ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS ASSOCIATION". 



99 



quicker than tin will. If you can put that 

 glass in a tank or some place where it is 

 warm, for a few hours after the honey is 

 put in it, it will stay liquid for a long time. 

 I have a sample of Airline hofaey that I 

 bought here two or three years ago, when 

 I was here in Chicago at this convention. 

 There are a few granules of sugar on the 

 bottom, but the rest of it is fine as can be, 

 liquid. But that is the secret of keeping 

 honey from granulating, heat it and get 

 the air out. If you take the honey pump 

 and pump it full of air, it will granulate 

 about as quickly as you can turn around. 

 Get the air out of it, and it won't granulate 

 for a long time. 



The President — I might say that I have 

 used a similar system, and I have taken it 

 out and put in the hot water. The greatest 

 difficulty, or one of the greatest difficulties 

 is the fact that the top of the can heata 

 much hotter th&n the bottom of the can. 

 and in running twelve> or fourteen hours, 

 often times the bottom will not 6e lique- 

 fied while the top of the can will be over- 

 heated. It is pretty hard to have ti so one 

 can go off and leave it, without danger of 

 overheating the honey. I have one of 

 these tanks holding six cans, that I would 

 be glad to sell. 



I would like to hear from Mr. Dadant in 

 regard to his method of liquefying honej'. 



Mr. Dadant — T don't think that my 

 method is any better than yours. It is 

 very similar, but I have heard of better 

 ways. If I were melting on a large scale, 

 I think I would use another method. The 

 principle is that honey should be allowed 

 to remain hot as little as possible, and it 

 should also be heated as little as possible 

 to secure melting. Now, if j'ou can find a 

 method by which your honey as soon as it 

 is melted will get away from the fire and 

 get away to a cool place, that I think will 

 be the best method. I have friends in the 

 west who have secured very good results 

 melting honey, and that is their principle. 

 Heat it so that it will melt without very 

 much heat, and as soon as the honey is 

 liquid enough let it run out of the can to a 

 place where it vnll cool off. I don't know, I 

 wouldn't assert that that is the best way, 

 but that is the idea, the suggestion. 



The President — If the cans are inverted 

 in that tank it doesn't liquefy, it is gran- 

 ulated to some extent as it runs out, and 

 then you have to give it another heating 

 in order to finish the job. 



The Secretary — I melt honey with same 

 amount of heat from start to finish. When 

 the heat is turned on the cans of honey 

 they will gradually get hotter till they are 

 finished and I aim to have the temperature 



about 120 degrees when the honey is 

 finished, being melted. 



Mr. Dadant — I don't believe you would 

 keep the -essential oil in the honey if it 

 was heated that high. > 



The Secretary — ^Another thing is, is it 

 best to keep the honey sealed up tight? 

 I keep my cans sealed in the tanks. I 

 take a pipe wrench and tighten those caps 

 just as tight as I can get them. 



Mr. Dadant — Is there no expansion? 



The Secretary — No, they will not expand 

 enough at one hundred and twenty degrees 

 to do any harm. There will be a little 

 bit, not very much unless your can is 

 filled very fuU. When I fill 60 pound cans 

 I leave them a little bit short of 60 pounds 

 to make them convenient for emptying. 

 When that honey is dumped into the 

 bottling tank, there is always more or less 

 scum on honey when it is heated, and that 

 scum forms a blanket over that honej^ 

 You draw the honey from the bottom and 

 seal it up. How is that honey going to 

 lose any of the oils? It is practically 

 sealed up from the time it comes away 

 from the bees until you deliver it. 



A Member — I fail to see why there isn't 

 any expansion. I have alwaj'^s found that 

 when I put 60 pounds in a can the can is 

 full of honey and I have got to take out 

 about a half a pint. If I don't take out 

 about a half a pint, it will run out. If I 

 don't take it out, I "always loosen the caps. 



The Secretary — Tighten the caps and 

 it won't run out. You understand a 60 

 pound can will spread a little bit. I have 

 melted thousands of them and never 

 bursted one of them. 



Mr. MacNeill — I believe it is claimed 

 that the Roots have heated honey for three 

 days, and if they do that and keep it at 

 a temperature between one hundred and 

 twenty and one hundred and thirty, it 

 won't granulate for one year. That is it, 

 exactly. 



Mr. Dadant — Mr. President, I take ex- 

 ception to that statement. That is making 

 it too emphatic, too positive. I think 

 what keeps the honey from granulating is 

 the absence of water. I went to a meeting 

 some years ago, where j\Ir. Root showed 

 us evaporated honey that had not gran- 

 ulated, and he said it was because it was 

 very ripe. I thought he was wrong, that 

 he was mistaken, but I eave learned since 

 that he was right; that is, if the honey is 

 Hvery ripe it will not granulate so readily, 

 jand I think if your honey evaporates some 

 it will be less likely to granulate. I don't 

 think the lenght of time it is liquid has so 

 much to do with it. 



