936 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



December, 1917 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



pings out and use the sweet water for mak- 

 ing vinegar ; but we soon came to the con- 

 clusion that there was no money in the 

 g-ame. as new barrels have to be used Avith 

 each hatch of vinegar, and moreover honey 

 vinegar costs too much. Since then we have 

 been running the cappings tlxru the cap- 

 ping-melter, and as a rule the honey ob- 

 tained has been kept and used for spring 

 feeding whenever necessary. Of course the 

 honey before being used has always been 

 diluted with water and boiled. One of the 

 objections to using the melter in this way 

 is tlmt it is always a sticky and mussy 

 job to remove the wax from the honey, 

 for, as all will understand, the wax and 

 honey run out together in one receptacle. 



During the past week or two we have been 

 using with much satisfaction a little inven- 

 tion brought out by Mr. Armstrong, of 

 Selkirk, Out., which does away with a lot 

 of the bother in separating the honey from 

 the wax, and the honey thus obtained is 

 surprisingly free from any foreign matter. 



This invention is very simple, as will be 

 observed. It is a double boiler made of 

 galvanized iron, and of the following di- 

 mensions : Height, 10% inches ; diameter, 

 outside measure, lOVk inches; water-jacket, 

 outside and bottom, % inch. The bottoms 

 of the two outlets which pass thru the 

 water-jacket are each 3% inches from top 

 of the separator. These outlets are Yg i^^ch 

 in diameter and have a projection of 21/2 

 inches. 



A sheet of galvanized iron is soldered to 

 the inside of the separator, and runs to 

 witliin 1/2 inch of the bottom. The center 

 of this sheet is just 2 inches from the side 

 of the separator, aiul opposite the f.pout. 



The small spout at the top is for pouring 

 in hot water when starting operations. A 

 funnel-shaped top would be quite an im- 

 provement. 



After filling the separator with hot water 

 the wax and honey will start to run from 

 the melter. In a Avarm room it will re- 

 quire no more heating all day if the melter 

 is going steadily. Wax and honey are to- 

 gether in the wide apartment in the sepa- 

 rator; but the honey, being the heavier, en- 

 ters under the half-inoh space at the bottom, 

 while the wax stays in the large compart- 

 ment. As the separator fills up, the wax 

 runs from one side and honey from the 

 othea-. The honey comes out so clear that it 

 will surprise you ; and the first ten or twelve 

 pounds of Avax will be tit for market. Af- 

 ter that, an accumulation of slumgiim will 

 unfit the wax for market. With a wire- 

 cloth dipper to take out the slumgnim, one 

 might have most of the wax fit for market ; 

 but in onr ease we did not try thife, but re- 

 melted most of the wax and ran it thru the 

 press after all the cappings were melted. 



We ran five large barrels of cappings 

 thru this separator last winter, getting 350 

 pounds of wax and over 700 pounds of 

 honey, and we are much pleased with the 

 separator idea. At the close of the day's 

 operations we never emptied out the separa- 

 tor, prefen'ing to heat it the next morning 

 before starting, and thus avoid any chance 

 of wax getting over into the honey side of 

 the separator. J. L. Byer. 



Markham, Out. 



[Our correspondent refers to boiling the 

 honey that is used for fesding in the spring. 

 It needs to be frequently reiterated that 

 where the possibility of disease exists, mere 

 boiling is not sufficient. Recently Chalon 

 Fowls reported that, as much as twenty 

 years ago, he bought a quantity of honey, 

 and, after wasliing out the cans and care- 

 fully boiling the mixture, he fed' it tO' his 

 bees, with the result that 12 colonies con- 

 tracted foul brond. It is always a good 

 plan to reboii just before feeding. — Ed.] 



Modern Imbedding with a Ford 



Having about 2000 frames Avired, and the 

 foundatioui inserted in the top-bars, I made 

 an electric Avire-imbedder that imbeds all 

 thi-ee wires. Some may ask, " Why only 

 tliree wires'?" I may as well state now that, 

 as the top Avire is so near the top-bar, I 

 do not consider it at all necessarv and 



