1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



361 



thing to keep it from granulating we can sell 

 all our honey the year round in the home mar- 

 ket, at a good price; if not, we have to ship it 

 to one of the large markets to get rid of it at 

 once. This gluts the market, and, of course, 

 lowers the price for all. You say, " Heat it to 

 180° and it will keep liquid for a year or two;" 

 but you don't tell how to do this, nor what the 

 expense of doing it is. You probably have big 

 vats and steam to do it, and it comes easy and 

 cheap to you ; but I can't ruin a two-dollar 

 wash-boiler in doing a fifty-cent wash. I don't 

 know what I could do in heating honey up to 

 180 degrees. 



Just give us a chemical, and we will use it 

 and let you do the heating up. We don't ask 

 you to use it. 



Punta Gorda, Fla., March 13. 



[Yes, I grant it would be a great thing if we 

 could prevent honey from granulating, by a 

 process cheaper than resorting to heat; but so 

 far, I believe, there is nothing in the way of a 

 chemical, or something to put in honey, known 

 to bee-keepers or chemists, that will accom- 

 plish it. It was formerly supposed that glucose 

 would do it; but I know from some tests I have 

 made that it will not. As I have before re- 

 ported in these columns, I have used corn syr- 

 up in quantities varying all the way from 10 to 

 75 per cent. The samples of honey containing 

 these various amounts all granulated within a 

 year. But even if glucose would answer the 

 purpose, it could never be used by honest bee- 

 keepers. 



I grant your point that, if we could find some 

 chemical which, used in very small quantities, 

 would prevent granulation, and which in the 

 first place would be more expensive than the 

 honey, its use for this purpose would not be 

 adulteration. If there is any chemist or any 

 bee-keeper who knows of some chemical, let 

 him be free to stand up and tell us. In the 

 mean time let me suggest to you that raising 

 honey to a temperature of 180 degrees may not 

 be so very expensive. One bee-keeper whom I 

 know kept his honey two years in a clear litjuid 

 state. When extracted it was first poured into 

 pails, these pails being afterward put into a 

 wash-boiler containing water nearly boiling. A 

 thermometer was used; and when the honey in 

 the pails reached )80, by a thermometer im- 

 mersed in one of the pails, it was taken out and 

 bottled while hot. In the mean time, other 

 pails of honey were put into the boiler of hot 

 water, and so on the operation continued. I do 

 not remember how much he could heat in this 

 way in a day, but I should say not far short of 

 1000 lbs. But you people in Florida probably 

 would not want to fuss with wash-boilers. If 

 you have from 10 to 15 tons of honey it would 

 pay you well to have a boiler made of tin, large 

 enough to cover the whole top of the stove. 

 This boiler could be about as deep as a common 

 tin pail. To economize room I would suggest 

 using 60-lb. square cans, the tops cut oflp, and 

 nails fastened to them. If these bails were fas- 

 tened to the corners the honey could be poured 

 right from these cans into Muth jars, because 

 the tipped-over corner would be a " lip," allow- 

 inir only a small stream to run at a time. 



Until we can find some chemical, I am of the 

 opinion that the most satisfactory method of 

 preventing granulation is in the employment 

 of heat; and even if a chemical is discovered, it 

 may not be any cheaper nor as cheap.— Ed.] 



MCNAY'S IMPROVEMENT ON THE DRONE- 

 GUARD. 



By Fr<(rik McNay. 



There are many bee-keepers who do not like 

 to force their bees to work through a perforated 

 entrance-guard all of the time, yet would find 

 it a great advantage if they could do so a part 

 of the time; for instance, while they are visit- 

 ing an out-apiary or attending church. 



I have used the common entrance-guards for 

 this purpose, but find that it is no small task to 

 put them in place on a large apiary, and be sure 

 that all fit so that a queen can not escape, and 

 then remove them so often. This difficulty has 

 led me to invent an adjustable entrance-guard 

 that I leave over the entrance all summer; and 

 by means of a convenient slide under the per- 

 forated zinc I can, in ten minutes, either open 

 or close an apiary of 100 colonies or more, so 

 that they either pass under the zinc or through 

 it as I desire. 



When the slide is open, the guard in no way 

 interferes with the passage of the bees; but 

 being directly over the entrance it acts at all 

 times as a guard against robbers. I will send 

 you a sample to-day. 



This was made to fit a hive similar to your 

 Dovetailed hive, with a projecting bottom- 

 board. To use it on an even-front hive like 

 your chaiJ hive, all that is necessary to make a 

 perfect fit is a short piece of common lath 

 nailed on to pieces A A, back of slide B. One 

 can soon rid the hives of surplus drones by 

 opening these slides a few minutes until drones 

 are out, then close them before they return. 



Our honey crop of 1895 was greatly reduced 

 by drouth and the severe frosts of May 12, 

 which ruined the basswood bloom in this vicin- 

 ity. However, as my apiaries extend nearly 

 one hundred miles from home in opposite di- 

 rections, lightning does not strike them all at 

 once. Although my apiaries near home were 

 afflicted by both severe drouth and frosts, still I 

 secured several tons of excellent fall honey, all 

 dark; while from those about 100 miles south- 



