GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dexter's extracting-wagon, which is large enough 

 for gasoline-engine, eapping-melter, etc. 



drive up to the yards, take off the horses, 

 load up, shut the door, hitch up again, and 

 drive otf . Not a bee can get out ; and if a 

 few do leave the hives and fly to the win- 

 dows, it is easy to give them to the weakest 

 colony when they are unloaded in the new 

 yard; but I am not bothered that way un- 

 less it is necessary to stop some time while 

 on the road. 



HEATING HONEY AS SOON AS EXTRACTED TO 

 RETARD GRANULATION. 



In extracting I use a Gilson engine, four- 

 frame extractor, steam-knife, eapping-melt- 

 er, honey-heater, and storage-tank under 

 the floor. The honey is pumped from the 

 extractor to the heater where it is heated 

 enough to avoid granulation, also to remove 

 all specks. From there it runs to the tank 

 under the floor, the tank being large enough 

 to hold one-half to a day's extracting; and 

 as the honey is warm, it is only a few min- 

 utes' work to run 1200 or 1500 pounds into 

 cans ready for market. Heating the hon- 

 ey when it is first extracted does not in- 

 jure the flavor, as it is apt to do if left til] 

 after gTanulation. I have had alfalfa hon- 

 ey remain clear a year because it was heat- 

 ed when first extracted. It is practically 

 imi)ossible to get all the specks out of our 

 thick honey unless it is heated. 



My old plan, and the plan of many west- 

 ern beekeepers, is to strain through win- 

 dow-screening at the time of extracting, 

 and, later, heat and strain through cheese- 

 cloth. By the method I now use, the honey 

 takes care of itself till the end of the day, 

 when it can be canned ready for market. 



In the picture the tank under the floor 

 does not show, as it was removed after the 

 extracting was done. The door in (he front 

 end has been taken out also. It is of cloth, 

 and can be ensilv taken off. 



Practice has proven to me that the front 

 end is the best place for the door. With a 

 slide it is possible for one man to put from 

 twelve to sixteen full-depth supers into the 

 wagon without getting in himself to arrange 

 them. In removing empty supers it is also 

 easy to remove almost as many witliout the 

 trouble of climbing in. 



North Yakima, Wash. 



PAINTING QUEENS SO THAT THEY MAY AL- 

 WAYS BE QUICKLY FOUND 



A Quick-drying Non-injurious Paint that May be 

 Applied with a Wire 



BY H. BARTLETT-MILLER 



Nothing " straight from the beeyard " 

 having appeared in any of the journals to 

 guide the would-be queen-marker in the 

 somewhat fearsome job of making our 

 black and leather-colored majesties easier 

 to find by means of paint, I determined this 

 spring (o find out for myself, and brand 

 every queen in my home yard of 186 colo- 

 nies. My knowledge that this was possible 

 was gained from a notice in tlie Review, 

 that clear spirit varnish is used to mix the 

 color with. At best this advice was veiy 

 vague. Some spirit varnishes would kill a 

 fairly strong dog, let alone our delicate 

 queens. Knowing most of the stunts in 

 making spirit varnishes, I decided to use a 

 simple tincture of benzoin, this being mere- 

 ly i^ure gum benzoin dissolved in alcohoL 

 It can be compounded by any chemist, and 

 a quarter's worth will last a thousand-colo- 

 ny man eight or ten years unless he paints 

 the workers. 



This solution of benzoin has a strong but 

 very pleasant scent; and if odor had much 

 to do with our queens, the scent of the 

 benzoin would have led to all mine being 

 promptly balled, whereas not one met suck 

 a fate. Its peculiarity for our use is that 

 the paint is dry and washable in a few min- 

 utes. In fact, 30 seconds suffices to dry 

 quite a thick application on the queen. 



Having obtained a clear liquid tincture, 

 use any dry color you fancy, taking care to 

 avoid red lead or even white lead, as either 

 may kill either the queen or the bees which 

 might try to lick this decoration from the 

 queen's back. I took dry-powder lemon 

 chrome, of which any painter will sell, for 

 a few cents, a sufficient quantity to last a 

 lifetime. It costs about 14 cents per pound. 



Take a very small domestic-essence bottle 

 and a piece of wire (say one strand of barb 

 wire) cut off enough to reach to the bottom 

 of the bottle, and to stick up a quarter of 



