1907 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



697 



summer and hot weather the little shadow 

 cast by this roof in midday does no harm, as 

 the machine may easily l^e made too hot at 

 midday. The facts are, the machine I am 

 describing, when well constructed, can l)e 

 made to do quite a little work without the 



FIG. 3. — EXTERIOR VIEW OF THE LARGE SO- 

 LAR WAX-EXTRACTOR. 



aid of the sun at all. It is midwinter, and I 

 am now running my solar almost regaixlless 

 of sun or even outside temperature. I have 

 many times had wax running with a morn- 

 ing temperature outside close to zero, but 

 the sun shining, and also many times have 

 melted combs and run some wax in midwin- 

 ter without sunshine. Remember what i 

 said about capacity and effectiveness in ap- 

 pliances. If they will work under adverse 

 conditions we know favorable conditions 

 will produce wonders. 



I have spoken of rendering the cappings 

 from extracted honey. I always put these 

 through the solar. Many people think that 

 honey that has been through the solar is 

 thereafter unfit for table use — that such 

 should be sold as second or third grade hon- 

 ey. Well, it is said that the proof of the pud- 

 ding is in the eating of it, and the same is 

 true of honey. I have for several years been 

 selling honey that was melted out in the so- 

 lar, and the way the people smack their lips 

 and ask for more of the same honey is proof 

 enough that it satisfies. I can sell such hon- 

 ey, even though darkened somewhat, and 

 give satisfaction, when if 1 ship virgin ex- 

 tracted that is white and not quite so thick, 

 but such as the bee-keepers are striving for 

 and calling No. 1 and fancy, I get complaints 

 I'ight along. 



A few years ago I sent a paper to a meet- 

 ing of the National at Buffalo, N. Y., advo- 

 cating the production of extracted by having 

 new combs built, and then cutting them out 

 and straining the honey out. That paper 

 raised such a furore that, from reports, I 

 guess had I been there in person I should 

 have been in danger of being mobbed. Just 

 the same, if I had my choice of an average 

 grade of extracted honey as put out by the 

 fraternity in general, as against a product 

 properly rendered in a mammoth solar, and 

 furnace heat combined, I would choose the 



latter every time, and so will the consumers 

 in 90 cases out of 100, when it comes to a 

 question of that which tickles the palate. 

 The consumer does not care one snap wheth- 

 er the honey is amber or even dark; the taste 

 of the article tells every time, and the matter 

 of color is always secondary. We get to us- 

 ing a thing because we like it; and if we 

 have been accustomed to eating a fine-tasting 

 article that is even black we naturally would 

 be suspicious of any change in color until 

 the palate has passed judgment. Color 

 counts in exhibitions where tlie eye alone 

 must feast, and the cards warn "touch not 

 nor handle; " but in the mouth, where taste 

 rules, the eater never stops an instant on 

 color. 



In this region, and I think in all alfalfa 

 and sweet-clover regions, honey tends to 

 granulate quickly. Another thing is also 

 true: As a rule the Hows are slow, and the 

 bees seldom have any trouble in secreting 

 sufficient wax, and build all the comb need- 

 ed as fast as they can use it; and for one 

 time they can not supply comb fast enough, 

 there ai"e many times when there is a sur- 

 plus of wax. Then also arise questions of 

 management that make it so much easier to 

 produce extracted than section or box hon- 

 ey, and with it the control of swarming, and 

 there arises the question whether it would 

 not be more profit to prodvice extracted than 

 the other. I believe there is a great future 

 for extracted, and that the solar, and melt- 

 ing to separate wax and honey, will come 

 more and more into the problem. But that 

 is a question by itself, and is mentioned here 

 only incidentally to show that there is a 

 great future for a good solar and its products 

 of both wax and honey. 



MY HONEY AND WAX SEPARATOR. 



This invention of mine was illustrated and 

 described in Gleanings, and then copied 

 into the American Bee Journal several years 

 ago; but up to the present, little more has 

 been said about it. I do not know how many 

 have taken advantage of it and use it. Re- 

 cently J. A. Green called attention to it in 

 these columns, and wondered why so little 

 notice was taken of it. I here offer Mr. 

 Green my thanks for his complimentary 

 mention of the device; and let me assure him 

 and all readers that the separator is not a 

 discarded implement in my practice. I have 

 been constantly using it since its invention, 

 and have put tons of ])oth honey and wax 

 through it the past few years. I expect to 

 increase its use. Every solar that handles 

 the product of 100 or more colonies should 

 have one; in fact, it is almost a necessary 

 adjunct to every solar. It is inexpensive, 

 simple, and a great saving implement. Here 

 is the principle of it: 



Drop a cube of wax into water and it will 

 float and stand a trille above the level of the 

 water. The specific gravities of the two are 

 nearly equal. The wax is slightly less dense 

 than the water, so it floats. Now put the 

 same cube into honey and it will stand about 

 one-third its bulk above the level of the hon- 

 ey. I give these figures as approximate, but 



