JULY 1, 1913 



445 



away with the old unscientific mess and 

 bother of strainers and cloths. 



The honey runs directly into the ap^Dli- 

 ance from my extractor, which is driven by 

 a small steam-engine. A %-inch pipe takes 

 steam into the jacket of the ripener, and on 

 its way through it the honey is heated, re- 

 fined automatically, separated from the 

 scum that rises freely in the process. It is 

 then pumped by the same power into the 

 tanks. The next morning it is fit to draw 

 off into 60-lb. cans, and will then keep un- 

 candied after this process for two years or 

 more; whereas if put into tanks in the 

 ordinary way, cold and strained, it hai to 

 be drawn off within a few weeks or it will 

 have to be dug and chopi3ed out (certain 

 varieties). 



Tlus once happened to me when I left a 

 square tank of 5000 to 6000 lbs. of honey in 

 midsummer newly filled. I went away for 

 a few weeks, and came back to find that 

 only the outer part of the honey was avail- 

 able by waj' of the tap, and the center was 

 a huge pyramid, a mass of caud^^ For a 

 week or more two boys had to get into the 

 manhole of that tank, dig out the honey 

 into dishes, and pass them to me to melt. 

 I don't know how many chisels, trowels, 

 and wooden paddles, improvised for the 

 occasion, were bent or broken in the job. 

 I might say that half of tl;e tank was pro- 

 truding outside into the sun's heat — my idea 

 of the ripening process then being thus to 

 cause a circulation in the tank through one 

 side being hotter than the other. 



After a few years I adopted steam heat 

 in different experimental ways, till I have 

 now a satisfactory appliance which saves 

 both labor and time. 



One reason why honey thus treated is not 

 so readj' to granulate is because such a 

 large amount of presumably pollen grains 

 and wax particles are removed, and cease 

 to act in the bulk as centers or nuclei around 

 which granulation gathers. 



In one part of the apparatus the skim- 

 ming is coarse and largely wax: in another 

 finer, and largely pollen. The form.er is 

 removed to the uncapper to be melted, the 

 latter I am carefully presen-ing in 60-lb. 

 cans for the next term of pollen drouth that 

 comes along, and so seriously cripples our 

 bees. I hope it will settle the trouble of 

 feeding an artificial pollen, which liitherto 

 we have sought for in vain. 



There is always one drawback to any 

 method of artificial ripening of honey de- 

 pending on exposure to atmosphere for its 

 effect. The exposure surface is large nec- 

 essarily, and it is as large for the absorp- 

 tion of moisture as for heat and evapora- 

 tion of it. Weather changes make it possi- 



ble to lose one day what was gained the 

 previous. This makes it a slower process 

 still. But not only so, but the surface in 

 its relation to the bulk or contents is large 

 too. for the collection of dust; and over 

 here we have dust storms that have gi-eat 

 wall and roof penetrating power. Finally, 

 the heat applied on the surface keeps the 

 top layer warm, consequently lighter, and 

 it stays .on top. The colder layers that we 

 want to rise in succession to be in turn 

 warmed and dried are kept below. In short, 

 circulation and air exposure are checked. 

 But apply the warmth underneath, and 

 what a difference in time taken and in the 

 result ! 



Hamilton. Victoria, Australia. 



HONEY NOT GETTING A FAIR SHOW IN THE 

 STORES 



BY L. RIEBEL 



In my travels and in gi\'ing demonstra- 

 tions with bees at fairs and at exhibitions 

 of different kinds, it always annoys me to 

 hear people call all kinds of liquid horey 

 " strained honey." Many times, when there 

 is a good display of extracted honey, peoi le 

 will call it '' strained honey," when there is 

 much difference between the two. Whe.i- 

 ever I have a chance I make it a point to 

 call at some of the largest groceries in the 

 city where I happen to be and look up the 

 honey proposition, I frequently have an 

 experience like this : 



In talking to one of the head clerks or 

 the proprietor I inquire whether they have 

 any honey, and learn that they have section 

 honey and strained honey. I state that I 

 should like to look at it, and almost inva- 

 riably find some extracted honey gotten up 

 in good shape. I then explain the differ- 

 ence between strained and extracted honey; 

 but if a customer comes in and asks for 

 honey while I am still there, the clerk or 

 proprietor to whom I have been talking 

 says that they have strained honeJ^ 



I think that the merchant himself is 

 largely to blame for not infoiining Mmself 

 on the different kinds of honey just as he 

 would on other goods. 



CARELESSNESS IN DISPLAYING HONEY. 



The independent and careless ways of 

 merchants in putting comb and extracted 

 honey before their customers is to be de- 

 plored. In a large store in a town of 30,000 

 I once saw eight single-tier cases of comb 

 honey — fairly nice-looking honey — in 4^ 

 X 4^ X 1% sections, piled up, four cases 

 on top of each other, and the lower case, 

 on the floor, with the glass broken. Some 

 one had shoved the toe of his shoe througk 



