HONEY EXTRACTORS. 133 



extractor, as now used. As they are a hindrance to 

 profitable and successful bee culture, they must ere 

 long give way in the light of reason and progress, 

 as their faults and pernicious effects become better 

 known. 



I will give some of the most prominent objections 

 to the use of the honey extractor. I shall not at- 

 tempt to enumerate all, as it would take more 

 space than I can devote to the subject : 



First, the use of the extractor renders the bees 

 cross and irritable to the greatest possible degree. 

 And is it any wonder.'' The use of the extractor 

 requires that the bees be shaken and brushed from 

 the combs, every two or three days throughout the 

 hone}- season. Any one who is acquainted with 

 the nature and habits of bees, knows that such a 

 course would in a short time render them so furious 

 that it would be dangerous to go among them. 

 My bees are kind and never sting me voluntarily ; 

 but were I to abuse them thus, they would soon de- 

 cide that I was their enemy, and would sting me to 

 death at the first opportunity. And who would 

 blame them.'' Certainly not the dealers in honey 

 extractors, patent bee hives and the like. I don't 

 want to shake and brush my bees out of their combs, 

 every two or three days through June and July, for 

 the sake of obtaining two or three hundred pounds 

 of extracted honey, which everybody will call a 

 counterfeit as soon as it is put in the market ; and 

 which at best will not bring over twenty or thirty 

 dollars ; when I can just as well, and with much 

 less trouble, have the same honey in combs in nice 



