1890. 



TUE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



11)1 



was rushed through, and the stuff not 

 left to drain as it should, for I knew 

 I was going to treat it again, and 1 

 wanted to get the wax out as quickly 

 as possible. 1 suppose in the last 15 

 years 1 have produced 3,000 or 4,000 

 pounds of wax, the most of it going 

 through the solar. 



Another important point is the hon- 

 ey saved. Here and there are bits of 

 of candied honey, covered cells and 

 bits that usually would be unnoticed, 

 yet turn out quite a lot of honey that 

 is saved for feeding. No care is 

 needed in picking out patches of hon- 

 ey for it will not be lost in the solar, 

 but would be by the water method. 

 I always accumulate from the solar 

 more honey than wax. I always put 

 a little water into the pan, for the 

 evaporation would make the honey 

 into taffy — to thick to pour. 



The first mistake with apiarists is 

 to make their solar wax-extractor to 

 small. The next mistake is to make 

 the box and sash of wood. Wood 

 will not stand the extremes of heat 

 wet and dry. The putty will loosen 

 and cracks open. 1 have a sash part 

 wood and part iron. The iron stays 

 all right, but the wood part is always 

 more or less loose. The walls are of 

 brick built upon the ground, and the 

 inner parts of tin. It is 6 feet square 

 and fronts south. Were 1 to build 

 again, 1 would make it longer east 

 and west, or, what I think still better, 

 build with the corners pointing north, 

 east, west and south, makiig a hip 

 roof with a southeast and southwest 

 slope, and so get the sun all day. 

 Large glasss is not neces.sary. I have 

 glass in mine that is not over 4 inches 

 by 16. 1 use straight-edg-^ glass and 

 oil the joints, the glass butted — not 

 lapped. 



A large solar will alsM serve as a 

 liquefying concern. Once in the 

 month of maich 1 liquefied a thousand 

 pjunds in two days. The honey was 



in three and two pound lard pails, and 

 all put in at one time. Fire was used 

 beneath in this case, but where the 

 cans of honey are spread over the 

 solar so that the sun shines on each 

 pail or can direct, the sun alone will 

 do the work any ordinary clear sum- 

 mer day. 



Should I continue to proHuce ex- 

 tracted honey, and have to liquefy the 

 same, I would not do it with water or 

 steam. An appliance for the use of 

 hot air — much on the plan of an oven 

 — will do the work just as well, and 

 much cheaper, and any kind of a ves- 

 sel can be put in. I have been using 

 lacquered and stenciled, and it is no 

 little satisfaction to be able to melt 

 honey right in the pails when it has 

 become candied in them. To set these 

 pails in water would spoil the paint 

 and lettering, but the dry hot air does 

 no damage whatever. 



Loveland, Colo. 



Amateur farming. 



Altogether I find farming to Ije a more 

 complicated Easiness than I had anticipat- 

 ed. During the tirst two years of my 

 ownership of " The ?vIoorlands.," a wily 

 Long Islander came to rue and pnrsuaded 

 me to sell him the hyy on my twelve acres 

 for twenty two dollars, because, he assured 

 me, " it wasn't tit for horses to eat." When 

 my groom also coincided in this opinion, I 

 let this accommodiiting farmer have the 

 grass, and t'elt quite under obligations to 

 him for relieving me ( f such a worthless 

 product. The third year, however, when 

 he renewed liis offer (and I had sjient sev- 

 eral hundred dollars on ha? at thirty dol- 

 lars a ton), a su>picion awoke in me that he 

 might not be acting in good faith. 1 ob- 

 served that his horses ate the bay with rel- 

 ish. Why should my horses be so much 

 'liore fastidious than his? I according kept 

 the hay, »n<.\. mirahile diciu, my l.orses ate 

 it and thrived I scornfully rejected the 

 the him thit my gmofn dropped (i success- 

 or to the afore-mentioned onej, that it was 

 the same hay ; that, in other words, I h.ad 

 in previous years soM my own hay at less 

 than two dollars a ton and bought it l)ack at 

 thiriy When in a somewhat acrimonious 

 dialogue I sugk-ested this possibility u> the 

 Long [slander in question, he stnilr-d in an 

 uneasy, evasive kind of way, and remarked, 

 " You are getting to be quite a firmer, ain't 

 yon ?" — ffjalmar Hjorth Boymen, in July 

 Lippincott's. 



