1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



801 



gravity 1.0902, and evaporated it to specific 

 gravity 1.3426. and, upon analyzing it, I 

 found absolutely no trace of phosphoric acid. 

 I then took the lowest specific gravity of 

 the finished product in the first experiment, 

 specific gravity 1.3426, and found that this 

 contained y^gu per cent of phosphoric acid, 

 the average amount in pure honey, and was 

 deposited by the bees at a time when there 

 was absolutely no nectar coming in, as pre- 

 viously explained, showing that phosphoric 

 acid comes directly from the animal rather 

 than the plant. 



The point at issue is, whether the nectar 

 gathered contained phosphoric acid or wheth- 

 er the bee, in its inversion of the nectar, 

 adds phosphoric acid. This experiment 

 would show that it is the bee in its inversion 

 that adds the phosphoric acid, and, there- 

 fore, directly, it is of animal origin. 



ALEXANDER'S HONEY-TANKS. 



The Advantage of Strong Heavy Construction; 

 How to Introduce Large Numbers of Queens. 



BY E. W. ALEXANDER. 



In answer to many recent inquiries as to 

 the size and shape of our honey-tanks I will 

 say that they are 8 feet long, 32 inches wide, 

 and 36 inches deep, inside measure, and are 

 made of | pine and hemlock lumber, the 

 ends set inside of stout cleats. The bottom 

 is cleated, also the sides. Here we have a 

 piece of 2X4 joist bolted with |-inch rods 

 from one piece of joist to the other, one rod 

 across under the tank, the other on top. 



After you have them empty in the fall, 

 wash them out with hot water; and as soon 

 as dry wipe them well with a cloth dampen- 

 ed with sweet oil. This will keep them from 

 rusting, and, with other proper care, they 

 will last a lifetime and remain as bright as 

 new. A tank of the above size will hold 

 about 5000 lbs. of extracted honey, and is 

 the cheapest and most convenient article 

 for storing honey in I have ever seen. I 

 think ours cost about $16.00 apiece some 20 

 years ago. Make them stout in every way, 

 for but few realize how 5000 lbs. of honey 

 will make them bulge out unless made strong. 

 You can make them any size you wish, but 

 I wouldn't advise having them over 32 inch- 

 es deep. Ours are 4 inches deeper than I 

 wish they were. 



HOW LARGE NUMBERS OF QUEENS ARE IN- 

 TRODUCED. 



Another question I wish to answer, which 

 many are inquiring about, is how we intro- 

 duce the 300 or 400 queens every year which 

 our system of management requires. This 

 is one of the knottiest of questions, and one 

 that has cost bee keepers thousands of val- 

 uable queens. It has cost us so many that 

 we now seldom try to introduce a queen into 

 a full colony. We would much rather have 

 our young queens hatch in what would be con- 

 sidered a small colony, and then as soon as she 

 commences to lay build it up in two or three 

 days into a good strong colony by giving 

 them combs of hatching brood. In this way 

 we never lose a queen, whereas by the in- 

 troducing method many times the strange 

 queen will be allowed to live only until she 

 has laid eggs four or five days, and the bees 



ONE OF ALEXANDER'S STORAGE AND EVAPORATING TANKS FOR EXTRACTED HONEY. 



We have one narrow strip of board on 

 each side, which projects about 8 inches past 

 the ends of the tanks, and forms handles to 

 carry them by. This is very convenient. It 

 is not necessary to make the sides or bottom 

 tight. If there are cracks | inch wide it 

 will do no harm, for the tanks are to be 

 lined with the heaviest and best quality of 

 tin that you can procure. Have the tin- 

 smith put a large mo I asses- faucet at the 

 bottom of one end to draw off your honey 

 through; also see that every seam is well 

 lapped and soldered or it will make a bad 

 job if one commences to leak when full of 

 honey. 



begin to have plenty of larvae to rear one 

 from; then they will kill their queen and 

 rear a young one in her place. We have 

 lost hundreds of valuable queens in just this 

 way, so for several years we have not in- 

 troduced many queens into full colonies ex- 

 cept when we have a surplus that we hardly 

 know what to with. 



I think the day is not far distant when a 

 large per cent of the queens that are bought 

 from queen- breeders will be bought in a nu- 

 cleus, and then built up into strong colonies 

 by the purchaser. This is a fine way to 

 make increase, and at the same time pro- 

 cure choice queens and avoid all loss and 



