3:i2 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apk. 15. 



graving to press down on the top of the cell, so 

 that the end. or point, of the cell is squeezed 

 against the apex of the cone. With the wire- 

 cloth protectors I have known bees to push the 

 cell up. crawl inside of the cone, and gnaw into 

 the side of the cell; but they could notverj' well 

 do it with INIr. West's spirals. 



The point he makes, that the requeening can 

 be done during swarraing-time. is a good one. as 

 is also the point that an extra-long-cone can be 

 attached to shorter ones, the queen hatched 

 out. and be retained a day or two until a place 

 is found for her. The facility with which these 

 cones can be attached to the combs is another 

 point in their favor.J E. R. R. 



EVAPORATING HONEY BY SOLAR HEAT IN 

 FLORIDA. 



w. s. hart's device, and how he does it 



ON A i.arge scale: he thinks solak 



evaporated honey is not inferior 



to that ripened by the bees. 



By request of some of your southern corres- 

 pondents, backed by your own, I give you a de- 

 scription ofmy method of curing extracted honey. 

 But first let me say I had a short interview with 

 the editor of The' Florida Farmer and Fruit 

 Grower. The editor, in commenting on my 

 honey, said. "Not content with the desiccation 

 done by the bees, he reduces it in a sun evapo- 

 rator, in a lai'ge pan under glass, to a consisten- 

 cy so dense that it will keep a long time without 

 candying." The honey shown to editor Powers 

 was cured more than that which I usually send 

 to market. I cured it while testing the evapo- 

 rator to see what it would do, and to see wheth- 

 er thorough curing with solar heat would dark- 

 en the color. His description of the honey was 

 a correct one. and shows that there is no i-easou 

 for uneasiness on that point. 



My honey-house is set upon a concrete base. 

 about two feet high, bringing tlie floor of the 

 lower room below the surface of tlie ground, 

 and the sills a few inches above ground. Here 

 in this lower room I store extracted honey in 

 barrels. From this room there is a lai'ge aii'- 

 pipe running out at the top of the building, 

 w'hich keeps up a circulation of air. 



Work for the apiaiy, such as extracting, is 

 done on the next floor above, while the third 

 floor is used for storing empty hives. 



From my large geared Stanley extractor the 

 honey runs into a tank capable of holding 13.50 

 lbs., that rests on the floor in the northeast cor- 

 ner of the extracting-room. The honey passes 

 from this to the evaporating-pan by way of a 

 faucet and a tin pipe projecting through the 

 side of the building. The evaporator is made 

 of heavy tin, and is incased in wood, as are the 

 tanks also. It is 8 teet long, 4 wide, and with 

 sides '2}4 inches high. Eveiy four inches of its 

 length "there is a tin partition ;.' inches high, 

 running from one side to within 4 inches of the 

 opposite side, and alternate ones soldei-ed to the 

 opposite sides, so that the honey flows back 

 and forth across the pan. a distance of about a 

 hundred feet, before reaching the faucet at the 

 lower end. through which it falls into a tank be- 

 low, of the same capacity as the flrst mention- 

 ed. Any one who has seen a syrup evaporator 

 will fully understand the workings of this one. 



The tank below runs on trucks and a track, 

 and. when fllled.itis rolled out to the large slid- 

 ing-door that divides the evaporating-room 

 from lower stoi-y of the main building. From 

 the faucet in the tank, the honey runs directly 

 into the barrels, which are placed on end on the 

 floor of the storing-room. 



I till all my barrels at the end, for several 

 good reasons. When full the bairels are bung- 

 ed up tight, and are ready for market, except 

 that I always di-ive up the hoops just before 

 sliipping, and put double-pointed tacks behind 

 them to prevent the possibility of slipping. 



The evaporating-room is built on to. and runs 

 out 11 feet from, the north side of the honey- 

 house, and flush with the east side. The east 

 wall is 5 ft. (i in. high above the floor: the back 

 wall ft. 9 in., and the room is 5 ft. 4 in. wide. 

 Three sash, 3x(i ft., are used to cover the room, 

 except next to the main building, where the 

 shadow falls. The evaporator is arranged to 

 go close up to the glass, and can be lowei-ed or 

 raised at the north end to increase or diminish 

 the si)eed of the honey-flow according to the 

 heat and amount of curing desired. The evap- 

 orating-pan can be taken down and carried into 

 the storing-room wheii not in use. 



In both the front and back wall of the evapo- 

 rating-i'oom there are two I'ows of 3'^-inch 

 holes, bored and covered with wire netting, to 

 allow a free circulation of air over the honey. 

 The past season I have also left the door of the 

 room open most of the time, as I And that, the 

 greater the circulation of air. the quicker the 

 honey cures. 



The evaporating-pan is put quite close up to 

 the east side of the room, leaving a space on the 

 west side for a person to work over the pan to 

 scour it or clean honey out of it when a light 

 grade is following a dark one. The tank below 

 is laid on casings that raise them a foot above 

 the floor. This makes it more convenient to 

 handle the tank or to draw honey from it into 

 pails for home sales. The utility of the evapo- 

 I'ator consists in the fact that honey can be ta- 

 ken from the hives when not over a third capped, 

 and it can then be cured more thoroughly than 

 could be done in the hives by the bees, thereby 

 very hu'g(>ly increasing the crop. Capping hon- 

 ey is a slow and expensive process. By this sys- 

 tem an even grade of honey is obtained, with 

 much less labor and expense than when left 

 longer in tlie hives. Some able men claim that 

 honey is better flavored when ripened by the 

 bees. I can not agree with them in this, nor do 

 the returns and reports from those who sell ray 

 honey indicate the correctii(>ss of this theory. 

 Nor could any bee-keeper, who has ever tried, 

 tell mo with any certainty which sample of hon- 

 ey handed him was ripened in the hive, and 

 which by sun's heat. Usually they select the 

 latter for the former, as it is usually of a heavier 

 body. With the arrangement here described I 

 have no trouble in thoroughly curing my crop 

 of fifteen to twenty-five thousand pounds, and 

 I could handle still more without enlarging my 

 outfit, though a larger evaporating-pan would 

 be an improvement. I have to-day 113 colonies, 

 perhaps, of bees. W. S. Hart. 



Hawks Park. Fla.. March KJ. 



[Many thanks for the full details of your ar- 

 rangements, friend H. Although we have de- 

 scribed similar ones before, we have not here- 

 tofore liad such a report from dii-ect practical 

 use. My experience has been, that, for drying 

 lumber, evaporating fruit or vegetables, or any. 

 tiling of this sort, a very large volume of dry 

 air should be made to pass ov(>r or through the 

 product. You did not tell us how long it took 

 to evaporate a barrel of honey. Of course, it 

 would depend upon how thick it is to start with. 

 Very likely your locality would give you more 

 and stronger sunshine than we get here, espe- 

 cially in March and April. This present spring, 

 up to date of writing, April 4. has been cloudy 

 and rainy, as a rule, while smishine has been 

 the exception.] 



