98 



SEVENTEEXTir AXXUAL ]{EPOItT OF THE 



queen. Start to get thetn ready for winter 



^ in August. I believe it is a good plan to 



put them in the cellar early, and before 



-i '.-arrying them in it is a good plan to see 



that they have sufficient stores. 



Mr. Stewart — What do you do for foul 

 brood? If you take away that queen and 

 give the queen a cell, will that cure it? 



The President — If it isn't bad, it may in 

 ca.se of European foul brood. It doesn't 

 always work, but it is very apt to if the 

 colony is not badly diseased. It is a good 

 plan to attend to them before they get 

 very badly diseased. 



Mr. Smith — Do you give that queen to 

 another colony? 



The President — T do not think it would 

 be advisable to do that. 



Mr. H. T. Fisher — Does anyone here use 

 the Dugwall-Buckeye hive? 



The President — Does anvone here have 

 that hive? I beleve it is better, in starting 

 out in bee-keeping, to use a standard hive. 

 If you go into the business extensively 

 later on, you will find you will have to 

 discard these other hives. It is not a good 

 thing to have more than one kind of hive 

 at a time, and that in my opinion should 

 be a standard hive, ten frames, not any- 

 thing less. 



Question — I have one written question 

 here. What is the best method of liq- 

 uefying candied honey in sixty-pound cans? 



Mr. Baldri^ge — I have a method of melt- 

 ing honey in those cans'! I have cans made 

 on purpose to hold one can, made about 

 two inches larger in diameter each way. 

 I melt it with water. I do that because I 

 used to melt four cans at a time and some- 

 times one of them would leak, and 1 would 

 have to take them all out to find out which 

 one was leaking. I can handle the one 

 can very nicely on a gas stove, and I like 

 to melt it in that way, with water or steam. 



The President — I know from experience 

 it is a good thing to count the nail holes 

 in the bottom of the can before you attempt 

 to melt it. ^ ■ 



The Secretary — Mr. President, I might 

 say I have melted quite a little honey, and 

 very little in hot water. I use the hot air 

 system. You can look at it aiij' time to see 

 if it is melted. I like the hot air system. 

 It is quicker and handier. It docs not 

 spoil your cans. The cans are not rusted 

 when you take them out like they are in 

 hot water. I believe, too, that you can 

 melt the honey with less heat. You can 

 take an ordinary oil stove or gasoline 

 stove and m.elt eight or ten cans at one 

 time, melt fhem jiorfectly, no danger of 

 overheating] and you do not have to 

 watch them. You can set your cans in and 



go about your business, and let them do 

 the work. 



A Member — What temperature? 



The Secretary — I do not go as high as 

 most of them recommend. I run about 

 one hundred and twenty; I have the can 

 so I can handle it with my bare hand when 

 it is finished. That is under one hundred 

 and twenty. 



Mr. MacNeill — What kind of a container 

 do you use for the cans, or is it an ordinary 

 galvanized tank? 



The Secretary — I have a tank that will 

 hold twenty-two cans, if you want to 

 melt that much at once, and I have a 

 small one. 



Mr. MacNeiH — Just open at the bottom, 

 on the gas stove? 



The Secretary — -You can use a gasoline 

 or oil stove. You will have to put \'our 

 stove underneath. Of course, with ordi- 

 nary city gas, just put your burijer^ight 

 in the bottom of the tank. For a sixty- 

 pound can you need a tank thirty inches 

 wide and thirty inches deep, and that will 

 take about fourteen or fifteen inches of 

 this tank for the can and leave about fifteen 

 inches of space underneath the can. You 

 don't want your heat too close up. I use a 

 tank that is three feet wide and put a row- 

 in each side. My small tank has one 

 burner in the center, it is four feet long and 

 holds eight sixty-pound cans. I can run 

 that lank just fine on a one burner oilstove. 



Mr. MacNeill — How long does it take? 



The Secretary — Twenty-four hours. If 

 you want to turn on the heat faster, you 

 can melt it quicker, but 1 would rather 

 use the slower heat and not melt it too 

 fast. I have melted it in hot water, running 

 it up to one hundred and twenty-four or 

 eight degrees; then it takes about fifteen 

 hours. But you have to watch them, and 

 there is the danger of heating that honey 

 so hot that you might injure the flavor. 

 Afterwards it is poured into a settling tank 

 and stands over night and it will be as 

 clear as a crystal. Then you can run it off 

 into your packages in the finest shape. 

 You want to let the honey cool down to 

 one hundred degrees or less, before you 

 fill your packages. If you take it when it 

 is cold it is too slow. If j'ou can get honey 

 right, about 100 degrees, it will handle 

 just fine. 



Mr. MacNeill — How long before that 

 honey will candy again? 



The Secretary — If you keep it warm, 

 after it is filled, so that the air bubbles all 

 get out of it, it will keep for a lung time. If 

 placed in tin pails, it will stay warm longer 

 than if it is in glass, on account of the glass 

 being so heavy that it will cool honey down 



