28 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



in the future than we have in the past. 

 Think it over between now and spring, 

 and then with renewed energy and persever- 

 ance push bee-keeping in whatever part 

 you have chosen until you stand well for- 

 ward in the line of progress and improve- 

 ment. Hoping you have your bees well 

 cared for, and that they will go through the 

 winter in good condition, I will close by 

 wishing you all a prosperous New Year. ^ 

 Delanson, N. Y. 



[The buildings containing the two storage- 

 tanks mentioned by Mr. Alexander in our 

 last issue are shown in the middle back- 

 ground of the accompanying half-tone seen 

 just below. I endeavored to get an interior 



a strainer outside of an extractor. The 

 wire cloth is the finest mesh brass procura- 

 ble, and will strain out every particle of 

 dirt. The great difficulty with ordinary 

 honey strainers is that they do not present 

 a large enough surface of straining material 

 to the honey. Too many of the strainers 

 have a horizontal surface which soon clogs 

 with sediment and dirt. The Alexander 

 pails are perpendicular as well as horizontal 

 wire cloth, and for holding large extractings 

 at a time these pails answer perfectly. Of 

 course, they gather up refuse, and the 

 strainers begin to work slower; but the 

 pails are so easily dumped and cleaned that 

 this really is no objection. 

 I have asked Mr. Alexander to give us a 



A PART OF THE ALEXANDER APIARY WITH THE HONEY- STORAGE BUILDING 

 EVAPORATING-TANKS IN THE BACKGROUND, 



WITH THEIR 



view of the building showing the tanks, but 

 was unsuccessful. These tanks are oblong, 

 and, as nearly as I can remember, 4 ft. deep, 

 4 or 5 feet wide, and 10 or 12 feet long. 

 They present a large amount of surface of 

 honey to the air for the further ripening of 

 the honey. As the buildings are small in- 

 closing them, a great amount of the sun's 

 rays is absorbed, making the room itself hot 

 where the honey is. It is very thick when 

 it comes out of the combs, but is made 

 thicker still by standing in this building 

 after storage. 



I witnessed the work of these pail strain- 

 ers, and must say that, in my opinion, they 

 are the best thing I ever saw in the way of 



picture of his new extracting-house. This 

 he will probably do, and describe it more 

 fully in a later article, although I must con- 

 fess to a feeling that the little building 

 which he has now discarded strikes me as 

 being one of the most unique little structures 

 for extracting I have ever seen. For out- 

 yard work I can't conceive of any thing 

 more suitable. 



In our next issue Mr. Alexander will de- 

 scribe his method of taking off the honey 

 from the hives; how he carries the combs 

 to and from the building, and, in short, how 

 he makes it possible to get along with so> 

 small a structure in the handhngof so many- 

 colonies.— Ed.] 



