40 



E. W. ALEXANDER'S HONEY-TANK. 



The following illustration represents one of Mr. Alexander's honey-tanks, 

 which is portable, and holds something near 5,000 lb., but, as I said before 

 he considers its depth too great. 



Albxandek's Stoeage and Evaporating Tank. 



HEATING THE HONEY-HOUSE AT NIGHT. 



It sometimes happens during the extracting season that the temperature 

 falls'^very low during the night, and may cause honey in the tank to partially 

 crystallize prematurely. To avoid this it is advisable to adopt some 

 means of keeping up the temperature on such occasions. Some kind of 

 modern oil-stove, free from any smell that would taint the honey, might 

 answer the purpose. 



TESTING STRENGTH OF LIQUID FOR MAKING HONEY VINEGAR. 



The washings of cappings (when there are any), the skimmings and 

 washings of the tanks, honey-extractors, &c., broken honey-combs, and 

 other odds and ends of honey need not be wasted ; all can be utilised in 

 the making of vinegar or mead, or both. A hydrometer comes in very 

 useful here again to test the strength of the liquid. For vinegar there 

 should not be more than 1 J lb. of honey to each gallon of water, the specific 

 gravity of which is 1'040, so that when the honey cannot be weighed the 

 hydrometer will at once show whether the strength is right, instead of de- 

 pending on guesswork. 



LIQUEFYING GRANULATED HONEY. 



[ I wish to caution beekeepers against overheating when hquefying granu- 

 lated honey. The usual advice given is that it may be heated up to 160*^ 

 Fahr. without doing harm to the honey. From close observation I am 

 satisfied that much of the fine aroma and flavour characteristic of our best 

 honey is lost when slowly heated up to anything near that temperature. 



