40 



(JLKANJXGS 



BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 15 



the strainer in a whole day's work. T i"'^ 

 I picked out the largest stru'ncMwe li I'l, .ir.d 

 hung it in the barrel and \v\iit to txtra(t- 

 ing again. A lot of honey ran throi;',:i; but 

 when the strainer clogged, as it did very 

 soon, I kept on pouring in the honey until 

 finally the bottom fell out of it and all the 

 honey not yet strained, with the pieces of 

 comb (cappings and all) went down into 

 the strained honey in the barrel. Then I 

 felt so disgusted that I followed my good 

 wife to the house after pouring in what hon- 

 ey I still bad in the extractor, so as to be 

 sure to make a good job of it. I expected 

 that I would have to dip out the whole con- 

 tents of the barrel the next morning, and 

 warm it up and go through the stirring pro- 

 cess again to get it through another strainer. 



The next morning, when I was standing 

 and looking at the outfit and dreading the 

 job, the thought came to me that I might 

 skim off the bits of cappings and wax and 

 save having them to bother with; so I used 

 a long-handled skimmer and removed all of 

 the wax and cappings to a pail. Then, no- 

 ticing how clear the honey looked below, I 

 commenced to draw it off from the bottom 

 of the barrel and pouring it into cans through 

 a large funnel, so there would be no chance 

 for any bits of comb or wax to get the start 

 of me. To my surprise I found that I could 

 draw the honey down to within about three 

 or four inches of the bottom of the barrel 

 before any scum or bits of wax ran through 

 the gate. 



I was not sure that the plan would work 

 every time; so when my wife came out to 

 help me I told her what I had done (not 

 mentioning that the bottom had fallen out 

 of the strainer, so that the whole plan was 

 an accident) ; but when I suggested that we 

 would not bother any more with strainers, 

 but just let the honey strain itself, she said 

 she knew we would have the whole barrel- 

 ful to dip out and warm and stir through 

 the strainer just as usual. However, I did 

 not believe in crossing bridges before I came 

 to them, so I extracted a barrelful and then 

 went to work at something else. I visited 

 that extracting-room several times during 

 the afternoon, and just before going to bed 

 I skimmed ofT all the wax I could with the 

 skimmer and poured it into the uncapping- 

 tank. The next morning I found out for 

 sure that I had solved the straining part for 

 good, and the next season the owner of the 

 bees had two galvanized-iron tanks made, 

 each of which would hold all that we could 

 extract in a day. I found that, unless the 

 honey was very cold and thick, it did not 

 need to stand over twelve hours at the most; 

 but in case of very thick cold honey the two 

 tanks might be beneficial, so that there 

 would be room enough to hold two days' ex- 

 tracting, allowing the honey to stand twen- 

 ty-four hours in each one. In the morning, 

 before I commenced drawing off the honey 

 from the bottom of the settling-tank, I al- 

 ways skimmed off what I could from the 

 top and poured it into the uncapping- tank. 



1 think it was about two years after this 



that Mr. Townsend began advocating a grav- 

 ity strainer; but I think he found it too 

 complicated, as I see he is now using the 

 settling-tank, although having a float. I 

 h?.ve tried the float, but can not see what 

 benefit it is. 



A Iter having used the settling-tank plan 

 so long, I surely would not go back and 

 bother with strainers. With hot knives 

 and good fat combs, extracting has lost so 

 much of its unpleasantness that I am going 

 to sell my farm next fall, hunt up a good 

 location, and put my whole time and ener- 

 gy into extracted-honey production. 



I may say that, after years of trying all 

 shapes and sizes of hives from the Danzen- 

 baker to the tw^elve-frame Jumbo, I say, 

 "Hurrah for the ten-frame Langstroth for 

 an all-around hive ! " 



Lakewood, Mich. 



QUEEN-EXCLUDERS INDISPENSABLE. 



The Opinion of a Twenty-four-hundred-colony 



Man. 



BY CHAS. BDSON. 



The general run of honey is improved by 

 using queen-excluders. A party called on 

 me recently who owns two thousand col- 

 onies. 1 always thought him a wiaeawake 

 bee-man; but I changed my mind when he 

 told me he did not use excluders. I am in 

 hearty sympathy with the opinion express- 

 ed by Elias Fox, page 631, Oct. 15, 1909, 

 when he said, "I would about as soon be 

 without bees as without excluders." 



In the same article Mr. Fox stated that 

 he did not think nurse bees take honey 

 from field bees. I can not agree with him 

 in this, for, though they may not in a light 

 honey -flow, I believe they surely do when 

 they are robbing. 



HOW TO STOP ROBBING. 



A most excellent way to stop robbing, 

 when extracting honey, is to fill seven or 

 eight wet combs with water and set them 

 where robbers can help themselves in su- 

 iters; and, when the water is all gone, fill 

 the combs up again. In a short time the 

 robbers will give no further trouble, because 

 they will all be full of water and the nurse 

 bees will not accept further kindness. 



Grafton, Cal. 



[Mr. Edson runs about 2400 colonies, so 

 he ought to know whereof he speaks. We 

 should be glad to hear from him further, as 

 we regard him as an expert. — Ed.] 



Motherwort a Good Honey-plant. 



Motherwort is one of the best hone.\ -plants I have 

 ever seen. It begins blooming here in the moun- 

 tains early In May. and to-day, Nov. 5, you can still 

 find my bees work ingon it. It grows about 3 feet 

 tall in large clusters. It will grow on any kind of 

 land, but does better on rich sandy soil. Drouth 

 has no eflfect on it. This plant is known here by 

 many different names. The honey from it is of a 

 liglit orange color. 



Scholten, Mo. Otis A. Griffith. 



