518 



O LEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



August, 1021 



FROM THE FIELD OF EXPERIENCE 



■ JFTraL 



a safety valve on it? You speak of heating it 

 ou a Perfection water heater. Is this the same 

 as the ordinary Perfection bil stove used for cook- 

 ing, etc. ? 



Now that you have used the outfit for some 

 time, have you any suggestions of improvement as 

 to size or anything? I want room for two to 

 uncap at once. Where do you phice your combs 

 that are uncapped while waiting for one batch to 

 go thi-ougli the extractor ? I have used one end 

 of my uncapping box for this. 



I will be very thankful to you if you will give 

 me the information, and hope it will not be taking 

 too much of vour time. Wm. G. Anglin. 



Brewer's Mills, Ont., June 1, 1922. 



"Dear Mr. Anglin: — I shall answer your 

 questions seriatim. The wax and honey do 

 not run out all across the end of the melt- 

 er, but the metal is folded up, leaving an 

 outlet of three or four inches wide. This 

 must be open so a scraper can be used to 

 clear out what has not fully melted. One 

 secret of success in rendering cappings 

 without injury to the honey is to get it 

 away from the heat before it is fully lique- 

 fied. That is why it is undesirable to at- 

 tempt to get commercial cakes of wax from 

 the melter, as it is not necessary to heat it 

 to that extent to separate the honey. All 

 the capping-melter is for is to separate the 

 honey. Then the wax is remelted in the 

 winter to clarify it. 



"The box is built with the legs all equal 

 length; then, in use, an inch block is placed 

 under each leg. Sometimes two-inch blocks 

 are used. You soon find the necessary height. 



"The ten-gallon boiler is the same shape 

 as the 30-gallon boiler used for heating 

 water for the bathroom from a water front 

 in range or furnace. It is galvanized iron 

 and is tested for some 200 pounds pressure, 

 I am told. It might be wise to have a 

 safety valve, and a glass water gauge is an 

 absolute necessity. 



"The New Perfection water heater is 

 made by the same people that make the oil 

 stove, but is made specially for heating- 

 bathroom water during the summer when 

 the furnace or range is not in use. After 

 using it one year I thought I had discovered 

 a serious fault in the lieating element which 

 cornea directly over the fire becoming choked 

 with scale from the hard water, and there 

 seems no way of cleaning it as the parts are 

 solid castings with no provision for clean 

 ing out the lieating flanges. Last fall we 

 undertook to melt wax with the steam from 

 this by turning the steam directly into the 

 melter containing old combs and water. It 

 boiled away all right for the first day; but 

 wlien tlie fire was turned out at night tlie 

 boiler, as it cooled, sucked wax and slum- 

 gum back into the "works" and choked 

 everything up. This was what we might 

 liave expected had we given it any thought, 

 but it seems as thougli we have to try some 

 things "once." After a lot of fuss we got 

 the system circulating again and, of course, 

 did not try the wax again; but tliis spring 

 it choked ngain, and the plunil)er reported it 



was choked with scale. Since then we 

 liave discovered it was only some more 

 slumgum, which had lodged somewhere for 

 a time and then got out where it would stop 

 circulation. This has been cleared, and we 

 are hoping our troubles are at an end. It is 

 very handy for hot water, but for melting 

 the cappings from 5000 pounds per day we 

 found it a little slow and are installing a 

 six-horsepower steam boiler. I mean a 

 real boiler, and hope to have comfort in 

 extracting, melting wax, making feed and 

 so on. Incidentally we are installing a 

 steam engine to run the extractors. But that 

 is another story on which we hope to liave 

 a report later. 



"The melter is plenty large enough for 

 two to work and place the combs on one end, 

 as you suggest. That is the way we do." 



Georgetown, Ont. Morley Pettit. 



ICE CREAM CONES FOR HONEY 



Novel Way of Selhng Honey at Fairs. An EfFed- 

 ive Method of Advertising 



Suggestions for advertising honey are al- 

 ways in order, and, as it is nearly time for 

 the county fairs, a little stunt we pulled off 

 here last fall should be of interest 



In connection with our apiary exhibit at 

 the fair we sold what we called "honey 

 cones. ' ' We took the small-sized ice cream 

 cones, and with a piece of broken section 

 jjlaced therein from an ounce and a half to 

 two ounces of candied honey, and sold them 

 at five cents. It is surprising how the kids 

 will lick them up and come back for more. 

 Also many of the grown-ups have a sweet 

 tooth and will try them out. A piece of 

 section makes a very satisfactory spoon, as 

 it is flat and will easily scrape the honey off 

 on the edge of the cone. The more solid 

 the honey is, the better, and you quickly 

 become expert in gauging the amount for 

 each cone. 



If you liave a good "barker" you can 

 simply sell the cones at your exhibit, at the 

 same time telling the people the advantages 

 of candied lioney, or you can have them 

 jieddled through the crowd. 



Tills is one way of advertising and mak- 

 ing the people pay for it, along the same 

 line that the late Elbert Hubbard used to 

 advertise Eoycroft Avares on his lecture 

 trips. You are selling your honey at 40 

 cents a pound, and at the same time calling 

 the attention of tlie people to honey and 

 increasing the home demand many times. 



There is no reason why some one with en- 

 terprise and push sliould not sell lionej' 

 cones in every holiday crowd. They should 

 also be advertised at soda fountains and 

 lunch counters. G. H. Buffuni. 



Sheridan, Wyo. 



