-rmm mi>amRicjx.n bee jqurnj^i:,. 



445 



makings the Woud.Kiiie Qiiecii- 

 Exeludins: Honey-Boards. 



Written for the AmeHcan Bee Journal 



Qi'EKT 715. — 1. What wood do you con- 

 sider the best for rims o£ wood-zinc queen- 

 excluders? 2. How should the corners of 

 the rims be joined, to obtain the greatest 

 strength? 3. In your opinion, is the break- 

 joint feature worth retaining! — New York. 



1. Pine or whitewood. 3. It is. — Mrs. L. 

 Hahkison. 



Here, again, I am "left." Ask Dr. Tinker. 

 —J. M. Hambacgh. 



1. We use slatted honey -boards with zinc. 

 3. I think so.— A. J. Cook. 



1. Whitewood or basswood. 2. I simply 

 Bail them together. 3. Yes. — R. L. Taylor. 



1. I have had no experience. 3. Dove- 

 tailed. 3. With the wood-zinc honey-board, 

 no. — A. B. Mason. 



1. Anything light and tough. 2. Nailed. 

 3. I hardly know. — Eugene Secok. 



1. Pine is good. 2. Halving together 

 works well. 3. I do not use it. — G. M. Doo- 



ilTTLE 



1. Good pine will answer as well as any. 



2. Nail them well at the corners. 3. No. — 



C. H. DiBBERN. 



1 and 2. I have had but little experience. 



3. I doubt the value of the break-joint 

 feature.— C. C. Miller. 



1. Pine is the best I have used. 2. Toeing 

 and grooved with saws and driven together 

 makes a very strong corner. 3. I am using 

 honey-boards with and without the break- 

 joint feature, and can see no difference. — 

 H. D. Cutting. 



1. What in the West is usually poplar. 3. 

 That depends on the width and thickness 

 of the stuff used. As good a way as any is 

 to let the end-pieces lap over the ends of 

 the side-pieces, or vice versa, and nail with 

 long and slender wire nails. — M. Mahin. 



1 and 3. I have not had sufficient experi- 

 ence to make my opinion of any value. 3. 

 I do not think that the "break-joint fea- 

 ture " is of any particular value. The ques- 

 tion, however, it is but fair to say, is 

 mooted, and some think it of great value.— 

 J. E. Pond. 



1. The wood known in this locality as 

 hickory poplar is the best. It is a variety 

 of the whitewood or tulip tree. 2. By 

 dovetailing. 3. In my wood-zinc queen- 

 excluders, the break-joint feature is a dis- 

 advantage, and has beeu so proved by aU 

 ■who have tested the matter.— G. L. Tinker. 



1. I use either poplar or pine. 3. I cut 

 the sheet of perforated-zinc just the size I 

 want the excluder when completed, and 

 frame it, using 8 pieces to each sheet. Two 

 of the pieces are cut just as long as the 

 sheet is wide, and two are cut just as long 

 as the sheet is long less the widths of the 

 two end-pieces, and two are cut just as long 

 as the sheet is wide less the widths of the 

 two side-pieces. This makes the number 

 eight. These strips are kept in stock, and 

 are three-sixteenths by seven-eighths of an 

 inch. They are placed on the edges of the 

 sheet so as to make a square lap at the 

 corners. The whole is nailed with wire 

 nails that will clinch. I use a " form " 

 •when putting on the rim, so as to keep the 



sheet straight. Made in this way, they are 

 cheaper and better than any wood-audzinc 

 board. — G. W. Demahee. 



1. Whitewood, often called poplar or 

 tulip. Not white poplar,but yellow poplar, 

 commonly called whitewood. 8. Just 

 nailed together ; that is, if all the slats are 

 just right, the houey-board will be strung 

 and not come apart. Being the inventor, 

 and having used them nearly ten years, I 

 speak from experience. 3. Y'es, sir, and it 

 will be retained. Let bee-keepers say what 

 they may, I desire to go on record every 

 chance I get, that both the bee space and 

 the break-joint principles in honey-boards 

 will live with bee-keepers long after you 

 and I are gone. — James Heddon. 



1. Good pine will do very well. 3. Nail 

 them together .strongly. 3. That is a dis- 

 puted point, but I am of the opinion that it 

 is of value, and will be retained.— The 

 Editor. 



PRIZE ESSAY. 



Extracted Honey — Origin or the 

 Extractor, its Use, etc. 



Written Sor the American Bee Journal 



BT C. W. DAYTON. 



From the time of Jacob, man has 

 known the value of honey. For thou- 

 sands of years hone}- was the only 

 sugar known, and was obtained by 

 putting the combs in a cloth and press- 

 ing it out, or melting the combs and 

 thus separating it from the wax. These 

 plans were followed until one Hrusehka 

 of Venice, Italy, gave to his son a 

 piece of unsealed comb honey. He 

 put it in his basket and swung it 

 around in a circular manner, when 

 Hrusehka noticed that the honey had 

 been drained out, and concluded that 

 the combs could be emptied bj' cen- 

 trifugal force. Machines were soon in- 

 vented for this purpose, and the ad- 

 vantage proved to be greater than had 

 been anticipated. Here was the origin 

 of the honey-e,xtractor. 



Liquid hone}' taken frou> the combs 

 with the honey-extractor has now been 

 before the world about 25 years, and 

 much has beeu the discussion regard- 

 ing its merits and dements, as com- 

 pared with other sweets. It is the oul}- 

 product of the apiary that has any 

 likelihood of becoming a staple article. 

 This it may be able to do when it has 

 been produced in sufficient quantity, 

 and thoroughly introduced. It will 

 easily outstrip comb honey, on account 

 of its cheapness and usefulness, as it is 

 a necessary,and, not like comb honey, 

 wholly a luxury — and the cost of pro- 

 duction ensures this. 



This introduction must be accom- 

 plished by constantly appealing to the 

 taste. Let people taste of the honey 

 the}- are asked to buy, and they will 



soon know whether they want it, and 

 what to do with it. If all the extracted 

 lioney oBered for sale was equal to 

 some I liave produced, there would be 

 little hesitation in deciding that mo.9t 

 other sweets would be driven out, and 

 comb honey would go begging. 



A little depends upon getting the 

 bees in condition to gather the honey ; 

 a great deal more upon the time of 

 taking it from the hives ; considerable 

 upon its preparation for market ; but a 

 decidedly important, and a veiy much 

 more perplexing (piestion than any of 

 these, is the selling. 



The selling depends largely upon 

 the quality, and the quality upon the 

 ripening process. The proper time for 

 extracting, is when the combs are at 

 least all capped over. Honey, when it 

 is " green," has a greenish tinge, a 

 rank taste, and is never as fine flavored 

 as well ripened honey. 



Properly ripened basswood or clover 

 honey has a sparkling clearness like 

 flint glass, and the taste is pure and 

 exquisite. I have never seen any- 

 honey that I was so well satisfied to sell 

 as that that had been all sealed over 

 before extracting it from the combs, or 

 that was allowed to remain in the 

 hives a few months, and extracted as 

 it was sold. Such honey will run comb 

 honey a hard race at an equal price. 

 It has not much tendency to granulate, 

 and acquires a flavor of the bees and 

 hive that is highly prized by those who 

 use honey as a luxury. This flavor, 

 often, is about all they buy it for, and 

 if it fails in this particular, it is a dis- 

 appointment. It is the most distin- 

 guishable characteristic of bee-honey, 

 and it is seldom very apparent in 

 honey that is gathered by the bees and 

 ripened by artificial means. 



There are as many grades of ex- 

 tracted honey as there is butter or 

 cheese, and they are usually desig- 

 nated as basswood, clover, golden-rod 

 or buckwheat. These are simply the 

 sources from which the honey was 

 gathered, and it is quite uncertain in 

 determining the quality. 



For example, basswood is always 

 considered a finer grade of honey than 

 buckwheat, but, in consequence of the 

 basswiiod lioney-flow coming ou in a 

 " shower," necessitating the hasty ex- 

 traction of the lioney in order to pro- 

 vide room for more, it may be of such 

 consistency that the buckwheat coming 

 on moderately, the honey may be so 

 well ripened while it is being gatli- 

 ered that it is a more delicious article 

 of honey, and worth more per pound 

 for table use than the basswood. 



It is reasonable that honey may, l^y 

 absorption from the air, or the recep- 

 tacles in which it is stored, lose a deli- 

 cate flavor, and have a flat, dull taste 

 instead ; when, if it had remained in 



