184 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Honey Tanks should not be 

 made of galvanized iron. Concerning 

 this matter, Mr. S. Cornell, of Lindsay, 

 Ont., writes as folllows : 



The editor of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal is quite correct when he says on 

 page 85, "Tin is wholly unfit for such a 

 purpose" (honey tank). But he is 

 clearly mistaken when he adds : " Gal- 

 vanized is quite a different thinj;." 

 Cheshire writes as follows, page 479, 

 Vol. II, " Bees and Bee-Keoping :" 

 "Extractors, and all vessels used to 

 hold syrup or honey, should under no 

 circumstances be made of galvanized 

 (zinc coated) iron, as the zinc and iron 

 form a galvanic couple, favoring an 

 attack by the acid of the honey." Com- 

 menting on a case in which bees were 

 poisoned by honey and syrup which had 

 been stored in galvanized iron tank, he 

 says: "Galvanized iron is utterly ruin- 

 ous to the flavor of honey, even if the 

 existence be only of short continuance. 

 If it be prolonged the honey is danger- 

 ous." In a subsequent article he says : 

 " While the coating is perfect the vessel 

 is to all intents a zinc one, but, as soon 

 as an abrasion or wear exposes some of 

 the iron, a galvanic couple is estab- 

 lished " " But the important point 



lies here. The presence , of the iron 

 increases the disposition on the part of 

 the zinc to oxidize, and so galvanized 

 iron is worse in its effects and exciting 

 fluids (among which honey, syrup, and 

 salt solution may be classed) than zinc 

 alone." 



In a foot-note to the above statement, 

 the editor of tXw British Bee Jourmil, Mr. 

 Cowan says : " We are able to confirm 

 Mr. Cheshire's statements as to the 

 poisonous properties of galvanized iron 



and zinc We have pointed out in 



the "Bee-Keepers' Guide Book" that 

 neither galvanized iron nor zinc should 



be used Our experience quite bears 



out Mr. Cheshire's statement, that when 

 galvanized iron vessels begin to wear, 

 they are worse than zinc, and it is aston- 

 ishing how soon they do begin to show 

 signs of wear. See British Bee Journal, 

 pages 532 and 575, 1886. 



The position taken by Mr. Cornell is 

 quite correct, and he has our tiianks 

 for thus calling attention to it. As we 

 had often seen it stated, that on the 

 Pacific Coast where they had to extract 

 the honey before it was ripe, they us(id 

 galvanized iron pipes for evaporators, 

 w(! so rc^plied to the question without 



further thought or research. Such an 

 evaporator was described and illustrated 

 on page 360 of the Bee Journal for 

 1879. In all probability California 

 apiarists now use some other material, 

 having found that to be unsuitable. If 

 not, the sooner they do so the better. 



Mr. D. A. Jones stated at the 

 Ontario convention that his entire pub- 

 lishing business, including the Canadkm 

 Bee Journal had passed into the hands 

 of a new company, and the new pub- 

 lishers say that they intend to improve 

 it in many ways. This change was not 

 unexpected, since the recent heavy 

 losses sustained by friend Jones. We 

 sympathize with him. It will be remem- 

 bered that Mr. Jones spent a small 

 fortune in Asia, looking for new races 

 of bees. He was also the first life- 

 member of the North American Bee- 

 Keepers' Association — and the only one 

 in Canada. 



The Oliio Convention occurs next 

 week, and friend Muth writes us as 

 follows concerning transportation : 



Friend Newman: — Kindly admonish 

 our friends in the next issue of the 

 American Bee Journal, when buying 

 their tickets to Cincinnati, to ask the 

 agent for a certificate for the bee-keep- 

 ers' convention. These certificates 

 signed by Secretary Morris at the con- 

 vention, will insure their return trip for 

 one-third fare. It required quite an 

 amount of correspondence to surmount 

 the red tape of some of these railroad 

 men, to come to the agreement. I am 

 sorry that we could not come to an 

 agreement any sooner than last night, 

 and I am sure that we are under no 

 obligation for this favor to the Central 

 Traffic Association of Chicago. 



ClIAS. F. MUTH. 



Cincinnati, O., Jan. 29, 1892. 



A. N. Draper advocates a 2-cent 

 bounty on honey, but will it ever be 

 obtained ? The sugar producers have 

 lots of influence "near the throne"- 

 and that is why they got a bounty. 



