52 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 15, 



age, the judge sent for several dozen five and 

 ten pound cans with a screw cap. These 

 worked very well for extracted honey; but it 

 seems that people will never become educated 

 to the fact that honey will candy; and right 

 here in Scott Valley, where so much honey 

 had been sold, there are people who do not 

 know how to liquefy it. That some foreign 

 countries demand candied honey is evidence 

 that they have been subject to a long training, 

 or else they consume more honey, and are 

 more familiar with its characteristics. 



When the judge and I came to this apiary 

 we found that there was no sun extractor for 

 rendering wax. The only extractor for this 

 purpose was the little steam extractor that is 

 designed to be placed on a stove. These 



June and July it was from 80 to 100 — plenty of 

 heat for our purpose. 



During some odd moments in the past I had 

 been thinking of making a wax-extractor that, 

 would melt the honey from cappings and not 

 discolor it. The ordinary sun extractor in 

 our hot climate heats the cappings so intense- 

 ly that the honey is literally boiled; and even 

 white sage honey is colored to the hue of 

 ordinary molasses, and the original flavor is 

 ruined. My idea was to overcome this defect 

 in the sun extractor, and make it render 

 white honey from white honey cappings. 



The ordinary California wax-extractor, of 

 whatever length, delivers honey and wax at 

 the end. I reversed the incline, and allowed 

 the material to run out at the side. The ex- 



CUTTING OUT COMB HONEY AND CANNING IT. 



steam affairs may be useful to a bee-keeper 

 who can count the number of his colonies on 

 the fingers of one hand; but in an apiary of 

 one or two hundred colonies they are worse 

 than useless, for it takes too much time to get 

 the wax out of them. 



The judge and I agreed that we should have 

 some sort of sun extractor. We knew it 

 would work well here; for, although we were 

 in a mountain region, we found the sun's 

 rays pouring down upon us for a few days at 

 the rate of 106° in the shade. Ordinarily, in 



tractor I constructed was 4 feet in length and 

 2 in width, while that portion holding the 

 cappings was 18 inches; and the honey drip- 

 ping off the side had only the 18 inches to run, 

 while, by running to the end, it would have 4 

 feet, and hence much more heat to endure. 

 The photo will give an idea of the way the 

 extractor operates. Honey is so thoroughly 

 incorporated with the bits of comb when we 

 take it from the uncapping-box that no amount 

 of ordinary straining will eliminate the honey. 

 A great amount of heat, or mild heat long 



