1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



779 



BYER AND FAMILY. 



[Mr. Byer did not know that we expected to use this engraving in connection with his article. He is too mod- 

 est to push himself forward. But we are glad of an opportunity to introduce him more formally to our readers. 

 We commend him as being a sound adviser, and an honest and fearless.writer. — Ed.] 



little to complain of now in this matter of 

 bees being poisoned by illegal spraying of 

 trees. Not many years ago it was a live is- 

 sue, and each year the Ontario Association 

 held its convention many complaints would 

 be heard. 



Mr. Harrington also mentions the capping- 

 melter, and this leads me to remark that we 

 used it again while extracting the buckwheat 

 honey; and, while we have always thought it 

 was impossible to destroy the flavor of this 

 honey, yet that which was allowed to cool 

 over night in the small tank into which the 

 honey and wax ran, had in the morning a 

 decidedly "cooked" taste. It really seemed 

 to be far more affected by the heat than was 

 the clover honey. Since writing my experi- 

 ence with the capping-melter for a former 

 issue of Gleanings another objection has 

 appeared that has cooled off our enthusiasm 

 quite a bit; for, honestly, if the "wish had 

 been father to the thought" we should be 

 very loaih to say any thing against the in- 

 vention, as we had hoped great things for it. 



This being the case, what I say will not be 

 taken, I trust, as carping criticism, but sim- 

 ply an honest expression of the merits of the 

 machine pro and con as they appealed to us 

 the past summer. 



While extracting the cloverhoney at home, 

 a large tank holding 900 pounds was filled 

 with honey, all from capped combs, the in- 

 tention being to have this for the home trade 

 — all to be put up in five-pound tins. Two 



other tanks, of 600 lbs. each, were reserved 

 for the same purpose. In the two latter 

 tanks none of the honey from the capping- 

 melter was put in, while in the large tank 

 the bulk of this warm honey was mixed with 

 the other. Now, it happened that we ran 

 short of tins, and it became necessary to put 

 up this honey in pails at once. The pails 

 were accordingly filled, two or possibly three 

 days after the tanks were filled. The honey 

 from the two tanks was in another room, and 

 was sold first, every thing being all right. 

 A few days ago I went into the room where 

 the 180 pails filled from the large tank were 

 stored, and on looking into the pails my first 

 thought was that some one had been in the 

 room and had removed the covers of the 

 pails for a time, as the honey was all cover- 

 ed with fine specks. A closer investigation 

 revealed the fact that every pail of the 180 

 was covered with this stuff, whatever it was. 

 As near as I can guess, the honey had not 

 stord long enough in the tank before being 

 filled into the pails, and these fine particles 

 were minute bits of pollen and other matter 

 that had been melted and mixed through the 

 honey. Now, the honey from the other tanks 

 that had no honey from the melter was filled 

 up under the same conditions into pails, and 

 yet it was as white as snow when in the 

 granulated state. It was necessary for us to 

 go over every one of those 180 pails, and with 

 a spoon take off the top, and then fill up 

 again with honey warmed up for the pur- 



