AMERICAN BEE JOURNAU 



619 



CONDUCTED BY- 

 MRS. JENNIE ATCHLEY. 



Beeville, Texas. 



PROFITABLE BEE-KEEPING. 



licsson No. 13. 



(Continued from page 527.) 



RECEPTACLES FOR HONEY — HOW TO PUT 



IT UP. 



As we have now learned to produce 

 honey, I will tell you how to put It up, 

 and how to keep It. The best vessels 

 for extracted honey are the 5-gallon 

 square cans with screw caps, and two to 

 a case. This is getting to be a standard 

 package for extracted honey. But in 

 the South, where cypress barrels are so 

 cheap, and freight high on the cans 

 from factories, 24-gallon kegs are ex- 

 tensively used, so the next best thing for 

 extracted honey, to the tin cans, is the 

 kegs. But we had better use none but 

 the iron-bound, as the wood-bound kegs 

 are likely to burst in shipping. 



Right here I will give you a pointer 

 that will save you some trouble and 

 time : If you live near enough to a bar- 

 rel factory, go and attend to your own 

 barrels while being built, and have good 

 ones put up, telling the cooper what you 

 want them for, and after one head is 

 put in, have your beeswax ready (or 

 beeswax and parafiBne will do, mixed 

 half and half, but I don't like all paraf- 

 fine, it doesn't stick tight enough), and 

 pour in the melted wax, twirling the 

 barrels in a way that they will be thinly 

 coated with wax all over, and also give 

 last head a coating before putting it in, 

 and you will have a honey-barrel that 

 will not leak if properly built, and honey 

 will not soak up into the wood, nor will 

 the wood injure the taste of the honey. 

 And if your honey is ripe, as it should 

 be, it will keep any length of time. I 

 have heard mother say, the older the 

 honey the better. She has kept it for 

 20 years, and it was still as good as at 

 first. 



The public, by some reason or other, 



especially the consumers of honey, have 

 come to believe it won't do to buy honey 

 in large quantities, thinking it will sour 

 and spoil. But it is a mistake, for good, 

 ripe honey kept in a good vessel will 

 keep for a life-time and be good. It will 

 no doubt solidify, but it can be brought 

 back to its liquid state by melting it in 

 boiling water, by placing the vessel con- 

 taining the honey in another with the 

 water, and let it remain until all is 

 melted; and the honey will be as clear 

 and as good as the day it was put up. 



I would keep the barrels in the cellar 

 or some cool place, but a warm place 

 will not hurt it, only the barrels may 

 shrink, and eventually leak if kept 

 where it is too warm. But a warm room 

 will not affect the honey. 



Now, the foregoing directions are for 

 keeping honey for home use, and for you 

 to tell your customers how to keep their 

 honey when they buy a barrel or keg 

 from you at a time. Of course I do not 

 expect you to keep your honey any 

 longer than you can find sale for it, and 

 sometimes we may have our honey en- 

 gaged before we extract it. You may 

 say that people ought to know how to 

 keep honey, but I tell you the public 

 need schooling, and they look to you to 

 tell them how, etc. Some bee-keepers 

 fail to build up a honey (home) market 

 just by not schooling people about honey, 

 and being ready and free to advise. 



Comb honey is somewhat more trouble- 

 some to keep than extracted, and ought 

 to be kept in a warm, dry room instead 

 of a cellar. Keeping section honey free 

 from moth and ants in Southern coun- 

 tries is sure enough a problem. But I 

 have kept it nice and good for years, by 

 keeping it in tight cases on benches or 

 tables, with the legs in water tn keep 

 ants from getting in it. Preserves can 

 be kept free from ants the same way. 

 Just place a table in the center of a 

 small room, for instance, or any room, 

 and keep the legs in pans of water, and 

 a little kerosene oil put into each pan 

 will make it all the better and surer, as 

 ants can spoil honey quickly, so we can- 

 not well be too careful. 



Stone jars or crocks are splendid to 

 keep honey in for family use, but are a 

 little hard to keep covered tightly ; but 

 I can place a beeswaxed cloth over the 

 top, then the cover, and it does splen- 

 didly. I have kept green fruit in jars 

 for a season by sealing tight with bees- 

 waxed cloths. 



I am satisfied that If you will follow 

 the above instructions, you will have no 

 reason to complain about keeping honey. 

 Jennie Atchlet 



