4U 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



and wax are melted and the knife is heated, all 

 with a one-burner gas-stove. 



The stuff is melted, then gravity fed into a sepa- 

 rator similar to Mr. Severin's. This kind of ma- 

 chine never clogs, as there is a regular honey faucet 

 passing through the outside tank and connecting 

 with the inside one, through which every thing pass- 

 es as fast as melted. The heat is not only conserved, 

 but the heating capacity is much greater, as the in- 

 side tank is hot on the sides as well as the bottom. 

 The inside tank has a partition six inches from the 

 end which has the faucet. In this partition there 

 is a four-inch slip gate to raise and lower, similar 

 to that of the old-fashioned syrup-vats, easy to slip 

 and unclog if necessary. 



Of all uncapping devices, the steam-knife, in my 

 opinion, leads. When some one says that he has a 

 machine for uncapping honey, and I find that the 

 machine does not save the wax, then I fail to get 

 interested. A machine that does not save the wax 

 has no place in my apiaries. Show me the man 

 who has 500 colonies who will give me the wax for 

 extracting his honey, and we will make a deal at 

 once. With the steam-knife one gets all of the wax 

 besides leaving the comb in fine shape. I can take 

 my steam-knife and shave cells down level when 

 there is neither honey nor cappings on them, open- 

 ing the cells without destroying the cell walls, and 

 can take off a sheet of wax merely hanging together 

 by the cell walls, resembling a queen-excluder. 



Mr. Crane, page 680, Nov. 15, says that stirring 

 honey undoubtedly makes it candy more quickly. 

 My opinion is the same, therefore I do not take well 

 to the honey-pump, much discussed of late. It's my 

 opinion that, the less one handles white nectar, the 

 better the quality and flavor. For example, take 

 two nice white combs of honey, extract one in the 

 extractor, and just slash the other with a knife. 

 Let the honey drain out, then taste the samples. 



Pasadena, Cal. J. F. Ceowdee. 



Carbolized Cloths an Aid in Taking Honey off 

 Rapidly 



I use crude carbolic acid, sprinkling it on 4 or 5 

 cloths, and put them on as many hives. As soon as 

 one is taken off it is put on another so as to have 

 them all covered, and to give the bees time to go 

 down. Very little bruising results, and the honey 

 can be taken off faster than by any other method 

 that I know of. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDEES WITH THE SLOTS EUNNING 

 CROSSWISE. 



There is much talk about queen-excluders. Some 

 are for and others against them. I am for them, 

 and would not produce extracted honey without 

 them, any more than I would run a dairy without 

 a cream-separator. When the bees get strong I 

 place the brood over the excluder and give the queen 

 below some empty combs to lay in that keep her 

 satisfied, and there is no swarming to bother with. 

 My excluders are all zinc. They are the full size of 

 the hive, outside dimensions, and the holes are made 

 crosswise, thus giving the bees a chance to get 

 through anywhere. There is no danger of breaking 

 the excluders as with the wood slatted ones that hold 

 together only a few* years. 



When are we going to have that wired founda- 

 tion ? It seems to me that is the only thing needed 

 now. If we could get wired foundation up and 

 down in the frames, and then put wires in ourselves 

 lengthwise, we would get some perfect combs. 



Brush, Colo. Daniel Danielson. 



If the Middleman is Cut Out, the Cost of Selling is 

 No Lower 



The middleman is not in the way. He really is 

 necessary. Without him there wovild be no market 

 prices. If there were no middleman it would affect 

 the farmer more than the honey-producer. The 

 farmer's time is all taken up. He has no time for 

 other business; and if it were not for the middleman 

 it would be necessary for him to sell the produce 

 that he raises on the farm, and he would be obliged 

 to deliver it from house to house. If he has some 

 beef to sell he must first dress it ; then sell it by 

 the pound from his wagon. If it is in the summer 

 he must have ice, etc. Suppose it takes him two 

 days a week to sell and deliver his produce. He 

 must then hire a man to take his place on the farm, 

 or to sell and deliver his goods ; but he can not hire 



a man for two days a week. He must be engaged 

 by the month or year, and must be well paid in 

 order to keep him. 



There is no market price. Every producer setB 

 his own price, which must more than cover the cost 

 of the hired help. As a result the consumer pays 

 as much or more for his eatables than he does now 

 with the middleman. The hired help is the middle- 

 man in the case mentioned. Every farmer must do 

 the same thing, and some of them can sell more 

 cheaply than others. The result is easy to see. 



Suppose one is several hundred miles from a large 

 city. The home town will soon be supplied. Then 

 produce must be shipped to the city, and there must 

 be a man there to deliver it to the consumer. 

 There is always a middleman for the large producer. 

 The small producer can produce and sell his own 

 crop of honey, etc., with profit; but there may be 

 more profit for him if he puts in all of his time as a 

 producer and sells at wholesale prices. 



Any article that does not spoil, such as honey, can 

 be sold by advertising in newspapers and magazines ; 

 but the newspapers and magazines are really middle- 

 men, as they are between the producer and the con- 

 sumer, and they must be paid. 



A mail-order trade may be all right, but it also 

 takes time and money to get the trade. No doubt it 

 would take twice as much time and money to get 

 the trade, with every producer selling, by advertis- 

 ing in the papers, and through the mails, etc. Par- 

 cels post would be all right, but in time the mail- 

 order houses would get all the trade, and then they 

 would raise their prices. 



The mail-carrier would have to have a team of 

 horses and a dray wagon to deliver the goods, and 

 double the pay that he gets now ; and then he could 

 not make as long a trip as she does now. Parcels 

 post may not be as cheap as it seems. 



The need of a class of distributors must be recog- 

 nized; but we must demand it, and a condition will 

 come when these distributors will be more closely 

 associated with us as producers, for co-operation will 

 extend the terminal markets. 



Greenville, Wis. Edwaed Hastings. 



Selling Honey by " Talking " 



I believe heartily in the value of advertising the 

 food properties of honey. I began the production of 

 honey four years ago by buying 53 colonies of bees. 

 Up to that time I had never, to my knowledge, been 

 closer to a yard of bees than a city block. I now 

 have 180 colonies. In 1910 from 100 colonies I 

 produced 11,000 lbs. of honey — extracted exclusive- 

 ly. This I disposed of in my home market, a city of 

 18,000, at 15 cents per pound net. Up to the time I 

 introduced extracted honey here, coinb honey was 

 tlie only kind ever seen; but now the demand for 

 my goods is greater than I can supply. My honey 

 retails here at present at 60 cts. per quart jar. To 

 treate this demand I have had to keep myself and 

 my bees before the public by any means that I could 

 command. I have displayed my extractor at our 

 local fair, lectured on bee life at churches, and 

 talked honey at every opportunity . 



In order to interest Canton College I donated 

 them 120 lbs. of honey to use in their "Domestic 

 Science" course, and it occurs to me that the honey- 

 producers in the other parts of the country can find 

 this a sure means of getting the food value of honey 

 taught, not only to the students but in the homes 

 to which they will go between school terms. It will 

 be necessary to teach the teachers themselves, as I 

 find that this subject is one upon which they are 

 woefully ignorant; and it seems to me that it's up 

 to the honeyman to show them the light. 



Ogdensburg, N. Y., Dec. 20. W. T. Davis. 



Carbolic Cloths do Not Kill Brood 



In Stray Straws for April 1 Miss M. Candler is 

 reported as having used carbolic cloth largely, and 

 it did its work well, but killed brood. Although I 

 have used these cloths under all circumstances I 

 never have known them to do that. I am well ac- 

 quainted with some of the best beemen in Carmar- 

 then, South Wales, and I've never heard a word 

 concerning the killing of brood, nor have I ever seen 

 a hive where it failed to do its work when used in 

 the right manner. I myself have great faith in it, 

 and shall always use it, when necessary, in prefer- 

 ence to the smoker. 



R. V. Heyhob. 



Toronto, Ont., Canada, April 20. 



