306 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15 



honey, and who will be ready to declare that the 

 b«e-keeper was feeding sugar. 



I think it is quite important that this practice 

 of selling honey late in the season, without care- 

 ful inspecting and re-sorting should be stopped, 

 and that the jobber as well as the retailer should 

 receive some instruction on the proper keeping 

 and handling of comb honey. There is surely 

 a need of it. 



We re-sort all comb honey as soon as we see 

 signs of granulation, never sorting over more at 

 one time than we expect to sell within the next 

 two weeks. The granulated is again subdivided 

 into three classes. That which shows only a 

 few cells is called "slightly candied;" that which 

 is from one-fourth to one-half candied is called 

 " part candied," any thing further along is called 

 "candied." It has been found by experience 

 that the first two grades can readily be sold for 

 what it is at a lower price to firms that cater to a 

 less particular trade. 



If the honey is not sorted by the jobber, con- 

 sumption will be reduced to such a point that a 

 lower price is made to move the stock, and the 

 producer who shipped choice stock which has not 

 candied is the loser thereby. 



Denver, Colo. 



[This trouble of what to do with candied hon- 

 ey in late winter or early spring is indeed a seri- 

 ous one. It is made somewhat more serious in 

 Colorado and other alfalfa-producing districts be- 

 cause of the tendency of alfalfa to granulate early. 



Mr. Rauchfuss' plan of re-sorting and regrad- 

 ing, and then selling according to the degree of 

 granulation, is the only sensible way, and, we 

 may say, the only fair and honest way. Any 

 dealer or producer who attempts to palm off his 

 candied product at the price of otherwise fancy 

 and No. 1 comb honey will only be a loser in 

 the end. If it could only end there, no very 

 great harm would be done; but such selling of 

 granula ed honey affects the whole trade and the 

 demand for good comb honey in general. It 

 ought to be just as unlawful to sell granulated 

 comb honey for comb honey that is not candied 

 as it is to misbrand any food product or drug; 

 indeed, we are not sure but that, on a strict con- 

 struction of the national pure-food law, one who 

 sells granulated comb honey as though it were 

 first quality, could be held responsible. Yes, 

 we should like to have a test case made of it. If 

 any one knows of such a person we will take 

 pains to bring the matter before the federal au- 

 thorities. 



For the relief of Mr. Rauchfuss and others 

 who are likely to find on their hands candied 

 comb honey, we may say that we are conducting 

 some quite elaborate experiments to see if such 

 honey in the combs can not be reliquefied with- 

 out in any way affecting the cappings or combs 

 themselves. 



A year or so ago some experiments in a small 

 way led us to believe that candied comb honey 

 could be restored to practically the same condi- 

 tion as when it was on the hive. Indeed, we did 

 succeed in taking a dozen sections that were 

 candied solid and bringing the horey in the 

 combs back to a liquid state without affecting 

 the combs. This was done in a large incubator. 



Since we published the experiments we have 



been informed that an extensive buyer has tried 

 out this method of liquefying comb honey in a 

 large way, with gratifying results. 



We recently constructed a room where we put 

 about 3500 pounds of comb honey, in various 

 stages of granulation. We have been operating 

 this room for about a month back; but owing to 

 our inability to maintain a perfect control of 

 temperature, between 102 and 103 Fahr. , the re- 

 sults have been somewhat indifferent. We have 

 proved this, that we can arrest granulation in a 

 hot room. 



In view of our experiments in a large incuba- 

 tor we feel reasonably sure that honey in sections 

 that has granulated can be brought back to a 

 liquid state, without injury to the comb pro'vid- 

 ing the temperature can be maintained uniform- 

 ly at 103 degrees. Aye, there's the rub. Our 

 experiments with room where the 3500 pounds of 

 honey is stored has shown us the difficulty of 

 maintaining a temperature uniformly at 103. 

 We have emplojed a couple of automatic regu- 

 lators and an electric bell operated by an electric 

 thermostat to give notice when the temperature 

 went too high; but in spite of us we found it very 

 difficult to hold it at the required point. Should 

 it run up to 106 or 107 the combs themselves 

 will begin to sag. 



Will it pay to attempt to liquefy granulated 

 comb honey when we take into account the ex- 

 pense.? We will just suppose that ungranulated 

 comb honey would retail at 15 cts. On the same 

 basis, perhaps, the extracted would retail for 8 

 cts. As the average section of honey weighing 

 a pound contains about half an ounce of wax, 

 that would give us approximately, when melted 

 up and separated, one cent's worth of wax, and 

 probably 7 cents' worth of honey, calling the 

 honey worth 8 cts. a pound. If it cost one cent 

 to melt and separate, that would make a net of 

 only 7 cts. for the honey and the wax Accord- 

 ing to these figures, if we could liquefy the honey 

 in the comb w ithout injuring it, and comb honey 

 not granulated is worth 15 cts., we should have 

 8 cts to pay us for the trouble of liquefying the 

 honey in the comb, provided we could do the 

 work as successfully on a large scale as a small 

 one. We are not certain as yet that we shall 

 succeed. At present it looks doubtful, but it is 

 worth the trial. In the test now under way we 

 would save $280 on the 3500 lbs. now in our hot 

 room, over what we could realize if we were to 

 melt up both the honey and wax, and sell both 

 at their market value. — Ed.] 



THE BOARDMAN HIVE-CART IN THE HIVE ROWS. 



I note what you say in regard to the cart in- 

 terfering with hives in adjoining rows. Where 

 a hive cart is used the rows should be arranged 

 so that the hives will come opposite the spaces in 

 the adjoining rows, thus: 



a D D D D 

 D D a D 



D D D D D 

 a D D D- 



Collins, O. H. R. Boardman. 



