AUSTRALASIAN BEE MANUAL 123 



tin. Of course, each bee-keeper will decide for himself 

 as to the size of his tanks, but the depth should be 

 limited to from 20 to 24 in. at most. 



BFt- 



Fig. 76. HONEY TANK. 



(Not drawn to scale.) 



For an apiary of, say, two hundred colonies, two such 

 tanks as the double tank illustrated would in most cases 

 answer the purpose. There is a great advantage in 

 dividing the tanks into compartments, so that the 

 honey from each day's extracting may be left undis- 

 turbed until it has matured and is ready to run into 

 tins. It is unwise to run two or three days' extracting 

 into the same tank, as the frequent disturbance is 

 against the honey maturing properly. 



HONEY-STRAINERS. 



The strainer in use at the State Apiaries consists of 

 a long shallow tin box without a cover, and with one- 

 half the bottom formed of fine wire gauze, and the 

 other half of tin. This box reaches right across the 

 double tank, and by turning it end for end the honey 

 can be run into either division. Inside the box two 

 other loose strainers slip, the upper one is a coarse 



