JULY 1, 1912 



40S 



When old brood-combs are melted, the 

 cocoons, after some four hours' work, stick 

 to the bottoms of the notches on the sides 

 of the channel irons, and it is wise at each 

 midday stop to clean this out. It does not 

 take more than five minutes, I use for this 

 purpose a piece of wood cut to fit the gut- 

 ters. I had, perhaps, an extra lot of this to 

 contend with, because I always lift up the 

 brood-chamber except one frame, to pre- 

 vent swarming; and, of course, the pollen 

 was simjjly filled over with honey. Yet I 

 melted over 700 lbs. of honey from such 

 combs in four hours, cutting the combs from 

 wired frames, and leaving the wires in the 

 frames. The melter often got ahead of me, 

 running empty except for a little rubbish. 

 If I ever make another it will have twelve 

 gutters so I can fill it up and leave it for 

 half an hour. Tliis one of nine gutters is 

 such a glutton that it needs constant feed- 

 ing. 



It is well, when the soldering is finished, 

 to make a frame of 2x% stuff, and run a 

 sawkerf all around the middle of one edge 

 to fit the top edge of the melter. Then drive 

 a few fine nails through both wood and 

 iron. The top is thus nicely stiffened, and 

 a handle made for carrying. 



I have not mentioned the honey and wax 

 separating vessel, as all practical men know 

 how to manage that i^art of the business. 

 For a shelf or support to work on I cut a 

 piece of % stuff to fit over the top frame 

 with a notch at each end, so I can slide it 

 from end to end. I bore a hole about six 

 inches from one end to push the end of the 

 fi'ame in, and cut out the combs. I have 

 not tried cappings, but I know the melter 

 would simply romp away with them. For 

 heating I use a blow-torch. It is noisy, but 

 it makes the honey run, and there is no dis- 

 coloration. The honey really does not have 

 time to get discolored. I have yet to find 

 any bad effect from the zinc in the galvan- 

 ized iron. As a student of chemistry I know 

 zinc is harmless in this case. 



The angle irons must be soldered in paii-s 

 or more at one end by a narrow strip ex- 

 tending over a ridge or ridges, and attached 

 to the top of the angle iron; otherwise, in- 

 stead of straddling the gutters they would 

 fall over, so that both notched edges would 

 be lying on one slope. It is advisable to re- 

 move all slumgum at any long stoppage, 

 because while it does not interfere with the 

 flow of the melted honey, any great amount 

 of it would stain any white honey going 

 through it. All my clover honey was in 

 comb built from starters in wired frames 

 intended to be kept for extracting only, as 

 mostly drone was built. It was produced 

 above excluders; had a small amount of 



pollen, and was absolutely as white when 

 put up after the melting as if I had extract- 

 ed it in the usual way. The non-extractable 

 lot of last year's crop was slightly darkened 

 after about six hours' run without cleaning ; 

 but it was dark before melting any way, as 

 it was in old brood combs. 



Kihikihi, N. Z. 



[This melter is somewhat similar to the 

 one described by J. W. George, p. 667, Nov. 

 1, 1909, except that the "gutters" are deep- 

 er and there is an exit at the end of each 

 one. The plan described by Mr. Powers in 

 the i^reeeding article would probably be 

 more efficient still. — Ed.] 



HOW TO GET RID OF CAPPINGS 



Some Experience with Draining-cans Made of Gal- 

 vanized Wash-tubs; a Capping-press 



BY MAJOR SHALLARD 



The ordinai'y uncapping-box, like the Mc- 

 Intyre, with wire screen to drain out the 

 honey, has never appeared to me to be a 

 good utensil. It is too bulky; it is hard to 

 get the cappings out of it; and when they 

 are out, and it is not in use, it takes up a 

 lot of room. If it is lined with tin, care 

 must be taken that it does not rust. If one 

 takes the cappings out with his hands it is 

 a messy job; and if a spade is used, there 

 is danger of injuring the fixings. 



My first uncapping-can (in 1884) was 

 like Dadant's. I did not like it. Any cap- 

 pings that were left in it over night had to- 

 be taken out, because it would not do to put 

 fresh cappings on top. It was hard to 

 empty by hand ; and, on account of its 

 depth, a spade could not be used. Then 

 when not in use it had to be kept inside, 

 taking up valuable room. I discarded it 

 and got ordinary galvanized wash-tubs. 

 When these tubs are not in use they can be 

 packed one in another, and left outside in 

 all kinds of weather. They make a compact 

 parcel to take to outyards, and afford an 

 easy way to cany cappings home. I got 

 the largest tub on the market and one of the 

 second size, and punched the bottom of the 

 larger one as full of holes as possible, with 

 the tang of a file. I shall never forget the 

 look of astonishment on the salesman's face 

 when, after buying the tubs (I bought 18, 

 as I was running 800 hives at the time), 

 I punched several holes in the bottom of 

 a large one. I put this large one into the 

 smaller one, and it fit tight. The large tub 

 is 28 inches across the top by 12 deep ; 

 the small one is 26 inches by the same 

 depth. The large tub will hold all the cap- 

 pings from 500 combs. I got two pieces of 

 wood 32 inches long, l^/^ wide, and one inclii 



