804 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



feeding in ordinary Miller feeders. Our neigh- 

 bor, Vernon Hurt, told me that he had used the 

 plan described by R. L. Taylor, with entire suc- 

 ce-s: that his whole apiary of 180 colonie-i had 

 been fed without heating an ounce of syrup. 

 The plan that R. L. Taylor described was giv- 

 en in Gleanings, page 49fi. 



Briefly stated, it consisted of an ordinary 

 Dadant uncapping- can. As most of you know, 

 it is simply one can set on top of another— the 

 top can having a false bottom of wire cloth, 

 and properly stayed to hold up the center. 

 Over this false bottom INTr. Taylor laid over 

 three thicknesses of old bed-blanket, carefully 

 tucking it around the edges. On to this he 

 poured the sugar and water, and, in his own 

 language, the result was all he could desire; 

 for all he had to do was to keep the top can 

 supplied, and draw off the clear limpid syrup 

 from the can below. Of course, I naturally 

 concluded that, if Mr. Burt and Mr. Taylor 

 could make a success of this, we could. In the 

 first place, flannel is rather expensive, so I told 

 our apiarist to take six or eight thicknesses of 

 cheese-cloth and put them into the bottom of 

 the can. The sugar and water were put into 

 the top can, and I eagerly awaited results, 

 when, much to my disappointment, the syrup 

 drained through but little better than sweeten- 

 ed water, and five pailfuls in only two hours. 

 It ought to have taken about ten. It was 

 drained off, and returned to the top can. The 

 result was nearly the same, except that the 

 syrup was a little thicker. Well, thought I, 

 the trouble lies in the cheese-cloth. The sugar 

 was taken out, and over this were put three 

 thicknesses of new flannel. Again the results 

 were not much more satisfactory. Three thick- 

 nesses of heavy white felt were then substitut- 

 ed, and still the syrup was too thin. At last, 

 in desperation I went down to Mr. Burt's, and 

 asked him where my trouble was. He could 

 not tell. He had used o?»7 flannel, and got good 

 thick syrup. Well, I have not yet found the 

 " nigger in the woodpile," unless there is some- 

 thing in the fact that old flannel, which has 

 been used, is more fuzzy, and consequently more 

 impervious to the rapid escape of the syrup. 

 As a last resort, we cleaned out all the sugar, 

 leaving nothing but the felt. Over thjs was 

 deposited very evenly cotton batting, about an 

 inch thick, and over all one thickness of muslin. 

 We then poured in the sugar and water as 

 before, and next morning I had the satisfaction 

 of seeing good thick syrup— that which regis- 

 tered 4.5 on the hydrometer scale used by maple- 

 syrup makers to determine when the syrup is 

 thick enough; but after drawing off the first 

 pailful or two the syrup became thinner; and, 

 to cap it all, the thing wouldn't percolate at all. 

 We finally removed the felt, spread over the 

 bottom a thickness of muslin; over this an 

 inch of cotton batting, and then covered it with 

 another thickness of muslin. Results: This 



combination is working finely: and, although 

 we haven't found the " nigger" in the flannel, 

 we have something better. 



I have gone into details to prevent others, 

 from making the same mistakes we did. 



I may explain to our readers that a hydrome- 

 ter is a delicate instrument of blown glass, with 

 a graduated scale. It is a very convenient im- 

 plement for showing the thickness of honey or 

 syrup for feeding. Maple- syrup makers tell 

 me that the scale that they use is .33. This 

 makes about 11 lbs. to the gallon, or about the 

 usual thickness of ordinary extracted honey. 

 They can be had at almost any hardware store;- 

 or if you can not get them near home we can 

 furnish them for 3.5 cts.; postage 3 cts. 



Later. — Since writing the foregoing I have 

 learned from Mrs. E. R. that new unwashed 

 flannel will let water go though it like a sieve; 

 but after it has been used a while the woof, or 

 web, becomes more dense. I asked her how she 

 knew. She hesitated a minute, and said that 

 new baby-diapers, unwashed, are not very 

 serviceable until they have been through the 

 laundrying process a few times. Our readers^ 

 will pardon this allusion, for nothing but false- 

 modesty would object to it. The illustration 

 is a good one, and explains why I had trouble 

 with new cotton flannel letting the syrup 

 through too fast, and why B. Taylor and Mr. 

 Burt, using old flannel and old bed-blankets, 

 had entire success. The " nigger" is found at 

 last. 



ROLLED VS. GIVEN PHERSED FOUNDATION; 



FLAT-BOTTOM FOUNDATION; HEAVY 



CELL -WALLS AND FAT COMBS. 



Reference is made in Bicycle Notes, in an- 

 other column, to the experiment of R. L. Tay- 

 lor, as reported and illustrated by a half-tone 

 engraving in the Bee-keepers'' Review for Sep- 

 tember. We have been experimenting a little 

 with different weights of foundation during the 

 past summer, and perhaps I can throw a little 

 light on some of the results. Well, these re- 

 sults show that the "fattest" combs, if I may 

 use the expression, were built from Given foun- 

 dation; that the next fattest were from wax 

 sheets sheeted for roller mills, but actually 

 embossed or worked in the Given press. The 

 next in order seems to be the Hunt foundation 

 made on a Root mill. The rest of the results I 

 have been unable to compare, any more than 

 to state that the VanDeusen shows the " lean- 

 est " combs, to carry out the analogy, of all the 

 foundations used. Mr. Taylor, concluding, says, 

 first, that the quality of the wax in its original 

 characteristics, or in the method of its manipu- 

 lation, cuts a considerable figure; and, second- 

 ly, that either the kind of machine used in 

 making foundation greatly affects its value; 

 or. thirdly, that heavy foundation has a decided 

 advantage over light. Mr. Taylor's third and 

 last supposition, I think, is nearer the truth 

 than the second, as I shall presently try to show. 



