122 HOW TO KEEP BEES 



honey. To prevent it extracted honey should be 

 evaporated until it is thick, sealed while hot in air- 

 tight cans, and kept in a room the temperature of 

 which never falls below 65° F. It should be kept 

 in tin or galvanised iron cans, rather than in wood. 

 Some people seem to have been successful in using 

 wooden vessels for holding the honey after having 

 given them a coating of wax; but the way honey gets 

 through small places is more proverbial among bee- 

 keepers than is the ability of the stingy man to do 

 the same; even when a tub or pan seems water-tight 

 the honey will triumphantly work its passage 

 through. 



In order to preserve extracted honey in packages 

 it must be canned or bottled, and the air entirely 

 excluded. There are two methods of accomplish- 

 ing this : First, the honey is heated in bulk, and run 

 off into hot cans or bottles. Second, the honey is 

 put in the bottles first and then heated; in both 

 cases the honey is heated by hot water. Perhaps the 

 easier method is to heat it in bulk, and if there is not 

 at hand a double boiler, one can be improvised by 

 using a wash-boiler in which pails containing the 

 honey may be set. In any case the honey and the 

 water surrounding it should be of the temperature of 

 the room to begin with; then a slow, steady fire is 

 needed to bring the temperature of the water up to 

 160° F. Mr. Root advises the use of a gasoline 

 stove for this purpose as the heat may thus be care- 

 fully regulated, and it is very important that the 

 process be a slow one. After the temperature of the 



