3a6 



THE BEE-KEEFEIiS is;^/. 



to become thoroughly solidified, in which 

 case the use of a spade or even of an axe is 

 necessary in order to make any satisfactory 

 impression upon it and even then the same 

 skill and care are required unless tlie nieli- 

 ing-vessel is so constructed that the horn y 

 may run off as fast as it becomes liquified. I 

 have invented a vessel to accomplish this 

 which is made as follows : The outer vessel 

 (for it is double) is an upright cylinder as 

 large as desired and as the stove to be used 

 will accommodate, made of tin, galvanized 

 iron or copper : the inner one would better 

 be of tin, two or three inches lees in height 

 and four to six inches less in diameter than 

 the outer one. The inner one is to be 

 fastened on metal supports about an inch 

 above the bottom of the other and so that 

 the space between the two is equal on all 

 sides. Both vessels are to be perforated for 

 a spout to run from the bottom of the inner 

 one out through the outer one at a convenient 

 distance to allow the passage of the honey 

 as it melts to a receptacle to be i)rovided 

 for it at one side of the stove. The spout is 

 of course to be soldered in place. It should 

 be at least an inch in diameter and provided 

 with a guard over and at some little distance 

 from the inner end of very strong and some- 

 what open wire cloth or other equivalent to 

 prevent the passage of too much unliquified 

 honey. The honey as it emerges mustpa^s 

 into a strainer of cheese cloth or oti er mate- 

 rial to intercept grains of un melted honey 

 which are to be returned to the melting can. 

 The outer and the inner caii should each 

 have a cover of its own. In operation the 

 space between the two is filled with water 

 through which the heat is conveyed to the 

 granulated honey in the inner one. The 

 spout should also be provided with a fancet 

 or other convenient cut off at the outer end. 

 The most obvious way of effecting the 

 liquitication of honey is to put it in an earth- 

 en or other fire proof vessel directly uiion 

 the stove. This course would make the 

 honey liquid as quickly as • any but the 

 effect upon the honey would be disas- 

 trous. As candied honey is a poor con- 

 ductor of heat that lying at the bottom 

 of the vessel would become boiling hot or 

 even scorched before that two inches high- 

 er up in the vessel had become warm if the 

 fire were brisk and the whole in a short time 

 would be entirely ruined. The next method 

 that would be likely to occur to one would l)e 

 to raise the vessel some little distance from 



the stove by means of brick. This would 

 render the process much slower and in a 

 corresjionJing degree safer but would still 

 be almost sure to do the honey more or less 

 injury and would prove to be on the whole 

 quite uusHtisfaclory. The next plan and in 

 the absence of an utensil made specially for 

 the i)uri)ose the best of all is placing the 

 ve.-sel containing the honey in a bath of 

 water which is to serve as a medium for 

 conveying the heat of the fire to the honey. 

 In this place the heat is equalized and 

 mollified so to speak and is under much 

 better control and yet as will be seen later 

 all danger is not thereby elimiated. An 

 improvement on this method could be made 

 by so constructing the vessel which is to 

 contain the honey that it may be from 

 time to time conveniently lifted out and 

 such portion of the honey as is sufficiently 

 melted poured or drawn ofif. 



The results of an experiment which I re- 

 cently made is the best answer I can give to 

 the question of what degree of temperature 

 will honey endure without injury. For the 

 making of the experiment I used a tin can 

 about twenty inches deep and twenty five 

 inches in diameter. This containing a few 

 inches of water was put on the stove and 

 an ordinary crock to contain the honey was 

 set into the water but raised about an inch 

 from the bo'tom of the can by placing a few 

 pieces of coal under it. The only honey at 

 hand that would answer the purpose was 

 some partially filled sections of the crop of 

 1894. It was white and clean, gathered from 

 ba^swood and clover say two thirds from the 

 former to one third from the latter and 

 was about half granulated. The combs 

 were I)rnken out of the sections and put into 

 thti crock I ill it was nearly filled. Fire was 

 then put under and the temperature of the 

 honey gradiirtlly raised till it was at 14r)°F. 

 whan a considerable portion of the honey 

 h id disolved and separated from the comb 

 and tlie wax had begun to melt slightly. At 

 this stage tlio licniitied honey was drained off 

 and a sample of it secured. The heating 

 process then continued to be applied gradu- 

 ally to the remainder till its temperature 

 reached IGo F when both honey and wax 

 were melted and a sample of the honey was 

 again taken after the removal of the wax. 

 The temperature continued to be raised and 

 samples of the honey were taken at the tem- 

 peratures of 185° F. and 2()0"F. I then essay- 

 ed to raise the temperature still higher but 



