4 6 
FOLLOWING THE BEE LINE 
Various labor-saving devices, invented and pre¬ 
sented by other beekeepers, accumulated. On one 
wall I grouped blue-labeled cards, first premiums 
won for honey and wax at different fairs; each year 
it was a matter of pride to add a new one. 
Outside, I made a rough bench by the door and 
put up a trellis for honeysuckle. On one side, close 
to the house, were planted blue Canterbury Bells, 
on the east were the hives—two against the house, 
the rest ranging around in an irregular semicircle 
facing southeast on an open field, with the little 
house and trees at the back. 
My Honey Room was not in the Bee House but 
in what had once been a laundry in the Big House— 
a honey extractor fittingly occupied the most con¬ 
spicuous position in the room. 
In appearance, an extractor can be likened to a 
large, round tank with a handle connected with 
gears which turn openwork pockets inside the tank. 
Combs are slipped into these pockets and whirled 
round and round. The honey is thrown from the 
cells by centrifugal force against the sides of the 
extractor, whence it runs down below and is drawn 
into pails through a “gate” in the lower part of 
the extractor. 
Combs were brought in from the hives on a 
