1882 



GLEAOTN^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



239 



can;" then the sediment heavier than the juice falls 

 to the bottom, and the clear juice is drawn from the 

 top. This done, the juice looks somewhat dark, and 

 will always be so if the lime is not next neutralized. 

 The juice is then put into copper evaporators, and a 

 mixture known as " solution B " is added. This is a 

 formula of sulphur and niter, j^enerated into a gas, 

 and then precipitated into water, making a mild 

 form of sulphurous-acid gas, and having power both 

 to bleach and destroy the lime. It gives the juice a 

 clear straw color. The boiling is now " pushed." 

 The faster it boils, the lighter will be the color of the 

 sugar. When finishing otT, the syrup is continually 

 stirred, to prevent burning; and as the mass be- 

 comes thick it does not cook even, owing to its den- 

 sity, so that agitation is necessary. To tell exactly 

 when it is cooked enough, requires great experience; 

 It is, therefore, a matter of skill to know just when 

 the syrup is finished. It weighs about 1'3 lbs. to the 

 gallon, and as soon as it is removed from the pans it 

 is placed in granulating tubs, where it remains for 

 several weeks, the temperature of the room being 

 kept at a uniform point of about 100°. It is now 

 placed in the "centrifugal," the basket holding 

 about 200 lbs. of " mush." This is then whirled at 

 the rate of 1703 revolutions per minute, the molasses 

 being completely drawn out through the wire mesh- 

 es of the revolving c> Under. This gives a nice 

 light-brown sugar in paying quantities, and a fair 

 proportion of excellent syrup. The returns of an 

 acre of good land are far greater than if put into 

 wheat. This w«s the first season, and a very poor 

 one at that. More and better machinery will be 

 added another season, to save labor. We can soon 

 get the pure cane sugar for feeding our bees. In- 

 closed I send you a sample of amber-cane sugar, 

 made by tliis the Stuart process. H. A. Simox. 



Lordstown, Trumbull Co., O., April, 1883. 



Very many thanks, friend S., for the valu- 

 able facts you have furnished us. The sam- 

 ple of sugar you send us is far ahead of any 

 we have had, and would, without question, 

 command a ready sale anywhere. ^Vith the 

 additional experience we have had with the 

 amber cane, we can say that it is very easy 

 to raise. In fact, it self-sows on our ground, 

 so as to be quite a troublesome weed, if the 

 ground is not frequently cultivated. Your 

 article will doubtless call forth a "power of 

 questions;" but I presume our friend Tal- 

 cott is prepared to answer them. 



CHAFJIAN'S BAU - FIEKCER, AGAIN. 



EFFICIENT TOOLS FOR WIRIXQ FR.VMES W.iNTED. 



fHAVE made a good strong piercer from the de- 

 scription in Gleanings for October last (p. 480), 

 ~"^ which pierces half-inch bottom and top bars as 

 fast as the stuff ctm be handled, and I am not a ma- 

 chanic either. While trying towcrkitouti thought 

 the description needed to be amended in several 

 particulars, and I see by the April No, of Glean- 

 ings, just at hand, that E. T. Flanagan confesses he 

 was not equal to the job, without a model, and had 

 to order a machine from the inventor. I first made 

 a little one, using the measurements as given, except 

 as to the width of the bottom-board and levers, just 

 to see how the machinery of the thing worked, and 

 to flad out what was required. As the description 



said nothing about the thickness of the stufif, or the 

 kind of wood, I used inch pine for my full-sized ma- 

 chine. It would do the work well enough, but 

 would not last, because the stuff was too light, and 

 the wood too soft; so No. 2 was a failure. 



I then purposed getting hard-wood plank for the 

 bottom, and dovetailing hard-wood uprights into 

 its sides; but failing to get any wide enough, I 

 made a frame of hard-wood scantling for a bottom- 

 board, using coach-screws instead of mortises and 

 tenons. Two carriage-bolts in each, fasten the up- 

 rights to the sides of this frame. Instead of a broad 

 plank cut down to a handle for the upper lever, I 

 used a piece of plank about 10 in. wide, lengthwise 

 between the uprights, and across this is bolted a 

 lever 4 It. long. 



The head-block is the most particular part to 

 make. I selected the very largest-sized awls, and had 

 to cull two stocks to get enough of the same size. 

 The word obtuse second line from the bottom, p. 479, 

 should be acute. The beds for the awls must be cut 

 of even depth, and not quite deep enough to let the 

 awls half way down. Instead of 8d nails I drove 

 wire nails for the notches of the awls. These pro- 

 jecting ends are filed to a point. When the second 

 piece is screwed on, these wire stops are imbedded at 

 each end in a hard-maple block. No beds are cut in 

 the second piece. The two pieces are fastened to- 

 gether by putting a quarter -inch carriage - bolt 

 through each end, and one between every two awls. 

 When screwed up, these two pieces come close to- 

 gether. There is no possibility of these awls either 

 shoving uj) or drawing out. Any one who has to 

 bore by hand 20,000 holes will save a sore wrist and 

 probably a blistered hand by spending a day getting 

 up such a machine, and save time, and do a better 

 job besides. s. Corneil. 



Lindsay, Ont., Can., Mar. 6, 1883. 



I fear, friend C, our readers will find it a 

 little difficult to get this before them. If 

 you will maiie a rude pencil sketch of your 

 machine we will have it engraved for' our 

 next number. With the great demand there 

 is now for wired frames, it behooves us to 

 have something efficient for this laborious 

 piercing. Can not some one offer a good 

 machine for sale at a low price? 



TVINTEBING BESS WITHOUT A QUEEN. 



ALSO SOMETUINO ABOUT FERTILE WORKERS, ETC. 



fjjHIS may do all right with Italians, but not with 

 Holy-Land bees. I had one colony that I waa 

 going to try wintering without a queen. I ex- 

 amined them a few days ago, and found that the 

 bees were not clustered close together like other 

 bees, and had considerable larvse queen-cells, and 

 sealed drone-brood, and thousands of eggs laid by- 

 worker bees, and the bees had consumed twice the 

 amount of honey that other colonies had. I united 

 them with another colony. The Holy-Land bees 

 will accept a queen quicker, if queenless, than any 

 other bees I ever tried, even if the hive is full of lay- 

 ing workers, and such will be the case very soon 

 after they arc made queenless. 



I had a nucleus last summer that had laying work- 

 ers all the time that would co mmence laying just as 

 soon as I would take out a ijueen, and keep it up un- 

 til tbey would have a laying queen again, and I do 



