1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



55 



the queen during the height of the honey- 

 How ; for I huve often seen a colony that 

 was working vigorously, slack right up 

 when the queen was taken away. A cus- 

 tomer once wanted a select tested (lueen to 

 take home with him. The only one in the 

 apiary was one in a colony working heavily 

 in a hive covered with sections. In consid- 

 eration of a good price I took her out; but 

 the honey stopped at once, while other colo- 

 nies continued to pile it right in. By the 

 time they had a new laying queen the yield 

 was nearly over, and I estimated the loss of 

 lioney was about as much as the value of 

 the queen. Had 1 kept her in the hive I 

 should have had my honey and my queen 

 too. Well, now, there seems to be a differ- 

 ence in colonies in tiiis respect. I have 

 since then seen a strong colony go right on 

 storing honey (which was almost entirely 

 stored in tiie sections) after the queen was 

 removed. Perhaps taking the queen away 

 when they are starting cells and making 

 preparations for swarming might have less 

 effect in stopping the yield. We should be 

 glad to hear from some of our veterans in 

 regard to this matter. 



A FACTORY EXPRESSLY FOR CAN- 

 NING HONEY. 



KKIEND CniilSTIE'S INDUSTRY. 



ItKT ^' bave for several years been printing 

 great numbers of honey-labels for 

 Mr. Aug. Christie, of Smithland, 

 Woodbury Co., Iowa; but we never 

 knew exactly what he did with them 

 all until we found the following in the 

 Smithland Exponent : 



Few people are aware of the importance of the 

 honey business in this section, or how much of an 

 establishment the Smithland apiary and canning- 

 house, owned by Aug. Christie, has become. The 

 reporter was not aware of it either until he wander- 

 ed up there one day this weel< on a tour of inspec- 

 tion. He found the gentlemanly proprietor busy at 

 work, but he kindly dropped every thing to show 

 us ai'ound and to explain the process of canning. 

 Mr. Christie owns five apiaries, with from five to 

 six hundred stands. All the honey from these api- 

 aries is brought to his Smithland canning-house to 

 be put up for the market. This is a more extensive 

 job than one would think, and the process is more 

 complicated. 



The honey, when extracted from the comb, is bar- 

 reled up and taken to the storehouse, where it is 

 kept until the time for canning begins, which is 

 generally about the tirst of December. The build- 

 ing where the canning is done is a substantial brick 

 structure, 22X30 feet, and two stories high, with an 

 ell for an engine-room. The arrangements are 

 such that, when the honey is brought in, it can be 

 unloaded from the wagons on a level with the up- 

 per story, and the barrels rolled in. Then the bar- 

 rels are placed on end, the heads taken out, and the 

 honey emptied into a tank holding about 100 gallons. 

 This tank is made of lioiler iron, and heated to a 

 moderate degree by steam. From this tank the 

 honey passes through a lead pipe which is regulat- 

 ed by a stopcock, into a reservoir witii a three-bar- 

 rel capacity. From this reservoir it passes through 

 another pipe into a steamehest. This pipe is made 

 of block tin, and is made in a spiral form, so that 

 the honey may be kept in motion ; for the honey, if 

 it remained in one place too long, would be over- 

 heated, and a little too much heating spoils it. In 

 the chest it is heated to the required temperature, 

 and drawn off into cans, the heat preventing its 

 granulating. 



The capacity of this apparatus is two barrels per 

 hour. In addition to this there is a steam-chest in 

 which cans are placed; and the steam being let on, 



the honey melts and runs into the same tank in 

 which the barreled honey was placed. This makes 

 the whole capacity of the factory three barrels per 

 hour. The honey is drawn off in cans varying from 

 one to sixty pounds each, but the largest demand is 

 for the one-pound cans. 



An engine of six-horse power drives the machin- 

 ery, and furnishes the steam for heating purposes. 

 Mi-. Christie travels during the greater part of the 

 year, selling to dealers in various parts of the 

 country. 



Now, we should like to inquire of friend 

 C, if, with the above apparatus, he succeeds 

 in putting up his honey in such a way that 

 it remains liquid year in and year out. The 

 theory has been, that, if honey is sealed up 

 and heated to just the proper temperature, 

 it will never candy until the seal is broken ; 

 and friend C. can probably tell us whether it 

 works in practice. 



A WARNING. 



FOUL BUOOD IN AUSTRALIA ; ITS WIDESPRKAl 

 .\ND DESTRUCTIVE WORK. 



fOUL brood has, unfortunately, obtained so 

 firm a foothold in this colony that there is 

 scarcely an apiai-y — in this district at any 

 rate — that is free from the disease now, or 

 has not previously suffered. To bee-keepers, 

 the outlook is so alarming that they are afraid to 

 increase their colonies, and there will naturally be 

 a reluctance to invest capital in the growing in- 

 dustry. Unless some combined action be taken to 

 check the scourge, foul brood will become master 

 of the situation. Accoi'diugly, special meetings of 

 the S. A. Bee-keepers' Association, and of the Mt. 

 Barker Bee-keepers' Association have recently 

 been held to discuss the question; and in both 

 cases it was unanimously resolved that legislative 

 action was required. Dr. Cockburn. M. P., Presi- 

 dent of the first-named association, is now con- 

 ducting a bill through our Parliament, making it 

 an offense to keep diseased bees, combs, hives, etc., 

 on the i)remises, and imposing a penalty of iil to illO. 

 Provision is made for government inspection, but 

 the details of the bill are not in my possession. 



The majority of bee-keepers strongly favor 

 Muth's method of eradicating the disease; that is to 

 say, transferring the bees into a clean hive with 

 starters, and feeding medicated syrup. This has 

 been uniformly successful here, whilst the numer- 

 ous other methods, including spraying, feeding, 

 etc., and the host of nostrums, such as coffee, 

 camphor, eucalyptus oil. etc., ha%'e resulted in fail- 

 ure. The disease may be checked for a time; but a 

 permanent cure seems unattainable without the 

 entire removal of the infected combs, as prescribed 

 by Muth. We sympathize with you in your fight 

 against foul brood, and are watching the result of 

 your efforts with much interest. C. F. Clough. 

 Mt. Barker, South Australia, Nov. 13, 1887. 



The problem of what to do with the dis- 

 ease with you is indeed a serious one, now 

 that it has got such a foothold. Your letter 

 is not the tirst one we have had from your 

 country, telling of its terrible ravages. 

 Most severe measures should be taken 

 against its further progress. You are prob- 

 ably on the right track, both as to legislative 

 action and method of cure. Our experience 

 has taught us that the colony should be put 

 into clean hives on frames of foundation, 

 and then given some antiseptic. Your let- 



