Mav, 1922 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CUTvTURE 



305 



running the st^am into the water at the 

 lower end of the melter, allowing the excess 

 of hot water to overflow through a pipe near 

 the top of the upper end of the melter. I 

 prefer hot water rather than steam, as the 

 water is not likely to reach quite as high a 

 temperature as though the bottom of the 

 melter were heated directly with steam. 

 Therefore, there is less danger of discolora- 

 tion of the honey. 



R. F. Holtermann of Brantford, Ont., Can., 

 after experience with more than one type of 

 capping-melter, has abandoned melting the 

 cappings as they slide from the combs. He 

 uses a large press and forces the greater 

 part of the honey out of the cappings; then 

 he melts the dry cappings, practically free 

 from honey, later on at the end of the sea- 

 son. Draining alone does not permit enough 

 of the honey to escape, especially in a local- 

 ity where the honey is thick. E. F. Atwater 

 of Meridian, Idaho, after making careful 

 record one year of the amount of honey he 

 secured when he melted up his entire batch 

 of cappings and comparing this amount with 

 his total crop, reports that four per cent of 

 the total crop is left in the cappings even 

 when the most improved methods of drain- 

 ing are followed. In a locality where the 

 honey is much thinner, this percentage 

 would be greatlv reduced. Mr. Atwater rec- 

 ommends warming the cappings and honey, 

 and then having some means for separating 

 the two. H. M. West of Parma. Idaho, uses 

 a combination of warming, draininsr and 

 pressing. He finds the pressing of cold cap- 

 pings very slow work on account of the 

 thickness of most of the Inter-mountain 

 honey. Fig. 4 shows Mr. "West's melter (nr. 

 rather, warmer, for he does not melt the 

 cappings") and his press. The right-hand 

 end of the "wnrmer" is elevated so much 

 that the cappings slide down ranidlv without 

 meltin.q-. The temperature of the honev can 

 be controlled by the pitch of this "slide." 

 Without warming he used to fill one of the 

 perforated cvlinders in half a day. Bv 

 warming the honev and cappinars it takes all 

 day to fill one cylinder under the press, and 

 most of the warmed honey has drained out 

 before pressure is applied. The screw is 

 then turned down hard in the evening and 

 pressure left on all night. This plan re- 

 quires considerable equipment, but it does 

 not darken the honey. It is really a com- 

 bination of three plans. 



Steam TTncapping-knif e. 



Several have suggested another tube for 

 the steam-heated knife so that the water of 

 condensation mav be carried awav from the 

 honey. This seems to me an unnecessary 

 complication. The knife would not onlv be 

 more expensive, but the free movement of 

 the blade would be interfered with bv rea- 

 son of the double tubing. And. whv the 

 complication? Only a fraction of the water 

 finds its wav into the honev. most of the 

 moisture being absorbed bv the air in the 

 room. However, if a small boiler were used 

 to furnish steam and all the water in that 



boiler were poured into the honey and cap- 

 pings during the time that amount of water 

 in the boiler would have furnished steam 

 for uncapping, I do not believe the honey 

 would be thinned enough to be noticeable 

 even when testing with a hydrometer; and 

 it must be remembered, as pointed out be- 

 fore, that only a very small part of the 

 water in this boiler actually finds its way 

 into the honey. 



We have tested several different forms of 

 electrically heated uncapping-knifes, but we 

 have never yet succeeded in getting an ele- 

 ment that will remain hot when submerged 

 in cold honey and still not almost instantly 

 overheat and even burn out after the blade 

 passes through the comb, especially if there 

 is a momentary delay while one is reaching 

 for another coiub. In case of a steam knife 

 there is no difficulty in keeping the temper- 

 ature alwavs uniform. 



Fig. 4 — H. M. West of Parma, Idaho, tried press- 

 ing the honey out of cold cappings, but with the 

 thick, we.?tern honey it is a very slow process. 

 Mr. West elevates on(! end of his capping "warm- 

 er" so thiit the cappings slide over into, the press 

 unmelted. The honey, however, is heated enough so 

 that it presses out easily. 



The Honey-pump. 



The question has often been asked wheth- 

 er the honey-pump does not introduce air 

 into the honey. Yes, under some circum- 

 stances, it does, but most of the air is in- 

 troduced in the extractor. When the honey 

 is quite thick a strong light reveals honey 

 flying to the side of the can in streams so fine 

 that it resembles a mist. The thicker the 

 honey, the more the air is mixed with it. 

 For this reason it is advisable to extract 

 combs that are warm. If the weather is not 

 hot at the time the extracting is done, the 

 extracting room should be made hot by the 

 use of stoves, for the thinner the honey, in 

 my opinion, the less the air is introduced in 

 the process of extracting. The pump should 

 not run any faster than necessary to keep 

 the extractor empty. 



