1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



-^39 



said that he would not purchase such honey. 

 He had had experience in that line, and he 

 said that all of those specks did not rise to 

 the top of the honej' in the can, but were 

 mixed with the honey three or four inches 

 down, and before it could be used it was nec- 

 essary to warm and strain it. 



With the large tanks used in Southern Cali- 

 fornia the honey remains in the tank at least 

 '24 hours, many times longer ; and, even if the 

 honey is strained, a thick scum will rise to 

 the surface; and when the honey is drawn aS, 

 how beautifully clear it is ! 



The most complete clarifying process I ever 

 saw was in the apiary of J. F. Mclntyre. His 

 method has been described in Gleanings, 

 but will bear repeating. He strains his honey 

 into a large shallow tank (it is clean from the 

 start). After standing in this a proper length 

 of time it is drawn off into another large tank, 

 and when drawn from this it is honey fit for 

 the most epicurian palate, and, as a general 

 rule, Mr. Mclnt3're gets a better price for his 

 honey than the majority of bee-keepers. 



It would be better to use a large tank, and 

 no straining whatever, than to allow a multi- 

 tude of specks to run into the can with the 

 honey ; for, in the use of a large tank, there 

 would be opportunity for clarifying the honey 

 and skimming off the refuse. The dairyman 

 is compelled to be particular respecting his 

 milk and all receptacles for handling it. Our 

 honey will not sour on our hands as the milk 

 does in the hands of the careless milkman, 

 but there is an aroma to retain ; and to retain 

 it in the highest quality requires as clean ma- 

 nipulation as is practiced in the dairy. 



This hit-or-miss, careless, Slovenish, whack- 

 row-de dow, git - there - Eli honey - production 

 will result only in a degradation of our prod- 

 uct. 



Referring to the small cut again, I wish to 

 call attention to the bee-bru^h resting against 

 the extractor. That brush has seen hard usage 

 through the honey season, and it is a Califor- 

 nia invention, such brushes having been used 

 here for the past dozen years or more. I use 

 two of them. When one gets sticky with hon- 

 ey, wash it and throw it out in the hot sunshine. 

 It will be dry enough to use by the time the 

 other gets sticky. 



[I envy Rambler the pleasure of that shady 

 retteat, even though it be in a climate subject 

 to extremes of 120 degrees. I envy the free- 

 dom of any rambler, providing he is not of 

 the tramp order. I am not sure that I shall 

 see the Rambler this summer, but I am try- 

 ing to get away ; and if so I shall see him and 

 other bee keepers in California right in the 

 midst of their extracting work. 



Wherever practicable it is always advisable 

 to have the extractor higher than the tank 

 into which the honey flows ; but in many 

 cases it happens that both tank and extractor 

 necessarily have to be on the same level. Mr. 

 Coggshall, who extracts so many tons of 

 buckwheat in New York, allows the honey to 

 run into a pail, and then when the pail is full 

 he empties it into kegs ; but while I was there 

 the pail ran over once, and I should imagine 



that that would be just the trouble where one 

 has to remember to empty. But say, Ram- 

 bler, suppose you forget to revolve your 

 honey elevator. Can't you sorrehow make 

 the thing semi-automatic so that, when a can 

 gets to be so full, it will ring a bell so that 

 the operator will know when to reverse the 

 machine ? 



We have examined your strainer, and be- 

 lieve it to be all right — the very best device 

 that has yet been brought to our notice. We 

 have been planning to catalog it, but some- 

 how it is so hard to get a new thing started 

 and under way ; but if I see you I'll study its 

 operation more fully. 



What you say about clarifying honey is 

 very timely and important. Too many of 

 the California producers are very careless. 

 Sometimes in car lots one man's fine honey 

 in square cans will be mixed up with another 

 man's very dirty honey. While the honey is 

 doubtless just as good, yet it must necessarily 

 sell at a lower price, or cause "a kick " from 

 the purchaser. This mixing of good and poor 

 lots of honey is apt to knock the price of all 

 honey down to the poorest. They had better 

 cut out vour remarks and paste them in their 

 hats.— Ed.] 



Pshaw ! Dr. Miller, we are not at outs. It 

 is because we do not see exactly alike. 



A person devoting his entire attention to 

 queen rearing must necessarily improve his 

 stock or he will lose his trade. His customers 

 are the best judges ; and the better the bees, 

 the more orders. The secret, if any, in the 

 matter, is, to get the very best stock to breed 

 from, and continue to get the best stock. I 

 have an idea that the plan outlined in the ar- 

 ticle referred to will be carried out in Califor- 

 nia at no distant day. 



Well, well ! that good-looking enthusiastic 

 Arthur C. Miller seems to be knocking around 

 quite a little in the bee-papers of late — getting 

 the corners knocked ofT a little too. He will 

 settle down into a steady gait after a while. 



An old-time friend,- Reynolds, from Merced 

 Co., stopped a few hours with me, and then 

 stayed a few hours more with Mr. McCubbin. 

 We are both baching, Mc and I ; and after 24 

 hours' experience with us, Reynolds exclaim- 

 ed, " I'm going to get right back to Jane (my 

 wife) as fast as I can go." He got. Mc and 

 I are not dyspeptic — he is. 



Those are very good " Hints on Keeping 

 Well," by Prof. Cook, in the Ainerican Bee 

 Journal. Along toward the end of his advice 

 he says, " Cultivate the habit of conversation 

 at the table." That's all right. Prof. C. ; but 

 what is a fellow going to do when he has no 

 one to talk to ? But, after all, in the absence 

 of talk I am extremely well — no stomach 

 trouble. I'll tell you what I have that's bet- 



