2l6 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



would cost all the gain in the price of the 

 bleached honey. 



Notwithstanding these difficulties! was 

 so well pleased with results I determined 

 to put up a more substantial structure 

 and overcome some of the difficulties re- 

 ferred to; so after my work was out of 

 the way and my bees packed for winter, 

 I went to work and ran a wing out from 

 my honey-house, some lo x 13 feet, 

 with gable roof, with mostly glass sides. 

 There are six sets of shelves that extend 

 completely around three sides, and will 

 accomodate 1056, 4% x 4% sections. I 

 place one row of sections on top of an- 

 other — or, rather, two rows of sections 

 on each shelf, as, after some experience, 

 one can handle two sections about as fast 

 as one, and thus save time. I have ceiled 

 this room overhead, with matched lum- 

 ber, with a door in the ceiling at the 

 opposite end from which I enter, with a 

 cord attached, and extending overhead on 

 pulleys and coining down into my honey- 

 room. This door is for a ventilating-flue 

 to get rid of my sulphur smoke when I 

 fumigate or give my combs a sulphur 

 bath. As my room is less than seven leet 

 to the ceiling it contains about 675 cubic 

 feet of space. As sulphur is cheap I 

 much prefer to burn enough to fill this 

 room full of smoke than to take the 

 roundabout way of burning a little and 

 forcing it up through a few clamps of 

 honey. With 'he experience of the past 

 summer I find 1 can V)urn six ounces of 

 sulphur at a time in the room, and let it 

 remain for twenty mitmtes from the time 

 it begins to burn till I open my door over- 

 head, and throw open my door from my 

 honey-room to the bleaching-room. when 

 in two minutes the smoke will so far have 

 left that we may enter without any 

 trouble, and in a few moments more the 

 room will be almost free from smoke. 



The most .satisfactory way of burning 

 the sulphur was to place it in an old spi- 

 der and set it over a two-wick Florence 

 oil-stove. The .sulphur will soon melt, 

 and after a little, thicken, when a match 

 will set on fire, and the whole burn quick- 

 ly. As soon as I set it on fire I clo.se the 

 room and in twenty minutes open the 

 door and and ventilator, and the job is 

 complete. I find that sunlight will bleach 

 faster than the light without the .sun; yet 

 the sun through glass during the sum- 

 mer is .so hot at times it is nece.ssary to 

 cover the outside of the glass during hot 

 weather with muslin or cheese-cloth, and 

 and remove it on the approach of cool au- 

 tumn weather. 



The effect of sulphur smoke on combs 

 is very interesting, and well worth some 



study by those interested. The effect of 

 the smoke in bleaching combs appears to 

 be much the same as dilute sulphuric 

 acid on wax; and as both are somewhat 

 alike, or composed of sulphur united with 

 oxygen and water in a little different pro- 

 porlioTis, the one diluted with the air and 

 the other with water, we might perhaps 

 expect that such would be the case. 



The effect of sulphur smoke in turning 

 some combs — or rather, .some of the cap- 

 pings of some combs — :green while it does 

 not affect others equally exposed is very 

 curious. Indeed the cappings of one 

 conil) will stand, I should .say, two or 

 three, and perhaps many times as much 

 smoke as another. Why ? I can not tell, 

 but I have observed this much: that the 

 smoke affects those combs with the thin- 

 nest cappings first. I am snclined lo 

 think that either the sulphur or light 

 alone would do the work of bleachin.g, 

 given time enough; but it seems evident 

 that both working together do the work 

 more promptly and satisfactoiily. 



I ran some 6500 combs the past year 

 through the bleaching process with satis- 

 factory' results. Combs that are a little 

 off would come out almost as white as 

 snow, while those a little darker would be 

 greatly improved. A few hundred, how- 

 ever, have so much propolis mixed with 

 tlie cappings that no amount of bleach- 

 ing would make them while, as I held 

 some of them to it for three months, and 

 finally concluded I might as well try to 

 change the skin of an Ethiopian. It takes 

 more time, at best, than one would ex- 

 pect. Even those combs that are but 

 slightly stained usually require .several 

 days to make them look bright. 



if I were building a room new for bleach- 

 ing I would use glass overhead as well as 

 at the sides, so that the comb would be 

 exposed to sufficient light on both sides 

 at the same time, and .so save the work 

 of turning and length of tii7ie to do llie 

 bleaching. 



I had almost forgotten to say that when 

 combs have received an oveniose of smoke 

 and any of the cappings have turned 

 green, as may happeti when sulphuring 

 to destroy the larva; of the wa.x-moth, 

 the green can be taken off by placing in 

 the direct rays of the sun for a time, 

 when it will change to a light brown, or 

 look like a thin coat of propolis, which, 

 although not desirable, looks much bet- 

 ter tlian the green. 



.After all would it not be much better 

 to produce comb honey without stains? 

 Can it be done? I believe it can; but the 

 discussion of it will need be left until an- 

 other time. 



