52 



SIXTEENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



apicultural school in connection with 

 the agricultural college. 



I think it is hard to make compari- 

 sons; it is like a woman with her chil- 

 dren — each one is prettier and each 

 one is better. 



Question — What is the proper care 

 of comb honey after removed from the 

 hive in midsummer until marketed? 



President Baxter — Mr. Coppin, will 

 you answer that? 



Mr Coppin — ^When the cooriib honey 

 is finished, capped, I like to take it off 

 as quickly as possible and place it in 

 a room where there is plenty of ven- 

 tilation; place it in building with the 

 sum shining in — not in the shade with 

 a lot of shrubbery and trees to keep 

 the sun away. 



I have kept a lot of honey that way — 

 place it on shelves; place the sections 

 not close together but what the air 

 could get between them, protected 

 from the dust; have the windows open, 

 so the draft could get through; have 

 the windows screened, and the tem- 

 perature has been very warm — too 

 warm to work in — you could not stay 

 in there to work. 



My idea that is the best place to put 

 your comb honey and care for it until 

 it is marketed; keep the room dry and 

 warm. 



President Baxter — Would you con- 

 sider it essentially necessary to have 

 that much heat? 



Mr. Coppin — It does not hurt it. 

 Those cells that are unsealed around 

 the edges next the wood, if it is kept 

 in a warm room that way it comes 

 thick; if the sections were turned the 

 wrong side up it won't run out. 



I think it benefits the honey to keep 

 it in a good warm room. The moth 

 has got to be looked after, because, be- 

 ing so warm, the moth is liable to be 

 there. The place needs fumigating 

 occasionally to keep the moth away. 

 I fumigate with sulphur. 



Mr. Root — ^We were on the market 

 for comb honey last year, and we 

 thought the crop was going to be light. 



Most of the comb honey, a good big 

 part of it, was harvested after the first 

 of August. We laid in a supply, as we 

 supposed, sufficient to carry us over 

 the season. When honey came in after- 

 wards we bought more and kept on 

 buying until I was scared. 



We had 100,000 pounds of comb 



honey, and then the sale for it dropped 

 square off, about the first of January, 

 as it always does about that time. 

 This is what we did: 

 We knew it was an absolute case of 

 not making any failure. Most of it 

 had been brought in during November, 

 and was put in a temperature of about 

 85 degrees. Practically all of that 

 honey was sold the following March, 

 April, May and June. 



That honey was kept in a tempera- 

 ture of from 80 to 85 degrees and did 

 not granulate. 



We had some honey that had been 

 placed in our warehouses in the east 

 and west, where it had been placed 

 about four inches from the floor, and 

 it was granulated on the top and bot- 

 tom. Why? 



We discovered there were drafts of 

 air going across the top and bottom, / 

 but in the center it was not affected 

 by that temperature. 



I am satisfiied, w^ith comb honey, 

 that it is just as Mr. Coppin has 

 stated: If kept in a warm room as 

 soon as it gets off the hive, and kept 

 there at a temperature of from 80 to 

 85 degrees for three or four months, 

 there will be no granulation afterward, ' 

 no matter what tha temperature. 



W^e took some test cases of honey 

 that had been in the warm room about 

 three months, and placed them indoors ; 

 during the day, and at night out of 

 doors, alternately handling back and 

 forth. 



We know the cause of granulation is 

 a cold and warm atmosphere — but 

 this honey that we tested in this way 

 did not granulate, after being kept at 

 that temperature for about three 

 months. 



Honey granulated in two or three 

 weeks that had not had that tempera- 

 ture previously. 



There is a large amount of comb 

 honey being produced and the result is 

 a good deal of it is going to be kept 

 over by the beek -keepers all over the 

 country. 



If the bee-keepers will put this honey 

 in a temperature where there are no , 

 drafts and keep it in an 80-degree 

 temperature, as nearly as possible, and ; 

 they will keep that honey until it Is 

 sold, in March and April, it will not 

 granulate. 



This is very important if you wish 

 to keep the honey from granulating. 



