1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



245 



more than one man in fifty will make a suc- 

 cess of it. 



Then there is this troublesome feature, 

 that, in many locahties, and in many sea- 

 sons in the same locaUty, the light crop of 

 honey is overlapped by the earlier or later 

 blossoming of another source, whose honey 

 is rank or dark, or both, tainting or tinge- 

 ing the clear nectar with its gratuitous but 

 unwelcome contributions. We have already 

 I eferred to the almost simultaneous blossom- 

 ing of orange and wild cherry. Let one or 

 the other hasten or retard its coming, and 

 dire are the results. The wild cherry is al- 

 most always found in plenty wherever the 

 orange-tree thrives. If too near together, it 

 is impossible to keep the two honeys dis- 

 tinct. The clear honey becomes reddish- 

 brown in color, and in taste more resembles 

 the tang of a peach-pit. Few honey-flow'S 

 in the North are so menaced on all sides by 

 inferior flows as are many nectar periods 

 here. It constitutes ,a real difficulty with 



many. Happy is that apiarist whose over- 

 lapping sources all yield equally choice nec- 

 tar. The latter is the fortunate case of those 

 men on the East Coast whose first crop, 

 the saw palmetto, comes along with the gall- 

 berry, and whose second crop, the black 

 mangrove, is almost coincident w^ith that 

 from the cabbage palmetto. Both blends 

 are delicious. There is no deterioration 

 from the double sources. 

 DeLand, Fla. 



To be continued. 



BEE-KEEPING 



FOR BEGINNERS, ILLUS- 

 TRATED. 



The Gravity Separating-tank; how Constructed. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



TOWNSBND'S latest SEPABATING-TAf'K FOR CLAKIFYING 

 PONEY WITHOUT A STRAINER. 



In the accompanying picture. Figs. 1 and 

 4 show our latest pattern of separating-tank. 

 It is built of galvanized steel, 32 inches 

 high and 22 in diameter. 

 Near the bottom a \yi- 

 inch Scovile gate is sol- 

 dered, the lower side of 

 the hole being just 2 in. 

 from the bottom of the 

 tank, so that, when the 

 gate is wide open, 2 in. 

 of honey will be left in 

 the tank, when all has 

 run out that will. With 

 this construction no 

 scum will pass the gate, 

 even if all the honey pos- 

 sible is drained out. 



On the side of the can 

 containing the gate a 

 partition is soldered, cut 

 out of a piece of galvan- 

 ized steel 15 inches wide 

 and olYz inches long, af- 

 ter the edges have been 

 turned over. The upper 

 edge of this partition, as 

 shown, is just even with 

 the top of the can; but 

 there is a space between 

 the lower edge and the 

 bottom of the can of half 

 an inch. 



The float is made of 

 hard-wood slats Vs. inch 

 wide, placed about % in. 

 apart. The length of 

 these slats is such that 

 the float is about % inch 

 less indiameterthan that 

 of the can, and at inter- 

 vals of two inches around 

 the ci rcumference staples 

 are driven in and left 

 projecting a little less 

 than X inch. These per- 

 mit the float to rise and 

 fall very readily, as there 

 is less friction than if the 

 wood were in contactwith 

 the side of the can. 



