252 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



g^adi 4 §Mln, 



From Different Fields. 



SOFTENING CANDIED HONEY BY STEAM. 



fOR several years I have been experimenting on 

 the best way to get candied honey out of the 

 — ' combs in the spring. I think I have experi- 

 mented away fifty dollars. My last invention, al- 

 though very simple, is a grand success. The boiler 

 for dissolving the candied honey in the frames, 

 ready for extracting, is made thus: Make it % of an 

 inch longer than the top-bar of the longest frame 

 you use, and Pa of an inch wider than the top-bar of 

 the shortest frame you use. This will let your long- 

 est frames in lengthwise, and your shortest frames 

 crosswise. Now if you have an intermediate frame, 

 all you want is a cross-piece to lay across your boil- 

 er. You want your boiler 4 or 5 inches deeper than 

 your deepest frame. Next take a strip of the same 

 material of which your boiler is made (which should 

 be of galvanized iron for several reasons), 3 in. wide, 

 and as long as will go around your boiler inside. 

 Double this in the shape of a V, and solder the two 

 edges inside ?.£ in. from the top of your boiler. For 

 ends of frames to rest on, this strengthens your 

 boiler; so if you should not want to store honey in 

 it, you can handle it without injury. It also lets your 

 frames down so you can store it full of frames; and 

 as I use mine for carrjing frames back and forth 

 for extracting, I can cover it up so that bees and 

 flies are shut out. 



now TO USE THE BOILER. 



Set your boiler on the stove, with 2 inches of water 

 in it; make up a good fire; commence to uncap, and 

 set frames into your boiler as fast as you get uncap- 

 ped. When your boiler is full, begin to extract with 

 the first frame you put in. The steam will dissolve 

 the honey, and warm the comb so it will not break. 

 If any should be so cold or so old as not to be all dis- 

 solved, put it back for a few minutes. 



COOKING FOOD FOR STOCK, BY STEAM. 



I use my boiler in winter, having quite a number 

 of hogs on my hands; and corn being high, I thought 

 I would try cooking feed. I appraised my hogs at 

 the time 1 began to fatten; have weighed all the 

 corn fed; after deducting feed and value of hogs at 

 the time I began to fatten, I have eleven dollars 

 apiece for labor, besides the manure, which fully 

 pays all labor. One of my neighbors has fattened 5 

 hogs on raw corn, and he says the corn is worth 

 more than the hogs will bring; so you see here is 

 quite an item. W. H. Balch. 



Oran, N. Y., March 16, 1883. 



Yonr plan for sof teniugc honey by steam is 

 liardly new, friend 13. l)oes not the water 

 from the condensation of the steam dilute 

 the lioneyso much as to render it unsalableV 

 It is true, it would be just as good for feed- 

 ing bees ; but if you want it to feed, why 

 not hang the frames directly in the hives V 

 We have never had any candied honey tliat 

 we could not feed out in this way, especially 

 if we give it to them during warm weather 

 when they could get water.— Your idea of 

 cooking food is good, and I believe it has 

 been well demonstrated that it pays a good 

 interest on time and money invested for 

 feeding any kind of stock. 



ANOTHER PLAN FOR WATERING BEES. 



You no doubt remember, friend Root, that I am a 

 strong advocate of water lor bees, and of having it 

 plenty and convenient for them, as they will take 

 water the nearer the better, while they often pass 

 over tlowers containing honey, and fly half a mile or 

 more before they attempt to load up. I have read 

 of and seen a great many devices for watering bees, 

 and I will now give you mine, and ask you to try it, 

 and see if the bees don't take to it sooner than any 

 thing you have seen. Take a board 12 in. wide, or 

 wider, and from 10 to 16 ft. long, suited to the num- 

 ber of colonies; now nail strips 2 in. wide all around 

 the edges, water-tight; in short, make a trough one 

 inch deep. Place it in or near your pump or spring, 

 one end from 10 to 12 in. higher than the other; fill 

 and round up the trough with sawdust, leaving the 

 top uneven. Now place a salt-barrel, or some other 

 kind, on the upper end of the board; make a small 

 hole in the bottom, so that the water will trickle out, 

 and fill it up and cover tight, to avoid drowning bees. 

 When the sawdust is once saturated it will take but 

 a small drip to keep it so. Basswood sawdust seems 

 to do best. Once a week put a handful of salt in the 

 barrel. Bees seem to like to take water from saw- 

 dust. better than any thing else, and no danger of 

 drowning. Jas. A. Simpson. 



Alexis, Warren Co., 111., April 9, 1883. 



A word ABOUT QUININE. 



Why do you say our first physicians pronounce 

 against the use of quinine? I supposed— and I mean 

 to keep informed in such matters— that our greatest 

 doctors regarded this alkaloid as one of the safest 

 and very best of tonics— an invaluable medicine. 



A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., Mar. 8, 1883. 



Thank you, friend Cook. I got my infor- 

 mation in regard to quinine from a homeo- 

 pathic doctor, if I remember correctly ; and 

 as quinine is in such common use, I am very 

 glad indeed to be told that it is not among 

 the remedies to be avoided. Very likely you 

 are right, and I am glad to know it, because 

 it would be a sad thing for so many of our 

 competent physicians to make a mistake in 

 such a matter. __^ 



good candy, etc. 



I am losing some of my bees. Those that had 

 sealed honey some time ago are out now, and I 

 must feed or lose them. I can not make the Good 

 candy so but that the bees will suck out the liquid, 

 and the grains of sugar will fall to the bottom of 

 the hive like sand, and be wasted. I think of trying 

 to melt honey and sugar together, and pour into a 

 comb and hang in the hive. If I lose all the bees I 

 have, I shall save combs and get some more bees to 

 fill up again. Wm. Fuller. 



Woodville, Wis., Mar. 27, 1883. 



I know, friend F., that we have this trou- 

 ble with the Good candy. If some way 

 could be devised so it would entirely break 

 the grain, so that the bees may consume it 

 all with the honey, it would be ahead of any 

 bee-candy yet invented. Maple-sugar cakes 

 soaked in honey would probably answer all 

 purposes; but, 'unfortunately, maple sugar 

 IS more expensive than our granulated sugar 

 of commerce. While granulated sugar is 

 sold at 10 cts. per lb., we have to pay 12 cts. 

 for the best quality of maple sugar; and 



