March, 1908. 



American l^ee Journal 



Exhibiting and Selling Gran- 

 ulated Honey 



B\' C. P. DADANT. 



I read on page 6, an editorial repro- 

 ducing a letter from Dr. F. D. Gum, 

 concerning the desirability of exhibit- 

 ing granulated honey at fairs. I be- 

 lieve this matter needs to be insisted 

 upon among bee-keepers. 



The sale of granulated honey of the 

 very best quality has been customary in 

 Europe for centuries. Very little comb 

 honey has been sold there at any time, 

 but they have long ago found out that 

 the best honey when taken from the 

 combs granulates almost without ex- 

 ception at the opening of cool weather. 

 It is held by many people that the granu- 

 lated honey is more easily digested than 

 the liquid, and that the exposure to the 

 air, which is mostly responsible for the 

 granulation, also removes most of the 

 tendency of fresh honey to sicken some 

 stomachs. Be this as it may, there is 

 no doubt that the granulation or candy- 

 ing in regular granules is a very good 

 proof, not only of the honey being ripe, 

 but also of its being pure. The elder 

 Dadant was most emphatic upon this 

 matter, and had prepared a label, as 

 early as the seventies, to put upon our 

 packages, and which reads as follows: 



"The granulation of honey is the best 

 proof of purity. We guarantee that our 

 honey will granulate if kept at a tem- 

 perature not to exceed 70 degrees. We 

 will pay one hundred dollars to any one 

 proving, after analysis, that our honey 

 is not strictly pure." After a few years, 

 we found that the words "candy" and 

 "candying" would appeal to more peo- 

 ple, so we changed from "granulated" 

 to "candied," which means the same to 

 every one, but was more intelligible to 

 the mass of people. This lab^I was kept 

 on all our honey and is still in use by 

 us. The result is that we have created 

 a demand for extracted granulated hon- 

 ey. But we are almost alone in this. 

 The bee-keepers who insist on selling 

 and guaranteeing granulated honey are 

 very much scattered, and their efforts 

 are lost in the mass of dealers in liquid 

 honey. 



Why is it that granulated honey has 

 ready sale, and is accepted in Europe, 

 while it is generally unknown here 

 among the people? I believe the an- 

 swer is in the original conditions of 

 bee-culture, in America. The woods of 

 our wild country were very quickly 

 filled with bee-trees, and a goodly por- 

 tion of the honey harvested by the early 

 settlers was taken from such sources. 

 .A.n those who have been "bee-hunters" 

 know how badly smashed the combs 

 were by the fall of the tree, and how 

 much the honey was mixed with rot- 

 ten wood, pollen, brood, etc. So the 

 honey was strained and heated to purify 

 it. Hence, the liquid "strained honey," 

 against whose reputation our fine ex- 

 tracted honey had to compete. 



Xo one knew anything about "granu- 

 lation," outside of the bee-keepers. But 

 it is really a pity to be compelled to 

 acknowlfdge that our bee-keepers are 

 left almost alone in knowing that good 

 honey will invariably granulate, if it is 



ripe cnougli. 1 say, "invariably," al- 

 though there are occasional instances 

 when very good honey fails to granu- 

 late, and L. C. Root (Quinby's son-in- 

 law) once in my hearing, at a bee-keep- 

 ers' convention, advanced the assertion 

 that very ripe honey would not granu- 

 late. He had a very fine sample of li- 

 quid basswood honey which remained 

 clear, but for one such sample, our 

 friends can show tens of thousands 

 which granulate thoroughly. Why, then, 

 shall we continue to keep }he people 

 in ignorance of the true nature of hon- 

 ey, by exhibiting and selling only liquid 

 honey, which we are at great pains to 

 keep in that condition? 



Some of our best bee-keepers plainly 

 say that they cannot sell granulated 

 extracted honey. To this statement I 

 object. It is true that liquid honey is 

 more easily sold. But when you sell 

 extracted liquid honey, and it granu- 

 lates on the hands of your customer, 

 if he does not know anything about 

 granulation he will at once suspect you 

 of dishonesty. If he does not have oc- 

 casion to complain to you, he will nev- 

 ertheless complain, and will not hesi- 

 tate to tell everyone that you cheated 

 him, and sold him some stuff that you 

 called honey, but which all "went to 

 sugar." You then have a much more 

 difficult case to deal with than if you 

 had sold him the granulated honey in 

 the first place, and had told him how to 

 liquefy it. 



I am quite free to agree that granu- 

 lated honey does not look as pretty as 

 liquid honey, and that it makes a poor 

 exhibit in a glass bottle. Yet, after 

 the knowledge that all consumers have 

 of the beauty of glucose or so-called 

 "corn-syrup," why should we desire to 

 retain that appearance in our honey? 

 When a person buys honey, he should 

 not be after the looks, but after the 

 taste. If looks only are to be relied 

 on, in our food, then oysters are to be 

 discarded, for I don't know of any dish 

 that looks worse than a saucer full of 

 oysters ! 



Our editor speaks of Illinois as en- 

 couraging the display of extracted hon- 

 ey. Yes. and it was after years of 

 repeated battling, with the help of such 

 writers as Mrs. Harrison and others, 

 that our bee-keepers finally succeeded 

 in having a special premium for granu- 

 lated honey at the Illinois State Fair. 



Bee-keepers are in the market witb 

 their honey, to stay. Their honey will 

 continue to granulate from year to year, 

 and this will continue to be a very good 

 test of purity. Then why not all work 

 steadily to educate the people, so they 

 may recognize the value of our goods, 

 when presented to them in a natural 

 condition? .-Vs long as we will try to 

 avoid the sale of granulated honey, 

 there will be a prejudice against it, and 

 every now and then a bee-keeper will 

 be taken to task for an imaginary fault 

 and defect, which, far from being a 

 fault, is a quality. For there is no end 

 to the slurs cast upon an article which 

 the consumer does not understand. Ab- 

 surd things are said, foolish things are 

 done, by people who only need to be 

 informed. "Your honey is not good," 

 said a new customer one day; "it all 



turned to sugar. I put water in it to 

 liquefy it, but it won't melt!" 



Bee-keepers, the education of the peo- 

 ple, as to the purity of honey depends 

 upon your efforts. Then do not allow 

 the delusion to continue by continuing 

 to liquefy the honey before offering it 

 for.. sale. Try at least to inform your 

 customers as to the value of granu- 

 lated honey, so that if they buy the li- 

 quid product they will not be aston- 

 ished to see it "turn to sugar." 



I want to give a bit of information 

 to beginners who may have produced 

 honey which granulated in an irregular 

 way. I have just lately received an en- 

 quiry from a bee-keeper who says that 

 some of his honey has granulated in a 

 way that makes it look like cream that 

 had flour in it. Then, sometimes, honey 

 will granulate in lumps, with a certain 

 amount of thinner honey surrounding 

 these lumps. In these instances the 

 honey is not thoroughly ripened. The 

 best thing to do is to melt the honey 

 slowly without heating it sufficiently to 

 damage it, and let it be exposed to 

 cold again when liquefied. It will be 

 very much slower to granulate, but will 

 then granulate properly without lumps. 

 At least this has been my experience 

 with all such instances. But it is very 

 much the best to have your honey thor- 

 oughly ripened when harvested, for it 

 will then make a very even and fine 

 grain. 



We can not too strenuously condemn 

 the practice of harvesting and offer- 

 ing for sale unripe honey. 



Hamilton, 111. 



Bee-Territory and Legislation 



BY C. C. MILLER. 



I have read with very great interest 

 what Prof. Cook says on page 16, un- 

 der the heading "Over-Stocking." Prof. 

 Cook, my old friend (that "old" has no 

 reference to the years of your life, but 

 to the years of our friendship), I'd give 

 a good bit to sit down with you and 

 have an old-fashioned talk all about it. 



You say, "If we knew . . . then 

 we would be warranted in demanding 

 some legislation that would * * * * 

 protect the bee-keeper." Thanks for 

 conceding the possibility of legislation, 

 even with the attachment of the "if." 

 Oh, you're growing. Before making 

 that concession, however, you hint that 

 most localities are not stocked up to 

 their full capacity. 



Putting both things into one sentence, 

 if I understand you correctly, your po- 

 sition is this; "If we knew that 100 colo- 

 nies would properly occupy a certain lo- 

 cation, and if you had 100 colonies on 

 the ground, then you might with rea- 

 son ask legal protection." 



Now in all fairness. Professor, will 

 you tell me what either of those things 

 has to do with the case in hand? Did 

 you ever hear of such questions being 

 asked as to occupying territory for any 

 other purpose, whether for corn, wheat, 

 cattle, buildings, or anything else? Be- 

 fore a man obtained poessession of a 

 certain piece of land on which to raise 

 cattle, was it first decided that just so 

 manv head of cattle could be supported 



