1885 



GLEANINGS IN JiEE CULTURE. 



339 



THE CALIFORNIAdSUN-STBAINEK. 



A CHEAP WAY OF MAKING TAN AUTOMATIC AK- 



rangementIfor rendering wax. 



fllE following, from the pen of friend 

 Muth-Kasmussen, whose portrait we 

 gave on page 193, we have taken from 

 the Pacific Rural Press. 

 As I have never seeu it mentioned in print, 

 I will here give a description of this^valuable appa- 

 ratus, which ought to be found in every apiary in 

 the land. 



The sun-strainer is a triangular~box, something 

 like a corner cupboard laid down on its back edge. 

 It is lined with tin. and covered with one or more 

 window - sashes. A sun-strainer, covered with a 

 sash of six 10x16 lights, is large enough for an apia- 

 ry of 100 colonies, run for extracted honey. This 

 sash shoi.lil fit hf'o-tislu, to prevent bees from 

 crowdinj-' in. wliich will invariably result in their 

 death, as cither the lioat will kill them, or they will 

 worry tlienisclvcs to death trying to get out through 

 the glass. About halfway between the cover and 

 bottom edge is placed a strainer-plate, made of 

 sheets of tin, perforated with 'a-inch holes, three- 

 quarters of an inch apai-t, and fastened to a light 

 wooden frame under the tin. Wire-cloth should not 

 be used for the strainer-plate, as it is difficult to 



fornia srx honev-stuainer. 



clean, and easily gets clogged or broken. A semi- 

 circular handle is soldered to each end of the 

 strainer-plate. Underneath is placed four little tin 

 brackets, soldered to the vertical ends of the sun- 

 strainrr, two at eaeli emi, to i)re\cnt the stiaiiier- 

 plate from tilting sidewise. In one of theeixisof 

 the sun-strainer, and us near tlie l»)tt()Mi as possible, 

 is soldered a 1'2-inch tube, four inches long. An- 

 other tube of the same diameter, a foot or more 

 long, telescopes over the short tul)e, and goes 

 through a hole in the wall into the honey-room. 

 Some place the sun-strainer in a seatt'cild. standini:- 

 apart from the ho\ise, but it is better to liave it rest- 

 ing in a frame bolted to tlie south side ot the honey- 

 house, where the sun will strike it nearly all day. 

 The sash should be hinged over the tube so that 

 when it is raised it rests against the wall, where it 

 may be fastened by a hook or other device. 

 use of the sun-strainer. 

 When the cappings have been drained sufficiently, 

 they are placed on the strainer-plate, and the sun- 

 strainer closed. The heat of the sun melts the cup- 

 pings, and as soon as the wax gets below the strain- 

 er-plate it cools and forms a solid cake. The wax 

 never gets overheated In this way. When made 

 from new white cappings. it will always be of a 

 bright yellow color. What little honey adheres to 



the cappings goes through the tube into the honey- 

 room, where It is collected in a can or separate 

 tank. The sun-strainer should therefore have a 

 slight inclination toward the house, that the honey 

 may flow freely and not remain standingtbetweeh 

 the different layers of wax formed, as more cap- 

 pings are added from day to day. The honey will 

 be slightly darker than the extracted honey, and 

 should be kept separate, to be either sold as a dark- 

 er grade or kept for stimulating or feeding the 

 bees. It will be a good policy to keep on handihalf 

 a ton or more of such honey, as it may save the 

 bees from starvation during one of our not unfre- 

 quent dry seasons. 



Most of the refuse will remain on top of the 

 strainer-plate, from which it can easily be scraped 

 off', while it is warm. If the plate becomes 'clogged, 

 the holes may be opened with a carpenter's com- 

 pass or similar tool. This should be done when the 

 plate is cold. The wax should be cut out with 

 wooden paddles, choosing a time when the wax is 

 tolerably soft. Never use a metallic tool for this 

 purpose, as it is liable]^o cut the tin lining, and it is 

 almost impossible to mend such an injury after the 

 tin has;been coated over with wax. In very hot 

 weather some of the wax will run through the tube 

 and partly fill it. When the sun-strainer has been 

 emptied, the extension tube should be taken.ofif and 

 the wax pulled out of it. If the wax sticks, the 

 tube may be laid in water, which will dissolve the 

 honey and loosen the wax. The wax is then placed 

 in a tub of water and afterward 

 re-melted. It is hardly necessa- 

 ry to say, that the glass should 

 be kept bright, clean, and free 

 from;dust, in order»to have the 

 best effect. The sun - strainer 

 should he housed during the win- 

 ter, but the frame may be left 

 in its place all the year round. 



another style of sun- 

 strainer 

 Is built fast to the wall, has a 

 sloping glass cover, and, under 

 this, a close-fitting shutter, hing- 

 ed at the top. Through the hole 

 in the wall, closed by this shut- 

 ter, the sun - strainer may be 

 filled and eiiii)tied from the in- 

 side of the honey-room. This Is 

 an advantage when bees are in- 

 clined to rob. 



FORMER use OF THE SUN- 

 STRAINER. 



When I first learned the bee- 

 business, extractors were not 

 known on the Pacific Coast, and. 

 as far as I know, I was one of 

 the first, if not the first bee-keep- 

 er in (,'alif'ornia, who imported 

 an extractor from "the States." 

 It was my old friend and bene- 

 factor, Mr. Thomas A. Garey, of 

 Los Angeles, who drew my at- 

 tention to the ad\-ertisement of 

 an extractor in the Aiiiiiictin lin J<t\niitil, specimen 

 copies of which were occasionally sent him; and to 

 him justly belongs the lionoi- of the tlist introduc- 

 tion of the honey-extraetoi- into Southern Califor- 

 nia. Prc\inus t.) that e\eiu,all honey not sold as 

 comb honey wjis stniiunt by means of the sun- 

 Strainer. The sun-strainers were, therefore, then 

 of necessity very large, the one with which I first 

 worked lieing 7 feet.O inches long, and covered with 

 a heavy door of glass. It had a melting capacity of 

 a ton a day in hot weather. As all the hone.y was 

 tints straineii. the term "strained honey" became 

 H.ved in the uiiiids of the public, and has been slow 

 to give was to the newer term, "extracted honey." 

 All the lioiiey-coiiib was, of course, melted up with 

 the honey, the whole as it was cut out of the su- 

 pers being (lunii)ed info the sun-strainer in a pro- 

 miscuous nuiss, and an immense amount of wa.x 

 was made at that time. 



Considerable has been said about these 

 sun-strainers, but I have not learned of any- 

 bod\ wlio lias made them a practical success 

 here in the Slates, unless it is friend Popple- 

 ton, whose articles were given, with an illus- 

 tration, on page '521, Sept., 1883. AVherever 



