220 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



day, and of equal capacity. I built the tank 

 in the shape it is to fit the place I wanted it 

 to stand in, and to economize room. 



My stove is located further toward where 

 the hot water enters the tank than is indi- 

 cated in the cut, making less distance to 

 flow before the heat is applied to the honey. 

 The tank stands back close to the wall, so 

 every thing had to be in front— honey- gate 

 and all, so I raised the pipe to the level of 

 A, Fig. 3, where it enters the tank, and 

 thence down the three-cornered flue and 

 well across to the opposite side before dis- 

 charging the hot water. 



A union at C, Fig. 1, and A, Fig. 3, ena- 

 bles me to remove the whole thing and use 

 the tank as I would any ordinary tank if I 

 wish. I use the stove about the honey- 

 house or bee-y^rd for heating water or syr- 

 up, or for any other purpose for which an 

 oil-stove can be used. 



Lusardi, Cal., Jan. 10, 1906. 



STORING AND PREPARING HONEY FOR 

 MARKET. 



The Cheapest and Best Form to Have it. 



BY G. BOHRER. 



On carefully looking over my article and 

 Mr. A. I. Root's criticism (page 813), I find 

 that, aside from a little of my sarcasm 

 about section honey, he has misapprehended 

 what I was aiming at, which was, to set 

 people to thinking about the cheapest and 

 best form in which to have honey stored and 

 prepared for market and for food. I know 

 Mr. Root will not assume that honey can be 

 produced in sections as cheaply as it can be 

 produced in the extracted form; and, more- 

 over, he will not, with his large amount of 

 knowledge upon nearly all questions, hesi- 

 tate to admit that beeswax is wholly indi- 

 gestible, and that all we can say for it in 

 the honey- comb is that it looks well when 

 well filled with honey, but is of no value as 

 food; and in many cases of stomach ailment 

 it is a positive irritant. He does not ques- 

 tion the correctness of my position as to the 

 artificial- honey-comb falsehood having as 

 one of its chief support the honey section. 

 While extracted honey is often given the 

 cold shoulder on account of being under the 

 suspicion of being largely adulterated with 

 glucose, in this particular both the section 

 and extracted honey are very nearly on an 

 equal footing. I have no idea of the people 

 ever going back to the old glass-sided box 

 for surplus honey, for it is no cheaper a 

 method of producing honey, and has but one 

 claim over the section — namely, in the box 

 it was almost invariably sold by the pound 

 or by actual weight, while the section is very 

 largely sold by the piece, and is called a 

 pound, but is not. This the people do not 

 like, and in many cases do not buy honey on 

 account of the cheat in paying pound prices 

 for a part of a pound. Any measure that 

 can be adopted to get honey into the hands 

 of the consumer by actual weight instead of 



an almost universal shortage under the name 

 and price of full weight, will give the sale 

 of honey a forward move. 

 Lyons, Kan. 



«t«» 



NOTES ON VARIOUS TOPICS. 



Improving Comb Honey by Exposing it to Dry 

 Hot Air. 



BY GRANT STANLEY. 



The editor invites the readers of this jour- 

 nal to a general discussion on the subject 

 of exposing sections of honey to dry hot air 

 after removing from the hives, page 1174. 

 Now, if we would learn a lesson from the 

 bees in this matter it would seem clear that 

 we should by all means so arrange all sec- 

 tion honey that a volume of dry hot air can 

 constantly pass around them. We have 

 been reading much about quality, and it is 

 just this feature that secures it. Just how 

 high a quality can be obtained I am unable 

 to say ; but it is the duty of all bee- keepers 

 to place all the quality possible in their prod- 

 uct. 1 believe the majority of bee-keepers 

 will agree that, by exposing the sealed sec- 

 tions after removing them from the hives to 

 a continuous supply of dry hot air, will 

 greatly improve the quality, and consequent- 

 ly enhance the value of the product. Yes, 

 Mr. Editor, if you want to improve the 

 quality let the dry hot air pour over the sec- 

 tions, and, if necessary in order to keep out 

 robbers, better place a self-closing appara- 

 tus on the door of the honey house, which 

 would insure its always being closed. 



PACKING COLONIES FOR WINTER EASIER 

 THAN CARRYING THEM INTO A CELLAR. 



Don't you think that, as far north as 42, 

 the difference in consumption of stores be- 

 tween cellar- wintered colonies and those 

 wintered on summer stands would scarcely 

 pay for the trouble of carrying them in and 

 out of the cellar? The labor necessary to do 

 this will prepare them for winter on summer 

 stands, while those cellar-wintered must be 

 furnished protection when brought out in 

 spring. Another thing, in case the bees 

 have unknowingly gathered an inferior qual- 

 ity of stores for winter from the late bloom, 

 and an occasional day sufficiently warm for 

 bees to ffy, they have an opportunity for 

 flight, while cellar-wintered colonies must 

 remain inside, and quite likely become un- 

 easy, owing to a rising temperature. I be- 

 lieve it is the practice of many bee-keepers 

 wintering bees in cellars to allow a percent- 

 age of colonies to winter on summer stands; 

 they also want little brood reared before 

 the colonies are brought out of the cellar. 

 I am of the opinion that, if bees are prepar- 

 ed for winter with plenty of good porous 

 material (the more packing the better), the 

 extra amount of stores consumed in winter- 

 ing will more than balance in a lot of healthy 

 young bees, and I have never failed to have 

 the hives full in spring just when they were 

 needed, page 1174. 



Nisbet, Pa. 



