1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



339 



enough to cover the top of the gasoline-stove 

 and three inches deep. Its bottom, as it 

 rests on the stove, is six inches below the 

 bottom of the large heating-tank. From its 

 top at one corner rises the supply-pipe, while 

 at the bottom of the other corner is connect- 

 ed the return pipe, running on a long slant 

 from the back end of the large heating-tank. 

 The pipes connecting these two tanks are 

 slightly separated where they come together, 

 the actual connection being made by short 

 pieces of rubber tubing (old single-tube bi- 

 cycle tire), which permits considerable shift- 

 ing without danger of bi'eaking the connec 

 tions. I should, perhaps, have said that the 

 tank on the stove is not divided off inside 

 like the other, only a single partition running 

 most of the way through the center. This 

 supports the top of the heater, which is an 

 excellent place to warm cans of honey. 



Experience has shown me that, with our 

 thick honey and cool nights, some method of 

 heating the honey in the large tanks is an 

 absolute necessity if we would have the hon- 

 ey free from specks of comb. Unless the 

 tank is filled with honey while it is all warm, 

 the small specks of wax carried down into 

 the cold honey never rise again until the 

 honey is warmed to a pi'oper degree. Hon- 

 ey should not be considered marketable un- 

 til all these specks have been removed. 



DOUBLE BOILER FOR BOTTLING HONEY. 



It is a familiar fact that, to bottle honey 

 so that it will remain liquid for any length 

 of time, it should be sealed up while some- 

 where in the neighborhood of 160 degrees. 

 For most bee-keepers it is more practical to 

 heat it to the right temperature before it is 

 put into the jars or bottles. It is likewise 

 advisable to keep it at this temperature for 

 some time. With ordinai'y appliances it is 

 not easy to heat honey, and especially to keep 

 it at any definite temperature without con- 

 siderable danger of scorching it. A double 

 boiler of some kind is almost a necessity. 

 Those who make a business of bottling honey 

 have elaborate appliances of this kind, some 

 of them costing a hundred dollars or more. 

 The ordinary honey-producer, who can not 

 afford such an outfit, is apt to conclude that 

 he must do without any thing of the kind. 

 A very satisfactory outfit, when only a mod- 

 erate amount of honey is to be bottled, may 

 be made out of two galvanized wash-boilers, 

 a No. 8 and a No. 9. The smaller size will 

 go into the larger one nicely. Wash-boilers 

 vary considerably in size as made by differ- 

 ent manufacturers, and you may have to 

 hunt some to find a pair that will go togeth- 

 er with a sufficient amount of i*oom between. 

 If you can not find a pair that go well to- 

 gether, you may have to have one made, 

 though you can hnj them much cheaper 

 ready made. Solder V-shaped strips of 

 heavy galvanized iron to the bottom of the 

 inner boiler to keep it at least half an inch 

 above the bottom of the other; brace and 

 fasten the sides well together, and solder in 

 a molasses-gate, extending into the inner 



boiler. A small cock to draw the water off 

 from the space between the two is a conven- 

 ience, though not absolutely necessary. The 

 complete outfit can be made for about $3.00, 

 and it will do as good work as any. 



HOW MUCH ARE BEES HINDERED BY QUEEN- 

 EXCLUDERS? 



The point brought up by G. C. Greiner, on 

 p. 107, would be exceedingly important if it 

 should prove that he is correct in his claim 

 that queen-excluding zinc as lately manufac- 

 tured is the cause of a greatly reduced honey 

 yield in every apiary where it is used. I 

 have been using queen-excluding zinc for a 

 number of years, practically ever since it 

 has been on the market, and have bought a 

 number of different lots of it at different 

 times since then, besides making considera- 

 ble of it myself. I probably have in use 

 more or less of all the different sizes of per- 

 forations that have been made, though I have 

 sold oft' most of the earlier makes and re- 

 placed them with the later .patterns. I have 

 now in use nearly two hundred of the latest 

 make of queen-excludei"s, with material for 

 making upas many more; and if I have I)een 

 making a mistake, I should like to know it. 



My system of managing bees is such that 

 I find queen-excluders a practical necessity 

 during a large part of the season, and I do 

 not look as complacently as Mr. Greiner does 

 on the queen that finds her way up through 

 the excluder. I have not been as successful 

 in keeping the queens down as he appears to 

 have been. Nearly evex'y season I have had 

 from one to a dozen cases where the queen 

 has started brood in the supers, and I consid- 

 er it a very undesirable nuisance. Nor is it 

 always as easy as he would have us believe 

 to restore matters to a normal condition. I 

 remember distinctly putting one queen down- 

 stairs on three separate occasions last sum- 

 mer, and she would probably have continued 

 to go up through the excluder as often as I 

 put her down if I had not exchanged the old 

 excluder for one with smaller perforations. 

 Annoying and time-wasting as such things 

 are, I could easily put up with them if I 

 thought it would make any perceptible in- 

 crease in the honey crop to use the lai'ger 

 perforations. 



While my attention has not been specially 

 directed to this point, 1 have not noticed any 

 difference whatever, although I had over a 

 hundred of each size in use the past season, 

 and I think I should have noticed it if there 

 had been any. There have always been 

 those who have claimed that any queen-ex- 

 cluder lessened the crop by hindering the 

 bees in their work. After my bees are well 

 at work in the sections, there is no longer 

 any need of the queen-excluding honey- 

 board, except as it prevents brace-combs. 

 Accordingly I have often removed the ex- 

 cluders from part of the hives at such times. 



It seemed only reasonable to suppose that 

 they would do at least a little better if they 

 were out of their way. But I have never 

 been able to discover that such colonies did 



