1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



771 



THE SUNS RAYS TO PREVENT CANDY- 

 ING. 



BY C. W. REVER. 



I am sending herewith some views of my 

 fireless honey-heater, which, though it is but 

 a crude affair, is very practicable when the 

 sun shines. I put some honey in it that was 

 pretty well candied, and found that it lique- 

 fied in fine shape. Of course, the plan won't 

 work in cold weather. 



This solar liquefier does the best work if 

 there is a single row of cans next to the 

 glass. If there were a double row on the 

 shelves, the inside cans would be too much 

 shaded by the outer ones. The box should 

 be lined with tin, painted black to absorb as 

 much heat as possible. Furthermore, it 

 should be as nearly air-tight as it can be 

 made, in order to retain the heat. For my 

 purpose I used an ordinary window. The 

 north end of the box should be the highest, 

 in order to give the sun a chance to reach 

 the glasses. I keep a thermometer in the 

 box, so I can tell the temperature, and find 

 that it runs up to 150 degrees Fahr. 



1 think that this plan would not work very 

 well for the 601b. cans unless they were 

 turned several times, for the great bulk of 

 honey would not be heated through in the 

 day's time. 



1 do not produce very much extracted hon- 

 ey, and so have not had a chance to test this 

 solar liquefier to any great extent; but I 

 think if it does the work on a small scale it 

 can be made larger with just as good results. 

 The upper vie win the photograph shows the 

 box without the glass, and the lower one 

 with the glass. If one were building a hon- 

 ey-house the south side or end could be 

 made open to the sun, and this would make 

 a very handy liquefier. 



Wildwood, Mich. 



HONEY KEPT WARM FOR FOUR DAYS 



AND THEN SEALED WILL NOT 



CANDY. 



BY W. MOORE. 



On page 496 I noticed the statements by 

 the editor, E. B. Rood, and '-Stenog" in re- 

 gard to honey not granulating that had been 

 exposed to the sun. Some years ago, in the 

 heat of summer, the combs in one of my 

 hives broke down. I took out the combs 

 and strained some of the honey into a can, 

 sealing it up tight. I do not remember 

 whether I heated the honey, but I think not 

 — at least not any warmer than it had been 

 in the comb. After sealing I placed it in a 

 cool dark cellar, and as it did not granulate 

 at the same time as did my other honey of 

 the same kind (clover), I resolved to leave 

 it as it was, to see how long it would remain 

 liquid. Unfortunately for my experiment a 

 neighbor fell sick when it liad been sealed 

 up twenty-one months; and, having no other 

 honey, I opened this jar to get him some for 

 medicine. In a few weeks after opening the 

 sealer the honey was candying. 



Did not the late Mr. Alley discover that 

 honey taken after extracting, and kept at 

 110° for four days, would not candy after- 

 ward? 



Little Current, Ont., Sept. 17. 



[It is true, we believe, that a long-contin- 

 ued warmth at a comparatively low degree 

 (about 110° F.) will keep honey from'granu- 

 lating longer than a honey heated to a much 

 higher temperature for only a short time. 

 It is also true that the impairment of flavor 

 is less. Possibly the low- degree heat of a 

 sun-heated honey is the reason it keeps liq- 

 uid so long rather than for any chemical rea- 

 son; but we think not. — Ed.] 



DISTANCE BEES FLY FOR NECTAR' IN- 

 FLUENCED BY MORE THAN ONE*_ 

 CONDITION. ^^ 



BY L. R. DOCKERY. 



First, I believe the season of the year has 

 much to do with the flight of bees; and the 

 season by which they are most influenced is 

 that of early spring. For illustration I might 

 compare insect life to plant life or to man. 

 As we all know, spring-time is when plant 

 life does its utmost, and puts on more growth 

 than at any other season of the year; and so, 

 as the growing season comes on, does all the 

 world get busy planting the season's harvest. 

 In like manner does the busy bee exert its 

 greatest activity, and will fly further, stay 

 longer, and get more than at other seasons, 

 when there is more nectar to be found; but 

 its ambition has been somewhat satisfied. 



Second, they will go a greater distance to 

 some floral fields than others, not because of 

 a greater quantity of honey to be found 

 there, but on account of the fragrance of 

 some particular flower. 



In 1899 I was keeping bees in Central Tex- 

 as, and the first thing to bloom was a grove 

 of wild plum-trees three miles away; and 

 during the occasional warm days when the 

 wind was not blowing, the bees would work 

 upon those trees in great numbers. Later, 

 sumac began to bloom, and the nearest trees 

 were half a mile away, but only a few trees. 

 At a distance of two miles there were two 

 hundred acres of sumac; but very few bees 

 ever worked on it, although the ones near- 

 est the apiary attracted hundreds of them. 



In 1907 I was keeping bees at Socorro, N. 

 M., at which place alfalfa and sweet clover 

 were my main dependence for surplus hon- 

 ey. A field containing 400 acres of alfalfa 

 began within 50 yards of the apiary, and ex- 

 tended \j4 miles away to where an irrigation 

 ditch was cut. The bees began on a Mon- 

 day in June, and at the end of two days' time 

 every thing was finished to the ditch men- 

 tioned. Beyond this ditch an alfalfa-field of 

 100 acres remained standing; but an obser 

 vation of this field failed to show many bees 

 working it. The second observation on the 

 same day in a field of sweet clover two miles 

 from the apiary in an opposite direction 

 proved that the work'ng force was busy 



