1570 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



must have been some one among the number 

 "who has observed something similar and who 

 will be able to give an accurate diagnosis of 

 the trouble. — Ed.] 



BOTTLING HONEY. 



How an Enterprising: Young Bee-keeper in 

 Michig:an Cuts down Time and Expense 

 by Using 3Iac'hinery in Place of Hand 

 Work; Labeling Glasses without Han- 

 dling the Labels. 



BY E. D. TOWNSEND. 



We all like success, like to talk success, 

 and talk of successful people; and the suc- 

 cessful person in the bee-keeping line 1 wish to 

 talk about is none other than Mr. E. E. Cove- 

 you, of Petoskey, Mich., whom I visited on 

 the 15th of last August. Mr. Coveyou is less 

 than 30 years old, and is the owner of four 

 bee-yards, a fine residence, and a bee-hive 

 and honey-bottling factory; and if it were 

 not for the fact that the bees paid for it all 

 in tho«p few ypars I would not be writing 



tlli.'5 ll llL'l . 



E. E. COVEYOU, PETOSKEY, MICH. 



Bee-keeperlike I was soon looking over the 

 Coveyou bee-hive factory and honey-lDottling 

 works. He makes every thing needed in the 

 bee-keeping line except sections and founda- 

 tion, thinking it cheaper to buy these two ar- 

 ticles than to make them. But what I was 

 the most interested in was his bottling meth- 

 ods, which are the best, in my judgment, to 

 which 1 have had my attention called. Here 



it is that 100 barrels of glass packages are 

 used every year for putting up his own and 

 his neighbors' honey for the retail trade. 



I have asked Mr Coveyou to describe his 

 method of putting up honey for the retail 

 trade, and he has consented; and, with the 

 assistance of some half-tone cuts, he explains 

 as follows: 



" Fig. 1 shows at the right the boiler and 

 pipe leading to the different tanks. Next is 

 the filling-tank in front of which are the 

 glasses ready to be filled with the hose hang- 

 ing at the bottom of the tank. At the left 

 the glasses are piled up with galvanized wire 

 screen between each tier. This makes a very 

 good way to dry. 



"Fig 3 shows oar liquefying-tank partly 

 filled with 60-lb. cans of honey. There is a 

 partition through the center, so that 1000 lbs. 

 of honey can be heated in each side. A low- 

 er temperature can be maintained in one 

 side than the other, should it be thought ad- 

 vantageous to heat the honey slowly for the 

 first twelve hours. 



"The steam-pipe in the middle is divided 

 with valves close to the partition, so that the 

 steam can be turned on or off to keep the 

 temperature uniform. I am standing with a 

 thermometer in my hand, noting the temper- 

 ature. This should be done quite frequently 

 until the right degree of heat is reached, when 

 the valve practically does the work. 



"In Fig. 3 the lady at the right is my sis- 

 ter, Mary Coveyou, tilling glasses with what 

 Mr. Townsend has named our "wild-goose 

 bill." This is attached to a hose, and fills 

 the glasses right in the cases, which saves 

 handling. We find this is one of the very 

 best methods we have ever tried. One per- 

 son can fill 4000 half-pound glasses with hon- 

 ey in less than a day's time, in this way. 



"The ladyjin the center is my wife, show- 

 ing our new way of labeling glasses. In the 

 first place the labels are not gummed. We 

 take one end of the package of labels and 

 paste it, which keeps the pile together. Then 

 the bunch of labels is also pasted upon the 

 table, face down, which holds them securely 

 in place. The young lady to the left does 

 the pasting. As soon as the top label is 

 pasted, the glass is simply rolled over it, 

 which picks it up and at the same time press- 

 es it firmly in place. Thus the work is done 

 without any handling of sticky labels. By this 

 method we can label with the ungummed 

 papers just as fast as we could with the 

 gummed. 



"Fig. 4 shows our plan of rendering wax. 

 The tank at the left is a large galvanized ar- 

 rangement that we use for taking the honey 

 from the uncappings. It is fitted with steam- 

 pipes, and live steam is run through it until 

 the proper temperature is reached to remove 

 the honey without injuring the flavor or col- 

 or. The cappings are placed in large shal- 

 low trays, and the honey and wax run out 

 when sufficiently hot. The apparatus on the 

 stove with the cover slightly lifted is for 

 heating wax. The machine in front of the 

 stove is our make of a wax-press. The 4X4 

 upright pieces of the frame we find to be 



