1920 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



121 



basement under the full structure. 

 The engine for furnishing the power, 

 stove for heating capping melter and 

 furnishing heat, and storage tanks 

 are all in the basement. On the up- 

 per floor there is a small storage room 

 heated by steam pipes froni the same 

 stove that heats the capping melter. 

 The extracting combs are stored in 

 this room as they are brought from 

 the apiaries. The heat prevents 

 granulation of the honey before ex- 

 tracting and at the same time keeps 

 the combs sufficiently warm to in- 

 sure that the honey will run readily 

 when the combs are placed in the ex- 

 tractor. Near the door to this store 

 room is the capping melter and near 

 this the extractor. The arrangement 

 is designed to save every possible step 

 of the operator when extracting. The 

 capping melter is Mr. Sutton's own 

 design and unlike those on the mar- 

 ket. It is made with a double bot- 

 tom with the space between filled 

 with water. The enas are closed and 

 it has a pipe drain. A steam pipe 

 from a laundry stove in the basement 

 furnishes the necessary heat, while 

 the exhaust pipe runs through the 

 warming room. Over the capping 

 melter is a comb rack for holding the 

 combs as they are uncapped. Under 

 this rack is a sloping tin to carry ott 

 the honey that drips from the combs 

 and at the same time to protect the 

 combs from becoming too warm from 

 heat rising from the melter. 



The honey runs directly from the 

 extractor to tanks in basement with- 

 out handling. There are 200 gallon 

 storage tanks, from which the honey 

 is drawn into 60 pound cans. From 

 the extractor it passes through a 

 coarse screen and then through a 

 cheese-cloth strainer which is sus- 

 pended above the tanks and which 

 affords a large surface for straining. 

 The second picture shows the tanks 

 and the pipes that run from the stove 

 to capping melter and warming room 

 above. 



Now that labor is getting scarce 



Lyons' honey house at Ft. Collins. 



and high it is important that the bee- 

 keeper who '^uilds an extracting 

 house plan it su as to eliminate all 

 the labor possible. The mere ar- 

 rangement whereby the honey runs 

 directly from the extractor into the 

 tanks, thereby saving the labor of 

 drawing it from the extractor in buck- 

 ets makes a big saving in handling 

 a large crop. If the building is so ar- 

 ranged that one operation follows an- 

 other from one side of the room to 

 the other without unnecessary steps, 

 it is possible for a man to handle a 

 great many mere combs in a day than 

 where no attention is given to ar- 

 rangement. 



At Ft. Collins, A. A. Lyons has 

 probably the largest extracting and 

 storage house for extracted honey in 

 the State. The building is about SOx 

 56 ft. in size, is made of concrete and 

 fireproof throughout. The rooms are 

 separated from each other by fire- 

 proof walls. It is built in a hillside 

 with entrance to upper floor on one 

 side and to the lower floor on the 

 other. At one side of the house 

 there is a platform for unloading ex- 

 tracting supers directly through a 

 door into a warming room. This 



room is long and narrow with a small 

 track on which runs a truck for car- 

 rying supers to the extracting room 

 through a door at the opposite end. 

 The heating room holds from 250 to 

 300 full depth extracting supers. In 

 fine weather he can thus take oflF 

 enough honey ahead of the extractor 

 to keep the force busy should there 

 be a rainy day. In the extracting 

 room there are two 8-frame power 

 extractors driven by electric motors. 

 These are shown in the picture. Next 

 to the extracting room is a large room 

 for storing empty combs. This room 

 opens again on the platform, where 

 the truck loads and unloads. The 

 capacity of the plant is 100 to ISO cans 

 a day with two men and a boy to op- 

 erate. 



In the basement is one large honey 

 tank and two smaller ones for stor- 

 age. The combined capacity is six 

 thousand pounds. The honey is 

 drawn into cans as fast as it settles. 

 An alarm indicates when a can is 

 filled and ready to be sealed. 



Under one roof there is ample room 

 for every operation, with storage fa- 

 cilities for extracting supers of filled 

 combs, empty combs and cans of 

 honey ready for market. There is a 

 wax room 16,x24, with a steam boiler 

 for heating the building and for ex- 

 tracting the wax from old combs. At 

 the back is a garage for the Dodge 

 truck, a light truck and the family 

 pleasure car. 



Interior of Lyons' honey bouse at Ft. Cnllins, showing two large power extractors operated by 



electric motors. 



Honeydew 



By Alex. D. MacGillivray 

 (Continued from March) 

 Boussingault believed that the pro- 

 duction of honeydew was a disease 

 of 'he plant. He extracted, according 

 to Buckton. 26.7 grammes of sugar, 

 cane sugar, inverted sugar and dex- 

 trine from one square meter of the 

 diseased leaves of a lime tree; while 

 the same amount of leaves from an 

 unaffected tree, that is one not bear- 

 ing insects producing honeydew. 

 growing not far awaj', gave only 4.4 

 grammes. This would seem to show 

 that the honeydew must be much 

 richer in sugar than the sap extracted 

 from the leaves. To secure such an. 

 increase in sugar, it would seem as if 

 the sap of the plant must undergo 

 elaboration within the body of the in- 



