172 



FOURTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



60 lb. cans about 3 ft. long, a little 

 over 2 ft. wide, lined with asbestos, 

 and has passing through lengthwise 

 four pieces of gas pipe 1 inch to sup- 

 port the cans. It has two gas burners 

 below for furnishing the heat; at the 

 top there is a cover that fits tightly 

 and in the cover there is an opening 

 with cork in it; and a thermometer 

 through this cork. We can regulate 

 the thermometer. The gas has to be 

 turned very low in order to keep the 

 heat down to where it should be; 

 turn it about as low as we can to keep 

 the gas burning. It takes about 12 

 hours to liquefy six cans of honey. I 

 have found this difficulty; cans get 

 hotter at the top than at the bottom. I 

 am testing this out. I have taken a 

 flat p;ece of sheet iron and put it over 

 the supports that held the can and 

 set 60 lb. cans on this piece of sheet 

 iron; that enables the flame to heat 

 this flat piece of sheet iron and .the 

 bottom of can so that the bottom will 

 heat possibly faster than the top. 



I have been using this for two years. 

 Mr. Bull has a similar arrangement 

 but his is much larger. He can tell 

 you more about it than I can. 



Mr. Bull — I would like to know the 

 depth of yours. 



Mr. Miller — I do not remember the 

 exact dimensions; I think the distance 

 between the bottom of the can and the 

 bottom of the heater is about 10 inches. 

 His plan was to invert the cans and 

 let the honey run out but I And it does 

 not completely liquefy; you have to 

 put the cans right side up and pour 

 out afterwards. 



Mr. Bull — I use about the same 

 thing; I made a tank to start with to 

 hold 6 or 8 cans, letting the honey run 

 out as fast as melted, but I did not 

 try it long. 



I put the tank on the floor and put' 

 the honey in right side up until they 

 were melted. If I got more honey 

 than would melt I used a larger tank. 



My tank is 3 feet wide, 2 feet deep 

 and 10 feet long. My tank is too 

 shallow to overcome that, and I cut 

 out the center of bottom about 14 

 inches wide and set the tank on 2 by 

 lO's set edgewise; 2 by 10 — 10 inches 

 high at one end and 8 at the other; 

 the tank cut out inside at bottom. 



The whole tank is a little bit slant- 

 ing. My tank will hold 11 cans on 

 each side; if you are crowded you can 



put 5 cans in the center; I have two 

 burners about 2^/^ feet from each end. 



I have another outfit that is a little 

 different; I have three burners in that; 

 a tank 8 feet long, 2% feet wide, 2% 

 feet deep. 



The trouble is if you have your tank 

 there and heat at the bottom, the top 

 of your cans will get too hot for the 

 bottom of the cans. 



I never tried out the plan of setting 

 the cans on a sheet of metal as he has 

 suggested, but I will watch that care- 

 fully. The top of my tank is galvan- 

 ized iron cover; I do not use any 

 packing to conserve the heat. The 

 honey is generally put up in the winter 

 time and it makes a room comfortable 

 to work in. 



r have an extra use for the top of 

 that cover. If you wash a friction top 

 can it is practically impossible to take 

 the water out except to dry them out. 

 We set our cans on top of that cover 

 after washing and let the water dry 

 out. 



Mr. Burnett — What thermometer 

 have you in there? 



Mr. Bull — I do not use any ther- 

 mometer; I aim to have the cans as 

 not as I can hold them without burn- 

 ing my hands; 125 to 130 degrees, I 

 believe. 



When you shut your burners off 

 your heat is stopped right then. 



You can use those same cans over 

 and over again for storage. 



I can take a can that has had honey 

 in the second time and you cannot tell 

 it from the one that has had honey in 

 the first time. When honey granulates 

 it expands. I never put 60 pounds of 

 honey in a square can; I stop at 55; 

 that leaves sufficient room when I take 

 that cap ofC and empty it without that 

 honey going over everything. 



The honey after it is melted is run 

 through a 10-cent cheesecloth and 

 vertical strainer (described in the bee 

 papers two or three years ago) — a 

 wire basket 10 or 11 inches in diam- 

 ,eter and a foot deep; make a circle in 

 the cheesecloth and set inside of that 

 and it gives you a vertical strainer; 

 the honey is poured through that 

 strainer and it takes out all particles 

 of wax; more or less pollen will come 

 up there when the honey is. heated. 



The honey is left standing usually 

 about 12 hours. When you put the 

 honey into cans a little scum will 

 come on top after it is. cool, which is 



