ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



123 



coarse screen and take out the coarse 

 material and let the rest settle in the 

 tank. 



Mr. Cavanagh — We have not been 

 able to get a strainer to take care uf 

 bur honey in the yards; it is too thick 

 unless it is excessively hot weather; 

 I use an oil stove under my strainer 

 tank and get better results ; we run our 

 honey pretty fast, to permiit settling 

 so we use a strainer and settling sys- 

 tem' combined. We have a deep tank 

 and a strainer that serves as the 

 equivalent of a basket — with a strainer 

 about 20 inches wide and 30 inches 

 high; when the honey gets down to 

 the cheese-cloth most of the rough 

 material is out of it — the coarse par- 

 ticles, and very little fine material 

 catches in the strainer. 



Pres. Huffman — You use just the 

 cheese-cloth under that strainer? 



Mr. Cavanagh — A cylindrical strainer, 

 made out of coarse wire cloth, 20 x 30 

 inches, with a projection or space un- 

 dierneath it, holds the cheese-cloth 

 strainer. We have been using that 

 this summer and has a larger capacity 

 than that which we have before used. 



Pres. Huffman — I used the same 

 thing, only I use perforated tin; I 

 used to use the wire; this is smoother 

 and easier to clean. 



Mr. Cavanagh — Thi® is galvanized or 

 tin wire cloth, very coarse mesh, half 

 inch. 



Pres. Huffman^ — I would like to ask 

 if there is any one in this Association 

 who has ever used the Townsend 

 method of straining or clarifying 

 honey. He recommended that 3 or 

 4 years ago; I have not heard much 

 from him since; I tried it and it was 

 not a success for me. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I tried it and could 

 not see any advantage in the board; 

 could not get it to settle enough. 



Pres. Huffman — I can see little ad- 

 vantage, for this reason: The honey 

 falling down don't get any further 

 than the board; it won't mix up so 

 much because it don't go direct. 



Mr. Dadant — I had asked Mr. Wood- 

 man to give us a talk on "Honey 

 Blending — Does it Pay?" We might 

 ask to have somebody here talk on 

 this subject. 



Pres. Huffman — I, think you have 

 had experience, Mr. Bull, along that 

 line. 



Mr. Bull — Only a limited experience; 

 well blended honey for selling to the 



trade has one advantage; jou can hold 

 a uniform grade; if you have two or 

 three different kinds of honey, blend 

 them together, and give your customers 

 a straight grade throughout; that is 

 the advantage. 



Mr. Dadant — Can j'ou buy cheap 

 grades of honey and mix them with 

 good .grades and make a good average 

 grade to use? 



Mr. Bull — There are two different 

 kinds of what you might call "cheap 

 grades" of honey; the amber honey is 

 considered a cheap grade; you might 

 find white honey, cheap and of an in- 

 ferior quality; you can get an excellent 

 grade of amber to work all right; the 

 best is the cheapest, always. 



Mr. Cavanagh — The question has 

 been asked of us — What we use. In 

 regard to honey: There are two dis- 

 tinct qualities, not three; first, body; 

 next, flavor; the body and flavor are 

 the two things that don't get away 

 from us; both we must have. The plan 

 we use — We don't propose to tell every- 

 body hoy we blend our honey; we 

 think we have struck something a little 

 better than the ordinary honey, and 

 we feel that this belongs to us; be- 

 cause I have had 8 or 10 years' ex- 

 perience in blending honey I should 

 not care to give it to the bee-keepers 

 at large; the blended honey is superior 

 to a good many grades of straight 

 honey; in fact it is of a more uniform 

 quality; the customer is familiar with 

 one blend and you can follow it up with 

 the same thing and it will always be 

 satisfactory. 



Mr. Stockdale — I would like to say 

 that, with Mr. Cavanagh, I think it 

 is a grave error to consider honey ac- 

 cording to color and not flavor; flavor 

 is what the consumer is after; it is 

 body and flavor together; there are 

 many amber honeys, according to my 

 taste, that are not very much superior 

 to lighter colored honey. 



Mr. Dadant — I would like to ask Mr. 

 Burnett if the lighter colored honeyed, 

 as a rule, commands a better price 

 than the amber; how much the flavor 

 in the white honey has to do with the 

 price it commands. 



Mr. Stockdale — There is . no question 

 about that. 



Mr. Burnett — It goes without ques- 

 tion, that clear white honey as a rule 

 brings a higher proce than the ambers, 

 although we have had some ambers 

 that would bring equally as much as 



