256 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 1. 



terated. Conifer honey, as also that from fir| 

 and pine, yields a slight precipitate of dextrine. 

 Dr. Haenle, of Strassburg, can, by means of 

 the polariscope. very easily detect the adulter- 

 ation of conifer honey by its right-handed ro- 

 tation. 



2. AdnlteraVxon ivUh flaur. st(trch, cic— Pour 

 into a tumbler, partly filled with honey, a few 

 drops of the tincture of iodine, stirring it 

 thoroughly with a glass rod. In a few moments 

 it will, if adulterated, be of a bluish color. If 

 the honey is greatly diluti'd it will form on the 

 bottom of the glass a sediment of a deep sky- 

 blue color. 



:j. AduUeratkni with flour. — Warm the hon- 

 ey till it is quite thin; let it cool off and add 

 very cold water, constantly stirring till the 

 flour separates from the honey and falls to the 

 bottom, whereitis easily recognized. 



Additions of flour can be easily detected in 

 such honey by warming it. It melts very slow- 

 ly and burns easily. 



4. AdiUterations with glucose. — Mix honey 

 with boiling water. If ithas not an aromatic 

 smell, but smells of starch or fusil, it is adul- 

 terated with potato or starch syi'up. 



.5. Adulteration with glue can he easily de- 

 tected by an addition of tannin. The latter is 

 often used by wine-dealers to render red wine 

 astringent. When used as an adulterant it 

 forms a yellowish- white sediment. 



<). The addition of water can be very easily 

 demonstrated by the use of Schachinger's hon- 

 ey-scale. The specific gravity of pure extracted 

 honey is 1.39 kgs. per liter. Watered honey soon 

 ferments and easily becomes sour, and this is 

 always a good meaiis of detecting adulterated 

 honey. 



7. Artificial honey, known as Swiss. Alp, and 

 grape honey, etc.. are easily recognized — 1. By 

 the presence of sulphuric acid: 2. By a grating 

 taste: '1 By the fact that it never crystallizes, 

 but remains permanently liquid. 



EXTRACTORS. 



CRITinSMS AND SITGGESTION.S FJiO.M A WISCON- 

 SIX liKE-KEKPEI}. 



Friend Root: — I see quite fi'equenlly com- 

 ments upon different honey - extractors by dif- 

 ferent writers, showing the difference in what 

 they accomplish. I will try aithis time to show 

 something of the u.sc and (ibii.'<e of the extract- 



Ol'. 



First. I wish to assert that more bees are kill- 

 ed annually by the ignorant use of the honey- 

 extractor than by all other causes combined. I 

 frequently meet bee-keepers who raise from 

 500 to .5000 lbs. of honey, wanting to change 

 their little Novice machine for one with a great- 

 er capacity. Right here I wish to say, don't do 

 it. If you have a machine, and can not sell it 

 for what it is worth, fosten it down and wear it 

 out. Von can extract with it all the honey you 

 produce, and that is all you would do with a 125 

 machine. The weak point with the Novice, as 

 well as nearly all other machines, is the cast- 

 iron hon<'y-gate: hence we see so many corncob 

 and rag honey-gates. Why can we not have a 

 malleable or wrought - iron gate? No one 

 would object to the difference in cost. The 

 above is a very disagreeable feature. 



Another bad feature is the way a hirge por- 

 tion of such machines are fastened down before 

 commencing work. It is a truly comical sight 

 to see the machine placed upon an old rickety 

 bench or box, with a heavy comb in one side 

 and a light one in the other: then see the oper- 

 ator chase the thing around the room in dis- 

 gust. But this is the fault of the operator and 



not the machine. The bench that I prefer is 

 made by sawing off' a block from a hard-wood 

 log 20 inches long. I saw it oft' where a knot or 

 limb puts out. so as to make a set-off' for the 

 honey-gate — thus: 



This block is very heavy, and. if sawed off 

 square,' and nailed to the floor, as shown by 

 A, A, A. and the machine fastened to the block 

 by screws at b, u: then if the floor is solid I 

 will insure the machine to ''stay put" and re- 

 main firm. The illustration also shows my 

 manner of straining honey. The little strain- 

 ers you send out with your machines I always 

 give to the little daughter to make a hoop-skirt 

 for her doll, for I want one three times as large, 

 and running to a point. You will see the strain- 

 er is tied to the faucet at c, with a hole d, 

 thiough which is passed the honey-gaie so it 

 can be closed or opened at will: e shows the 

 pail into which the honey runs, and f shows the 

 manner of tipping the pail under the stream 

 when the pail E is full; o is a tunnel holding 

 1^2 pails of honey, which conducts it to the 

 barrel after it is strained. 



In the sea.son of 1891, my wife, with a hand to 

 help her and another to empty the honey, ex- 

 tracted, with one of Novice's little machines, 

 2080 lbs. in ten hotirs, while myself and son, 14 

 years old, with a hand to help, traveled 9 miles 

 and took 16.50 lbs. with the same kind of ma- 

 chine. I doubt wliether much more would have 

 been accomplished with larger machines. 



I think I shall want one of your new Cowan 

 extractors, and I want one so the weight of the 

 machine won't break off the honey-gate. Ma- 

 chines that are drawn over the country, in a 

 wagon, should have a better honey-gate. 



Viola. Wis.. Feb. 21. M. A. Giix. 



[Many of your points are well taken: but. 

 friend G.. it seems to us that it is a great deal 

 of trouble and unnecessary labor to have two 

 little pails to transfer honey into the barrel, to 

 say nothing of the danger from daubing and 

 the labor of handling the pails of honey. If 

 you are going to put honey into the barrel at all. 

 why not put the bung of the barrel directly un- 

 der the honey-gate — letting the strainer, of 

 course, run into the bung. But. as a general 

 thing, honey should be ripened a little before it 

 is barreled up: and, if we are correct, most ot 

 the extracted-honey men run their honey into 

 shallow vats, keeping the same in a dry. warm, 

 prot(>cted place for some length of time. In 

 California the extractor is set on a side-hill, a 

 pipe connects the honey-gate with a tank a lit- 

 tle lower down, but high enough to aliow the 

 honey to run into a wagon loaded -with square 

 cans. 



Speaking of the size of extractors, there is no 



