150 HONEY AND EXTRACTOR. 



on honey gathering, humming their pleasant song, 

 content to work not only for themselves but for others. 



' The more their strength calamity hath drained, 

 The more will they exert them to repair 

 The nation's falling state, their garners fill, 

 And re-construct their masonry of flowers.' 



Virgil (by Kennedy). 



But when the bee-keeper wishes to obtain the 

 greatest possible quantity of honey, he does not de- 

 pend entirely on supers, whether sectional or of any 

 other kind, but uses to a great extent the machine 

 called an extractor, to which allusion has been already 

 made. More can be obtained by its use than in any 

 other way ; but then it is not honey in the comb, and 

 has not that beautiful and inviting appearance which 

 belongs to well-filled sections. 



The extractor — which is also very useful for other 

 purposes — is a very ingenious machine. There are 

 several forms of it, all more or less made after the 

 pattern of those perfected by Mr. Cowan, and in all 

 there is the same principle. The frames, when taken 

 from the hive, have, first of all, the caps of the cells 

 removed with a sharp knife. They are then put into 

 a kind of wire cage (fig. 2), which, being placed in the 

 machine are made to whirl round and round with 

 great rapidity. The effect of this is, that the honey 

 is thrown out of the cells against the sides of the 

 extractor, and running down, can then be drawn away 

 from a tap at the bottom. 



The force which brings this about, and throws out 



