1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



181 



the method which we have been incUned to 

 treat with contempt may soon be the popular 

 one If it is possible and practical, and meet 

 ing with favor among the consuming clisses, 

 to put up quarter-pound packages of comb 

 honey in paper cartons it will be so with full- 

 pound parcels. Eventually we may put up 

 fifty-cent or even dollar lots in these paper 

 boxes lined with parafRne paper. 



Comb honey produced for this purpose is, 

 of course, most proifcbly raised with shal- 

 low supers without separators, or in regular 

 extracting- supers, frames either being filled 

 with very light comb foundation or not, at 

 the bee-keeper's option. 



As the editor says, we shall sooner or later 

 be compelled to give up the use of sections 

 on account of the scarcity of suitable timber 

 to make them. If we are prepared for this 

 emergency we shall be the better off. In 

 time of peace is a good time to prepare for 

 war. Paper may help us out. Paper for 

 the honey-containers, paper for shipping- 

 crates! The greatest advantage, however, 

 will be found in providing a super which is 

 most congenial to the bees, one which they 

 will not hesitate to fill We shall be able to 

 produce very much more honey with the in- 

 expensive outfit, cheapening the pr< iduct on 

 both ends. There will be honey and mon- 

 ey galore for the bee-keeper in the future 

 unless he sees fit to divide the spoils with 

 the consumer. 



So far it does not look like cheapening the 

 product to the consumer. Twenty-five cents 

 for X pound, or about four times as much 

 per pound as the section honey is sold for in 

 the large cities late years — that is the price 

 named by the editor. I pity the poor con- 

 sumer, or would-be consumer, of comb hon- 

 ey. May we expect to dispose of our comb 

 honey at such a fabulous price? I do not 

 think so. I think we must even cut the now 

 established price by a good oeal if we dare 

 expect to sell such large crops of honey as 

 we shall then produce. At the present price 

 of 15 cents per one-pound section here in the 

 counti*y the sale is limited, and the largest 

 portion of my yearly output has to go to the 

 city. At ten cents per pound I might expect 

 to sell a large portion in my home market. 

 Lower- priced honey is the demand here, al- 

 though it seems, since labor is paid so much 

 more than formerly, that we as honey-pro- 

 ducers ought to be paid better also by receiv- 

 ing better prices. 



If cheap honey is demanded, why don't 

 the honey-eating people buy extracted hon- 

 ey? might be asked. 1 he answer is, because 

 by far the larger majority of them do not 

 want extracted hnnej^ even at half price. 

 They prefer the most inferior comb honey, 

 such as that from unfinished sections, dark 

 honeys, even honey dew-flavored honey, to 

 the finest extracted I do not understand 

 why this is so. I have many times been 

 shocked by hearing the above sentiments 

 from people who, I had every reason to thmk, 

 bad been converted to the extracted honey. 

 Others who had bought my best extracted 

 for years, ceased to be customers for it when 



they found that inferior comb honey could 

 be had at about the same price. This state 

 of affairs h is b^en and is very discouraging 

 to me, and there is no wonder that I have 

 been inclined to give the Texas bulk-comb- 

 honey production a trial. 



I have hesitated on account of liquid hon- 

 ey granulating here in this climate so readi- 

 ly. I could not believe that people were will- 

 ing to dig into a sixty pound-can of solidified 

 hoiiey after the comb. 



LIQUEFYING HONEY BY THE HEAT FROM THE 



SUN. 



Mr. Boardman's sterilizing method, see 

 pag- s 769, 770, 1909, might give some relief. 

 He can undoubtedly tell how long extracted 

 honey must be exposed to the direct rays of 

 the sun to prevent its granulation afterward. 

 As was reported some years ago in Glean- 

 ings, we nave liquefied honey in a solar. 

 When it was assured by Selser and others 

 that bottling honey hot would prevent gran- 

 ulation, we heated honey in half-pound 

 tumblers in our solar and sealed it. We ob- 

 served no difference between honeys heated 

 on the stove and such as is warmed in the 

 solar; but we did not leave honey in the solar 

 long at any time. 



The objection made to the solar machine 

 was that the sun could not be relied upon at 

 all times, and that artificial heat was, there- 

 fore, better, particularly so in the fall of the 

 year when granulation occurs. This is true, 

 and for this reason I have used my solar but 

 little of late When I attempted to hquefy 

 three pound cans full of hard honey, and I 

 failed to shift the apparatus around with the 

 sun at the end of the day, I found portions 

 in each can still hard, and then I had to leave 

 the cans of honey for another day. The next 

 day, as luck would have it, it would be cloudy 

 or partially so. There were times when the 

 honey in these 3-lb. cans did not warm up in 

 a week. This was disgusting. To liquefy 

 honey in 60 lb. tin cans in this way is out of 

 the question. If I were to build a large so- 

 lar machine for heating honey I would use 

 artificial heat in connection with the solar. 



If found necessary to keep extracted hon- 

 ey in the sunlight for a long time, one will 

 have to build a regular glass storage house 

 and put up the whole crop in glass. This 

 latter is not a very bad practice for one who 

 has a demand for his honey in glass pack- 

 ages. I know of some who follow this plan. 

 They need less tank room, for they draw the 

 honey into their retail packages soon after 

 extra ^ting. When granulated the cans are 

 treated to a hot-water bath, and the honey is 

 thus speedily liquefied After thus being 

 treated it does not again harden for quite a 

 while. This method may be less expensive 

 than the Boardman sterilizing process. The 

 great advantage a solar machine has is that 

 honey is never overheated. This can not be 

 said of the other plan. 



This subject of sterilizing honey is a very 

 interesting one, and many of us want more 

 light on it. We should also like to know why 

 honey granulates sooner when often han- 

 dled. If a chemical change has been effected 



