GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



came more or less deteriorated. Then, too, 

 a large exit had to be provided for the pol- 

 len and slumgum. My final plan was to in- 

 crease the bottom surface by ridging it and 

 putting a piece of angle iron loose in each 

 gutter made by the ridges to carry away all 

 melted honey as soon as it could run. 



Previous experience had taught me that 

 the outside, or what I term the "receiving 

 gutter," must be Avater- jacketed. The ex- 

 perience was not my own, however, but that 

 of a friend whom I found down on the floor 

 of his honey-room muttering language ''not 

 loud but deep" while he shoveled up about 

 50 lbs. of cold wax and honey Avhich had 

 overrun through the wax, chilling and stop- 

 ping the gutter. 



This melter of mine radiates no notice- 

 able heat, as the sides containing water are 

 nowhere higher than about thi-ee inches; 

 and the necessity for inclosing it in any 



ONEINCH 

 CUTTER 



sort of box is entirely obviated. Any handy 

 man can make his own. I made mine in a 

 few hours. All the soldering to be done is 

 around the inside, on the ridged bottom, 

 the ends of the gutter, of which one. of 

 course, and the corners of the container 

 itself, is blocked up. 



To bend the bottom I nailed a piece of 

 stout timber on a bench so that a sheet of 

 galvanized iron would go under; and, hav- 

 ing marked crosslines the full width of the 

 bottom, three inches apart and exactly par- 

 allel, I just bent the iron to the marks up 



and down the ridges and gutters being thus 

 rounded, as it is not important to hammer 

 each bend to an acute angle. I thus obtain- 

 ed considerably more heating surface than 

 the bare length of the bottom. As soon as 

 the honey and Avax melt they run down the 

 sloi^e of the gutter, and are received be- 

 neath the angle iron or bridge piece, made 

 by bending at right angles pieces of iron 

 about 1^/2 or 2 inches wide, and as long as 

 each gutter, and notching the edges deep 

 enough to allow a full cell of pollen to get 

 through. The flow of the honey carries 

 along all the slumgxim to the exit into the 

 receiving trough through the holes in the 

 side of the melter at the end of each gutter. 

 After the bottom is soldered in, cut or drill 

 for each channel iron a %-ineh hole in the 

 wall of the melter on the receiving-trough 

 side, and file the bottom of this hole to the 

 shape of the bottom of each gutter so that 

 no projection may pre- 

 vent any solid matter 

 floating into the receiv- 

 ing trough. 



I made my melter 

 wide enough from front 

 to back (the I'eceiving- 

 trough side being 

 front), so that an L. 

 frame would rest inside 

 the melter, and deep 

 enough to clear the bot- 

 tom by three inches, so 

 as to hold frames while 

 a good layer of honey 

 was melting. My melt- 

 er has nine gutters ; but 

 it could be made any 

 length if not too cum- 

 bersome. 



Besides the holes for 

 exit from the channel 

 iron to the receiving 

 trough, one should be 

 punched at one end into 

 the water compartment 

 and a small funnel piece 

 soldered on for a filler. 

 The bottoms of the gutters need not be 

 more than one inch above the true bottom. 

 This will bring the ridges about three inch- 

 es above the bottom; and with the large 

 lieating surface the thin layer of water heats 

 quickly, so that, when in full swing, the 

 ridges are nearly always full of live steam 

 beneath, and all pollen and solid matter 

 run outside without that damming back of 

 melted honey, which is the one great draw- 

 back with many melters I have seen plan- 

 ned, unless they are too slow for jDractieal 

 purposes. 



/nsjde Bottom 



