March 14, 1901. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL, 



167 



In several places in this report Mr. and Mrs. R. C. 

 Aikin's little daughter has been credited with havinj:,'- enter- 

 tained the convention with songs and music on the piano, 

 but Mr. Aikin writes me that Mr. and Mrs. Acklin's little 

 daughter was our entertainer. It was a very easy matter 

 to make such a mistake when two such bright and winsome 

 Misses of so nearly the same age were constant attendants 

 on our sessions. A. B. Mason, Sec. 



[THE END.] 



\ Contributed Articles. | 



No. 5.— Extracted Honey Production. 



Machinery Needed— Freeing- of Impurities— 



About Heating — Why Some is More Watery 



Than Other. 



BY R. C. .\IKIN. 



IN addition to the extractor there are knives, knife-pan, and 

 oil-stove to heat same, capping bos or can, strainer, and 

 one or more tanks. The larger the tank the less trouble 

 and the better the honey. Some use a tank of about a bar- 

 rel capacity, a real barrel sometimes serving the purpose ; 

 such will do for a very few colonies. I will not specify a 

 detinite size of tank, but rather tell you what you ought to 

 do, and then you can judge for yourself of the size best 

 suited to your needs. 



In extracting it is rarely that any foreign substances get 

 in the honey but bits of wax and propolis. Wax weighs, I 

 think, about 7 pounds to the gallon, being lighter than 

 water, which is in round numbers 8, honey about 12, and 

 propolis between water and honey. I will say, parentheti- 

 cally, that if you are melting wax that has propolis in it, be 

 careful not to let it get too hot, for the propolis settles to 

 the bottom of the boiler and will burn there and stick fast 

 to the boiler-bottom. I have just been melting a lot of top- 

 bar scrapings composed of propolis and bur-combs, and 

 altho I thought I was not letting it get too hot, yet it burned 

 on the boiler-bottom. 



Since the specific gravity of wax is but about -3 that 

 of honey, and propolis slightly heavier, but still lighter 

 than honey, both will float. The thinner the honey the 

 quicker will the impurities float, but it is very hard to have 

 it thin enough either to do a good job of straining thru 

 cloth, or to float out these substances in less than several 

 days. Well-ripened honey should be at least three or four 

 days settling at a temperature of about 100 degrees, and 

 even then there will appear more or less specks after drawn 

 into the shipping package. 



Suppose you want to extract one or two thousand 

 pounds in a day, and have but a 500-pound capacity settling- 

 tank to receive it — you can neither strain nor settle it prop- 

 erly in that time unless heated to considerably over 100 

 degrees — I should say not less than 125. The most practical 

 way is a tank of a capacity to hold the honey so you can let 

 it settle for at least a week, and even then it ought to be in 

 a quite warm place. If you want to do good work, and put 

 out a well-ripened and a clean and nice liquid, use both time 

 and heat liberally. 



For several years I used a tank of 1100 pounds capacity, 

 but when extracting 1,000 or 2,000 a day— even 600 or «0o a 

 day — several days in succession, I found my tank altogether 

 too small. A tank 2 feet across and 4 feet high will hold 

 about 1,000 pounds. I now have one 5 feet across and 6 feet 

 high, which holds 5 tons, is made of galvanized steel, and 

 never overflows with a day's extracting. The outlet is in 

 the bottom ; the pipe is elbowed out beyond the tank, and 

 all is set on a circular stone foundation built from the cellar 

 floor to about two feet above the ground floor. A brick 

 casing is built about the tank with two to three inches 

 space between tank and brick, until the top is reacht, when 

 the brick is drawn in against the tank and mortared air- 

 tight to retain the heat. 



In the circular chamber beneath the tank is a range 

 stove, and on this is where I melt honey, wax, and such 

 work, and a little fire there helps to keep the tank warm. 

 The chamber being of stone, and nearly the whole struc- 

 ture of stone, brick or metal, I can leave a roaring fire and 

 no fear of a burn-out. 



Speaking of heating honey, it does not absorb heat as 

 freely as water. Set a chamber or hive of combs of honey 

 in a warm room, and it will be many hours in getting 

 warmed thru, at as high a temperature surrounding as 100 

 to 120 degrees. I often bring in a lot of extracting cham- 

 bers and store them, and before extracting I keep the room 

 at well nigh 100 degrees for about two days, then extract. 

 I have so treated several tons, warming for extracting after 

 the honey season was over — as late as November and 

 December. 



The consistency of honey varies quite materially, 

 much depending on conditions while being^ gathered. If 

 the flow be very slow, capping is delayed and the cells 

 remain open, and the honey is exposed to the evaporating 

 process for so long that it becomes very thick ; but with a 

 rapid flow the cells fill rapidly, and the free honey and con- 

 stantly full honey-sacs cause a free secretion of wax and 

 prompt sealing, sometimes even before the honey is suffi- 

 ciently ripened. When nectar comes freely it is dropt into 

 any available open cell, among the brood, near the entrance, 

 in fact anywhere where there is found an open cell, big or 

 little. When the flow lets up, or stops, then this scattered 

 honey is gathered from here and there and stored regularly. 

 Even a rainy day serves as a chance to put things to rights 

 in a much disordered house caused by the previous rush to 

 get all that was to be had while it was available. This 

 unevenness will be observed at times by thick and thin 

 streaks in the same combs, and some parts of a comb will 

 extract much more freely than another. 



All honey intended for table use should be put thru a 

 settling-tank, and well settled. If it were feasible to get 

 the honey heated to about 130 or 140 degrees before strain- 

 ing, then it would be possible with large but fine and close 

 strainers to properly strain out the impurities ; but the easi- 

 est way is large settling-tanks. The large tank, and time 

 given, make a much more even grade of honey than can 

 otherwise be obtained except by freely using heat. I am 

 an advocate of applying some heat to the honey, but too 

 much would be worse than none at all. 



Another thing essential in a well-equipt honey-room, 

 is handy water and washing arrangements. Where it is 

 possible there ought to be water on tap as in waterworks of 

 cities and towns. The water may be kept in a tank so that 

 it can be drawn at any time. A waste-way or sink should 

 be provided for dirty water, and a barrel with a cloth over 

 it for all honey-washings, such as of cans that have had 

 honey in them,"honey-strainers, etc. This sweetened water 

 can be poured into the barrel thru the cloth tied over the 

 top, thus straining it as it goes into the barrel. Such sav- 

 ings will make first-class vinegar, and help out in the rev- 

 enues. Larimer Co., Colo. 



Do Bees Injure Fruit by Taking tlie Nectar From 

 tlie Flowers ? 



BY G. M. DOOLITTLK. 



A CORRESPONDENT writes that a neighbor of his 

 thinks he ought to give him several pounds of honey 

 for the injury which was done his fruit from his bees 

 taking the sweet out of the fruit-blossoms, this hindering 

 the fruit from perfecting as fully as it would have done, 

 had the bees not so taken the sweet, ending his letter in this 

 way : 



" Will you please tell us in the American Bee Journal 

 whether there is anything in this claim ? I do not wish to 

 give out any honey as pay for damages, as it would be estab- 

 lishing a bad precedent, altho I generally give my neigh- 

 bors several pounds of honey each, each year, for I like to 

 see them enjoy it ; and it also helps to smooth over any 

 rough feelings which the bees may cause in any way." 



I like the spirit of the last words from our correspond- 

 ent very much, and know from experience that the giving 

 of a few pounds of honey to all near-by neighbors will 

 smooth over all bee-spots on drying clothes, an occasional 

 sting gotten by a bare-footed child stepping on any bruised 

 or partly decayed fruit which may happen to have a bee in 

 or on it, etc., and I believe that nothing pays me better 

 than the giving of some of the " first fruits" of my honey 

 to those who may have a chance at some time or other to be 

 annoyed bv my bees. But while I so believe, I would never 

 give out a pound of honey as payment for any damage done 

 to flowers of any kind by bees working on them, for fio 

 damage is ever done. In fact, it is always the other way. 

 The bees always help in perfecting any fruit which is vis- 

 ited by them while the fruit is in the blossom or flower 



