my hives are single story hives, 

 so I must sweep off the bees. In my home 

 yard I work the hives three stories high, and 

 I can drive the bees down into the lower 

 stories, have the upper set of combs out and 

 every bee off in two minutes, and not a bee 

 killed by putting in an escape board. Per- 

 haps there may be some combs in the second 

 story that I will want to take out and extract, 

 and I drive the bees down with smoke and 

 finish with a very thin brush-broom. As I 

 understand the workings of bee-escapes, it 

 takes 24 hours or more for the bees to get 

 out of an upper story, after the escape is put 

 on ; that won't do at all for an out-apiary. 

 We start from home and get theie and get 

 ready to go to work about it a. m. We want 

 to start the extractor just as soon as we can 

 get the combs. By the time that basswood 

 is in bloom we are likely to have from 80 to 

 100 colonies to work — will some one tell me 

 how we can save time by using escapes ? 

 You say you would prefer to have an abun- 

 dance of combs and supers, so the honey 

 could remain on the hives a little while so 

 you could take your time for it, etc. You 

 would find that extracting honey after the 

 honey-flow is no fun — bees are cross and 

 steal for all they are worth. 



You think three would make a good ex- 

 tracting team. One to get the honej off the 

 hives and return the empty combs, one to 

 uncap, one to run the extractor. That just 

 made me smile ! Of course, you have never 

 done much extracting. When we go to an 

 out-apiary with a full team of ten hands, and 

 go through 100 colonies in a day, go from 

 home six or eight miles and back again and 

 extract sometimes from 2,000 to 3,0(_>0 pounds 

 of honey, one man does all the extracting, 

 strains all the honey and puts it in the bar- 

 rels : and one man does all the uncapping. 

 The other eight hands do the field work, get 

 the combs into the tent and back into the 

 hive again, make new colonies, cut out queen 

 cells, etc. In fact, they do all that has to be 

 done, except the tent work. Of the eight 

 hands in the field, one is the boss of the 

 whole outfit and has no set place to work ; 



he looks after everything— in the tent and in 

 the field— .lud sees that everything is done 

 in a proper manner. The other hands are 

 divided up two or thi ee in a team. Two can 

 work to good advantage, but three can work 

 together in good shape, two to open hives 

 and brush bees, while the third hand carries 

 the combs to the tent and brings back others 

 to fill the hive again, puts the combs into the 

 hive and shuts the hive. 



No hive ever gets its own combs back 

 again. Each team of boys, when they com- 

 mence in ttie morning, take out all the com bs 

 that need extracting, then shut up the hives 

 without combs uutil the yard is finished. 

 Then the first extracted gets the last combs. 



The boss looks after all the hives, balances 

 up the brood according to the strength of the 

 colonies, and when lie has a surplus of brood 

 combs, more than can be safely left in the 

 old colony to prevent the old one from 

 swarming, he makes new colonies with the 

 surplus brood, putting frames of foundation 

 in the old colonies in place of the brood 

 combs taken away. 



PliATTBVILIiE, Wis. 



April 24, 1893. 



[I was well aware that one man could run 

 the extractor faster than one could take 

 honey off the hives in the old fashioned way 

 and return the combs, but I did not suppose 

 that eitjlit men would be required to get the 

 honey off and the couil)s back again as rap- 

 idly as one man could run the extractor. It 

 seems, however, that with Mr. France's man- 

 agement these eight men are supposed to do 

 something besides simply getting the honey 

 off the hives and the combs back in place. 

 They are to make up artificial colonies, cut 

 out cells, equalize the brood, etc. If these 

 things are to be doae I do not dispute that 

 wliile the crew is there extracting, is the time 

 to do such work, but when I mentioned three 

 is a good extracting team, I did not have in 

 mind any work except tliat of extracting, and 

 I still think that one man might do the out- 

 side work ; especially, if, as Mr. France says, 

 only two minutes will suffice to free the 

 combs of the upper story from bees. Mr. 

 France has nad a long experience in raising 

 extracted honey, hence it is with some little 

 deference that I ask if time might not be 

 saved by sending two of those boys to each 

 apiary a day in advance of the extracting 

 crew, and have them put bee escapes under 

 the upper stories ? If upper stories are not 

 used, would it not pay to use them ? 



