140 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
right direction. I would advise those who 
wish to get the Italians not to let their 
opportunity slip, it is certainly as good, if not 
better, to have a stock established before the 
winter, as in next Spring. The wintering is 
the beginning of the next season. I do not 
presume that- 1 have explained all that could 
be said on the subject, but I hope and believe 
that the above will be a guide, and lead to 
successfully introducing queens. 
W. Abeam, Manager, 
Feb. 6, 1888. Italian Bee Co., Parramatta. 
— ♦ 
EXTRACTING AND EXTRACTORS. 
There is an art in extracting honey from the 
comb, and every beekeeper should acquire it, 
or the process will otherwise become a very 
messy (or, as our American friends call it, 
“mussy”) undertaking. To extract comfort- 
ably and efficiently requires certain con- 
veniences, and a methodical mode of jn-oceed- 
ing. A great deal will depend on the 
Extractor, the state of the combs, and the age 
of the honey, but much also on the operator. 
To such of our readers as have had no 
experience in this part of apiculture, we may 
explain that by extracting, we mean getting 
honey out of the comb, without materially 
damaging the latter, by means of centrifugal 
force : that is, the combs in frames are placed 
in a kind of wire-net basket, which can be 
made to revolve very rapidly within a large 
cylindrical vessel of tin (or other material). 
The combs are so placed that the cells of one 
side look directly outwards from the centre or 
spindle around which the basket revolves, and 
so when revolved, and a certain speed is 
attained, the honey flies out from the outer 
cells, and is projected against the inside of 
the outer cylindrical vessel, and thence runs 
down to the bottom, to be afterwards drawn 
off into other receptacles. When the honey 
has been thrown out of one side of the comb, 
the latter is reversed in the basket, and by 
continuing the rotation, it is thrown out from 
the other side. The speed required to throw 
honey out perfectly will depend on its thick- 
ness or viscidity, which again depends upon 
the age of the honey itself, and on the tem- 
perature existing during the operation. 
Honey that is unsealed is thrown out easily, 
unless the weather be very cold. Sealed 
honey requires more speed, but comes out 
readily in warm weather ; old sealed honey, 
however, is generally very viscid, and is 
thrown out with difficulty, except with a high 
speed in very warm weather, and will not 
come out at all in cold weather. The thicker 
the honey, and the colder the weather, the 
more difficult extracting becomes, and the 
higher speed is required. It is always wise, 
therefore, to choose warm weather for extract- 
ing, unless one always extracts while the 
honey is new. thin, and unripe. Combs 
having unsealed brood in as well as honey 
require careful management, for the brood I I 
will be thrown orrt with the honey unless the | 1 
speed be low ; and as a rule none but experts ! I 
should try to extract from combs containing , I 
much brood ; for even should the speed be ; 1 
insufficient to throw out the brood, it appears, ,■ i 1 
very probable that it may be injured by the | I 
partial displacement it undergoes by rapid I 
rotation. After the combs are thus emptied | 
of the honey, they are placed back again in i ] 
the hives, to be again filled ; and it will be at 
once seen how superior this plan must be to I 
the old one of “robbing” where combs are 1 
cut out from a hive to obtain the honey, . J 
compelling the bees to hnild new comb, at' a 
great cost of time and stores, before more 
honey can he gathered ; whereas, by the 
modern plan, the bees continue their gather- 
ing uninterrupted by the necessity of staying 
at home, -clustering, and secreting wax for 
comb building. 
Let us now say something about Extractors, 
Until about fifteen or sixteen years ago, all 
honey was separated from its comb by 
“ draining,” “ running” or squeezing — the 
best honey being that “ drained” from new 
combs, free from brood or pollen. The process 
was slow, and only part of the honey could be 
drained out. Most beekeepers, in order to 
get all the honey possible, adopted the 
squeezing process, which too often resulted in 
honey contaminated with pollen and crushed 
grubs, besides destroying the combs for any 
further use by the bees leaving only the wax. 
About fifteen years ago. Herr von Henschke 
devised a machine for throwing the honey 
from the combs by centrifugal force — a course 
suggested to him, it is said, by seeing a boy 
playing a trick of splashing honey from a 
comb tied to a string, by swinging it rapidly. 
Hensehke’s machine was a wire net cage, 
fixed to a spindle, which was made to revolve 
rapidly inside a wooden tub, just like one of 
the old centrifugal machines used in sugar 
factories, or for drying clothes in a laundry. 
The honey was thrown out of the combs 
inside the tub, it collected at the bottom , and 
was run off through a spigot. Other contri- 
vances soon followed, and we hear of honey 
slingers and extractors of various kinds. 
Some were made like a rather deep, square 
tray, of tin or zinc, the sire of the 
combs or frames used ; this tray held within 
it a frame of wire netting, on which the comb 
was laid ; this was hung on a horizontal bar 
or rod, by means of cords or strong wires fron) 
the four corners. By placing one end of this 
rod in a hole or notch in any upright, and 
holding the other in the hand, and by a little 
dexterous motion the “ slinger” could hi! 
made to revolve rapidly around the rod in a 
vertical plane, and the honey thrown out of 
the comb in the square dish-like receptacle! 
by reversing the combs on the wire netting 
the honey was extracted from the second side, 
while the comb was by no means injured. A 
