146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE, 



Feb. 1 



too much. Put your sawdust in by all means, 

 as that will not only help regarding the tem- 

 perature, but it will also take up much of 

 the moisture, thus allowing your chaff above 

 to remain dry and nice till you take it out in 

 the spring." 



' ' Well, I thank you for this thought. I 

 believe you are right. ' ' 



"What is the temperature in your bee- 

 room now?" 



' ' About 45 degrees. It varies from 42 to 

 48, but can be kept between 45 and 48 if the 

 windows are properly protected, as I now 

 have them." 



"Well, that is a good temperature, I am 

 sure. Do you have any ventilators for the 

 cellar?" 



"No; and, so far as I can judge from the 

 past, none are needed." 



" That accords with my views." 



"Any thing more?" 



"I just want your views regarding just 

 how low the temperature may go in a bee- 

 room, how long continued, and yet secure 

 Jairly goods results in wintering bees. 

 That is all." 



"Of course, the 45 to 48 degrees is the 

 nearest right of any thing you can have; 

 but should the mercury drop to 40— yes, or 

 as low as 35— for a day or two it would do 

 no particular harm. But with the cellar fix- 

 ed with the foot of sawdust below the floor, 

 and eighteen or twenty inches of dry alsike- 

 clover chaff above the floor, I do not think it 

 will fall much lower than it has been in the 

 habit of doing while you have been living 

 over the cellar. In fact, I think you will 

 get a more even temperature in this way 

 than you have formerly had. Of course, 

 you will see that the outside walls of the 

 cellar are well protected, so that the cold 

 will not get in from that way. ' ' 



' ' Yes, I have these walls well protected. 

 I'll be going now. Good by." 



" Good by, Mac." 



A HONEY-STRAINER INSIDE THE EX- 

 TRACTOR-CAN. 



Honey Direct from the Comb to the Storage- 

 vessel. 



BY R. F. HOLTERMANN. 



The manufacturer is constantly seeking, 

 through his own ideas and those in his em- 

 ployment, to reduce the cost of production; 

 and the one who has the shortest cuts, who 

 can produce for the least money or least out- 

 lay of labor, can, with a smile, reflect upon 



the principle of "the survival of the fittest. " 

 In honey- production, and in the production 

 of many other articles, we have not only to 

 meet the competition of those engaged in 

 the production of an article the same as 

 what we produce, but we have to face the 

 fact that there are many articles which, in 

 a more or less direct way, enter into com- 

 petition with our own production. 



Bee-keeping, in my estimation, is on the 

 threshold of very great developments. It 

 is going to be on a sounder footing than it 

 has been. Good wintering, better manage- 

 ment during the spring, the prevention of 

 swarming, selection and control in breeding, 

 and more modern appliances, are going to 

 result in larger returns per colony. Added 

 to these, better appliances will reduce the 

 cost of production; and, although proper 

 help and effort on our part would and should 

 enable us to create a greater demand for 

 honey, yet, if need be, we shall be able to sell 

 at a lower figure, and yet make a better 

 margin of profit. 



For two seasons I have, in a more or less 

 quiet way, been carrying on tests in the 

 straining of honey, and have been seeking to 

 reduce the labor in this connection, as it 

 comes in at the time when every moment 

 counts, when few have any time to waste, 

 be they of the class with whom bee-keeping 

 is a side issue, and those who have but little 

 time to spare for the bees, or be they spe- 

 cialists who have many colonies and all re- 

 quire extracting at about the same time. 

 During robbing time it is desirable to extract 

 quickly in times when honey is coming in 

 rapidly. It is necessary to be expeditious; 

 and if, as is sometimes the case, the bees 

 have turned from gathering light honey in 

 inferior grades, urgent haste is required. 



In studying out short cuts, and being 

 crowded during extracting time, I conceived 

 the idea of straining the honey before it left 

 the extractor, and so arranging it that the 

 honey would run from the extractor direct 

 into the storage-tanks, barrels, or cans. A 1 

 the advantages of the plan were not seen un- 

 til the system had been tried; and now as 

 far as myself and Mr. Morley Pettit, who 

 has also tested the matter privately, are con- 

 cerned, we would pay a good deal not to have 

 to go back to the old system. With a six- 

 frame extractor I have extracted and stored 

 at two different timeB in 8J hours, between 

 5200 and 5300 lbs. of honey, which was prac- 

 tically all capped; and I have, besides clean- 

 ing up and moving to two different apiaries, 

 averaged for six days over 4500 lbs. per day. 

 This season it is my intention to use an eight- 

 frame extractor and one of your gasoline- 

 engines, and an uncapping- machine at which 

 I have been working for some time, and un- 

 der the same honey conditions in the hive. 

 I think I shall be able to extract easily 7000 

 to 7500 lbs. in a day of 8J hours. 



In the old strainer as it has been used, the 

 honey is drawn from the extractor through 

 a gate. It is run into a pail, and from there 

 strained through a cotton or fine wire cloth 

 above a storage tank. Where honey is ex- 



