OR, MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 321 



CHAPTER XII, 



EXTRACTING AND THE EXTRACTOR. 



The brood-chamber is often so filled with honey that the 

 queen has no room to lay her eggs, especially if there is any 

 neglect to give other room for storing. Honey in brood-combs 

 is unsalable, because the combs are dark, and the size unde- 

 sirable. Comb is very valuable, and should never be taken 

 from the bees, except when desired to render the honey more 

 marketable. Hence, the apiarist finds a very efficient auxiliary 

 in the 



HONBY-KXTRACTOR. 



No doubt some have expected and claimed too much for 

 this machine. It is equally true that some have blundered 

 quite as seriously in an opposite direction. For, since Mr. 

 L(angstroth gave the practical movable frame to the world, the 

 apiarist has not been so deeply indebted to any inventor as to 

 him who gave us, in 186S, the "Mel Extractor," Herr von 

 Hruschka, of Germany. 



The principle which makes this machine effective is that 

 of centrifugal force, and it was suggested to Major von 

 Hruschka by noticing that a piece of comb which was twirled 

 by his boy at the end of a string was emptied of its honey. 

 Herr von Hruschka's machine was essentially like those now 

 so common, though in lightness and convenience there has 

 been a marked improvement. His machine consisted of a 

 wooden tub, with a vertical axle in the center, which revolved 

 in a socket fastened to the bottom of the vessel, while from the 

 top of, the tub fastenings extended to the axle, which projected 

 for a distance above. The axle was thus held exactly in the 

 center of the tub. Attached to the axle was a frame or rack 

 to hold the comb, whose outer face rested against a wire-cloth. 

 The axle with its attached frame, which latter held the 

 uncapped comb, was made to revolve by rapidly unwind 



