June 15, 1911 



365 



for the 175-mile run down to the 

 keys. Two trii)S are required to 

 carry the bees. En route he 

 passes beautiful Palm Beach, 

 and Fig. 3 shows him passing 

 the dock there. Fig. 4 shows 

 him just arrived on Key Largo; 

 the hives as they were landed, 

 and before they had been lined 

 up or straightened up. Mr. Pop- 

 pleton assures me that he finds 

 it profitable to move his bees 

 thus. 



On the mainland his chief 

 honey-sources are wild jienny- 

 royal, saw palmetto, cabbage 

 palmetto, and wild sunflower; on 

 the keys, black mangrove, man- 

 chineel, pigeon cherry, and dog- 

 wood. He says the mangrove 

 honey from the keys is of even 

 better body than that further 

 north on the coast. 



He is the representative of the 

 Long-Idea hive, that is one sto- 

 ry high, IS^XoG inches long; 

 telesecope top and tight bottom. 

 All the expansion is done laterally, not ver- 

 tically, as in all other hives of any note in 

 this country. He widens out instead of tier- 

 ing up. He always paints his hives white, 

 and uses full sheets of foundation. This year 

 his crop of honey from the keys was H.500 

 lbs. as against 28,000 lbs. last year. He is 

 almost the sole migrating bee-man in Flor- 

 da to-day. Fig. 5 shows five snap-shots of 

 his apiaries on the St. lAicie River, the 

 North and South branches, about three 

 miles above Stuart, Fla. The jieculiar form 

 of his hives can be seen in these pictures. 



De Land, Fla. 



To be continued. 



SEPARATING THE HONEY FROM THE 

 PINGS WITHOUT THE USE OF A 

 CAPPING-MELTER. 



A Scheme that Looks as if It Might Have Consid- 

 erable Merit. 



BY D. E. LHOMMEDIEIT. 



Fie. 4. — Mr. I'diiiik'lou'.s lirsl uiiiary at Key Lai'Ku. This jjic- 



ture was taken just after tlie bees were landed, before the 



hives had been leveled up or the rows straightened. 



inngs and honey should be transferred to a 

 coarse cheese-cloth strainer laid over a heavy 

 galvanized wire screen supported near the 

 top of the tank, as described in Gleanings 

 some years ago. When another lot is to be 

 strained we gather u]) the corners of the first 

 lot, tie them with a string, and hang it over 

 a can to drain a few days. The more honey 

 cut off with thecappings, the better the plan 

 works. 



Those who have capping-melters that are 

 satisfactory may not need to follow this 

 method, aiid it may ))e a good many will 

 l)ass this simi)le i)lan by without further 

 thought; but I think that if a few would 

 give it a trial it would be found to be very 

 practical, especially with those who do not 

 wish to Iwther with capping-melters. 



^^'hen the bees and extracting-combs are 

 smoked so much that one can smell the 

 smoke while uncapi)ing the honey, that lot 

 of cajipings is already tainted, and should 

 not be i)ut in with the tank of good honey. 

 Smoke should he used very sparingly when 

 taking oflf surplus combs. 



Colo, la. 



CAP- 



A few years ago, while extracting, we ran 

 out of room; and to make room my Vjrother 

 took a stick and "churned" the cai)i)ings 

 till they were conii)letely broken u]). There 

 was no strainer in the bottom of the iiox, 

 nor honey-gate, so the capjiings. honey and 

 all, were together at the time. Since that 

 time we have always mashed and churned 

 the cappings before trying to strain the hon- 

 ey out. If the honey is drawn ofTljefore this 

 is done, the plan does not work as well. 



To mash the cappings we use a small-sized 

 ball-club with the lower end sawed off to 

 make it square. It takes only a few minutes 

 to prepare them for straining. 



After the mashing and tVJrning, the cap- 



[This certainly looks like a i)ractical meth- 

 od for sejiarating the honey from the caj)- 

 pings. The i)lan of melting the cai)])ings as 

 fast as they fall from the knife involves con- 

 siderable ex])ense, to say nothing of the dis- 

 comfort of working right over a two-burner 

 gasoline-stove when the weather is already 

 too hot to work to the best advantage. 



Then, moreover, it has not yet been defi- 

 nitely determined that the separation by 

 heat "does not affect the flavor of honey in 

 all cases. Our tests last summer seemed to 

 show that the capping-melter did not darken 

 or mar the quality of the honey. 



Friend L.'s phln is so simple and easily 

 tried that we hoi)e some producers will try 

 it and report. — Ed.] 



