378 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sawing: " bee " in Ontario 



fall, when extracting buckwheat hone}-. But 

 as a two-burner stove of this pattern costs 

 less than a dollar, one can easily use the 

 larger size if desired. The cappings are 

 allowed to drop into the regular style of 

 uncapping-can, and after draining well are 

 left to be attended to in winter season, when 

 we are not so busy. They are then either 

 washed and the sweet water used to make 

 vinegar, or else the capping-s are run through 

 the capping-melter ; and the honey is then 

 sold with the buckwheat crop the following 

 season. 



The picture shows 350 lbs. of wax that 

 we have just run through the Hatch-Gemmi] 

 pi'ess, being the product from the cappings 

 from 35,000 lbs. of honey. Although the 

 cappings were pretty well drained last 

 summer, when running them through the 

 melter this winter we got about 600 lbs. of 

 honey. Really it was a surprise to us as to 

 where it all came from. It has a cooked 

 taste; but that from the clover is not a bad 

 honey after all. It will be used for honey 

 vinegar in the spring, while the darker grade 

 will go, as we have already stated, with the 

 buckwheat honey next season. 



Some may wonder why we run the cap- 

 pings through the press, and I might say 

 that there are always some bits of comb, 

 etc., that make it necessary to strain the 

 wax any way, and, all things considered, we 

 think we can make better time and a better 

 job by putting it through the press and fin- 

 ishing at one operation. 



The sawing " bee " shown in the picture 



is not directly related to Apis mellifica, of 

 course, and yet indirectly the operations de- 

 picted have had a great influence on bee- 

 keeping. As we drive through the country, 

 the denuded landscape makes us painfully 

 alive to the fact that soon there will be no 

 more of these sawing-bees, as basswoods, 

 maples, and other trees are fast disappear- 

 ing. Not so long ago it was the custom for 

 nearly all the farmers to have a year's sup- 

 ply of fuel cut at these gatherings, and 

 often in the evening a social time would be 

 spent by the happy young folk. Now the 

 farmers who burn wood in our section are 

 the exception, as coal and kerosene have 

 replaced the wood. More than that, the coal 

 now bids fair to be soon superseded, as 

 ever_>"where you hear the farmers and others 

 speaking glibly of " hydro-electric " as the 

 coming source of fuel, light, and power in 

 the near future. Surely we are living in a 

 changing age; and the beekeeper, no less 

 than the farmer and artisan, has to adapt 

 himself to the changed conditions and gov- 

 ern his operations accordingly. No, the 

 young women do not cut the wood here in 

 Ontario, as the picture might lead one to 

 believe, but who Avill look into the smiling, 

 liealthy faces and dispute the fact that they 

 would be able to do so, if circumstances 

 should ever put them to the test ? 

 Mount Joy, Ontario. 



[Rendering well-drained cappings in a 

 melter generally results in scorching the 

 honey somewhat, owing to the fact that the 



