THE BEEKEEPERS' REVIEW 



137 



the honey as it drains from the cap- 

 pings IS enclosed, and away from the 

 bees, etc., except as it runs out into the 

 pail under the gate; fourth, convenience. 

 One of the most disagreeable and "sticky" 

 manipulations about the harvesting of a 

 crop of extracted honey, where cracker 

 barrels are used for uncapping tanks, is 

 the lifting of the tanks, heavy with 

 honey and cappings. Then, each night, 

 sometimes oftener, the emptying of large 

 tubs heavy with honey. 



DISPENSING WITH A STRAINER BY USING A 

 SEPARATING TANK. 



Previous to the bringing out of the 

 separating tank which we are about to 

 describe, two general principles were 

 employed in separating impurities from 

 honey, at extracting time. One was the 

 furnishing of tank-room enough to hold 

 the day"s extracting, letting the honey 

 stand over night, then, after skimming, 

 drawing off from the bottom. Of course, 

 none would be drawn after scum, or 

 impurities, were seen to come through 

 the gate; what there was left in the 

 bottom of the tank going into the next 

 batch. The other plan, and the one 

 most generally in use, is to strain through 

 cheese cloth or fine wire screen, before 

 canning. Some of the disadvantages of 

 the former way is, that so much tank- 

 room is necessary, (valuable room is 

 occupied with tanks) slow work in draw- 

 ing off and canning cold honey; aroma is 

 lost by allowing the honey to stand in 

 open tanks, exposed to the atmosphere. 

 Some of the disadvantages of the strainer 

 are, limited capacity; sticky strainers to 



wash and change; occasionally, con- 

 tents and all falling into the tank, caus- 

 ing much delay and annoyance. The 

 washing and handling of the strainers is 

 a very disagreeable job for a man. We 

 hope to avoid this in the future. 



THE IDEAL TANK. 



It is evident that the ideal tank would 

 be of unlimited capacity, that would do 

 its work properly, with no let-up. To 

 be what its name applies, it must handle 

 the honey from an extractor, be it more 

 or less. The one that we will describe 

 has handled 3,000 pounds in one day, 

 and done its work well, without a single 

 hitch, or let-up. 



The tank, as we have used it, is built 

 of galvanized steel, about 22 inches in 

 diameter (round) and 32 inches deep, 

 and we do not know of any reason for 

 changing this size. A 1 >4-inch bore, 

 Scoville honey gate is soldered near the 

 bottom. The Scoville gate throws a 

 round stream of honey, no matter how 

 wide open it is used, and is just the gate 

 for filling 60-pound cans. 



The main feature of this tank is the 

 separating float. This is a disc, built of 

 |-inch lumber, and is one inch less across 

 than the diameter of the tank. At 

 intervals of a few inches, in the entire 

 circumference of the disc, staples are 

 driven in, projecting ;Vs of an inch. The 

 purpose of the staples is to cause the 

 separating float to remain in the center 

 of the tank. 



In our next article our mode of using 

 these tools and fixtures will be explained. 

 Remus, Mich., March Zth, 1910. 



Perfect Control of Bees Would Make Comb Honey 

 Production as Cheap as Extracted. 



J. E. HAND. 



fiRIEND Hutchinson:— Your editorial to be misunderstood. I did not intend to 

 comments at the close of my convey the idea that one branch of bee 

 article, page 115, proves how keeping was more honorable than another, 

 difficult is the task of writing so as npt nor to "point the finger of scorn" at the 



