1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



slower, and in a corresponding 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 unsatisfactory. 



The next plan, and in the absence of any utensil made 

 specially for the purpose, the best of all is placing the vessel, 

 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 eliminated. 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 con- 

 veniently lifted out, and such portion of the honey as is suffi- 

 ciently melted poured or drawn off. 



The results of an experiment which I recently made is the 

 best answer I can give to the question of what degree of tem- 

 perature honey will endure without injury. For the making 

 of the experiment I used a tin can about 20 inches in diam- 

 eter. 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 bottom 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 basswood and clover, say two-thirds from the 

 former to one-third from the latter, and was about half gran- 

 ulated. The combs were broken out of the sections and put 

 into the crock till it was nearly fliled. Fire was then put un- 

 der, and the temperature of the honey gradually raised till it 

 was at 145-' Fahr., when a considerable portion of the honey 

 had dissolved and separated from the comb, and the wax had 

 begun to melt slightly. At this stage the liquiSed honey was 

 drained off, and a sample of it secured. The heating process 

 then continued to be applied gradually to the remainder till 

 its temperature reached 165^ Fahr., 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 the samples of the honey were taken at the 

 temperatures of 185^ Fahr., and 200'^ Fahr. I then essayed 

 to raise the temperature still higher, but after a pretty stren- 

 uous effort I failed to get it more than two degrees higher. 

 The honey was then removed and another sample taken. Thus 

 five samples of the honey were secured at intervals of time 

 amounting to one hour, or a little more. each. 



The color and flavor of these samples are the means 

 we have of determining the various effects of the 

 different temperatures. In the first sample I could detect 

 nothing either in color or flavor indicating the application of 

 heat. Between this sample and the next one taken at 165^, 

 the difference is slight. I could distinguish between them 

 correctly by the taste, blindfolded, and by sight by holding 

 them up side by side to the light. One person, used to the 

 taste of honey, could distinguish them neither by sight nor 

 taste. Another one thought the second one the better fla- 

 vored. Practically, it would be safe to say, I think, that they 

 would be classed as of the same quality. 



After going above IGS-", the houey rapidly deteriorates 

 both in color and flavor. The difference between the second 

 and tliird is twice as great as between the first and second ; 

 that between the third and fourth twice as great as that be- 

 tween the second and third ; and that between the fourth and 

 fifth shows even a more rapid rate of deterioration, though 

 the temperature was raised but a trifle, showing that simply 

 the continuance of an unwonted temperature causes injury. It 

 is quite likely that the continuance of a temperature so low as 

 145-' would prove injurious. The rate of deterioration in 

 color corresponds well with that in flavor. The third sample 

 would still be classed as white honey, while the fourth is quite 

 light amber, and the last just a good amber. 



In the absence of evidence that honeys from different 

 sources can safely endure different degrees of temperature, we 

 may assume that honey should not be subjected to a tempera- 

 ture above 165°, and at a temperature so high as that for 

 only the shortest possible time. — Review. 



Lapeer, Mich., Dec. 19, 1895. 



Back Numbers. — We have on hand a few back 

 numbers of the Bee Journal for 1895, which we will mail to 

 any one wishing them at 15 copies for 20 cents. They will all 

 be different dates, but we have no complete sets for the year. 

 Just send us 20 cents in stamps or silver, and we'll send you 

 15 copies. No doubt there are many new subscribers who 

 ■will be glad to take advantage of this offer. All new sub- 

 scriptions now begin with Jan. 1, 189H. 



^"WmW 



CONDUCTED BY 

 X>R. C. C. AILLLER, MARENGO. ILL. 



[Questions may be mailed to the Bee Journal, or to Dr. Miller direct. 1 



Amount of Honey Certain Plants Yield — Keg§ 

 for Honey. 



1. Please give some estimate of the amount of honey each 

 of the following plants will secrete per acre in a fair season ; 

 also how much per colony would be a fair yield under favor- 

 able conditions: Red raspberry, black raspberry, white 

 clover, Alsike clover, basswood, and buckwheat. 



2. Are whisky, wine and brandy kegs suitable to use for 

 honey ? E. M. H. 



Kilbourn, Wis. 



Answers. — 1. I don't know. Neither do I know where 

 the woman lives that can direct you to the man that does 

 know. The only thing I've ever had bordering on anything 

 like a well-defined opinion in the case is with regard to buck- 

 wheat. I've always held that an acre of buckwheat would 

 yield 25 pounds of honey in a day, just because M. Quinby 

 said so, but I have serious doubts whether it was anything 

 more than a guess with him. The fact is, that there's an un- 

 explored field right here, and a chance for some one to dis- 

 tinguish himself by giving answers to your questions with 

 proofs attached thereto. If a man should say an acre of rasp- 

 berries yielded less than 50 pounds in a season, and another 

 should say it yielded more than 5,000 pounds, it might be a 

 hard matter to convict either one of perjury. 



I suppose something might be learned in some cases where 

 a given acreage of a certain plant was in reach, and nothing 

 else in bloom at the time ; and if any of the readers of the 

 "Old Reliable" have any definite data to form an opinion 

 upon, whether about the plants here mentioned, or any other, 

 let them not be backward about coming forward to inform us. 



2. I don't remember seeing them recommended, and I 

 think I have seen them condemned. 



Building Comb ^Vlien 

 §warm iSettling on 



Fed on Sugar Syrup 

 an Evergreen Tree. 



These questions have been asked in the American Bee 

 Journal : 



Can, or will, bees build comb when fed on syrup ? 



Will a swarm settle on an evergreen tree ? 



I had a swarm to issue July 29, 1895, which has 

 answered the above questions conclusively. The swarm set- 

 tled first on an apple tree ; I put them into a hive, where they 

 remained half an hour, when they came out, and after circling 

 about the yard, settled the second time on an arbor vine. I 

 noticed that the bees were excited and confused. After some 

 investigation I discovered that there were a number of young 

 queens in the cluster, which I concluded were the homeless 

 ones flying about the apiary at the time. I caged one of the 

 queens, and then tried to hive them, but in a short time they 

 were again on the wing. They finally settled the third time 

 on a balsam fir ; the limb on which they had clustered bent 

 almost to the ground, which enabled me to cage three more 

 queens, after which the bees went quietly into the hive. 



The following two days were too cool and stormy for the 

 bees to fly out, from which they suffered no loss, as everything 

 in the line of bee-pasturage was dried up by the long-contin- 

 ued drought. 



Not wishing to lose the bees by starvation, I put on a 

 super, into which I placed a large steak-dish with some little 

 floats in it. I poured, every morning, about a quart or more 

 of syrup into this dish, which had been made of an inferior 

 grade of brown sugar and water, about equal parts. 



On the fourth or fifth day I looked into the hive to see 

 what the bees were were doing with all the syrup. I found 

 five frames drawn out and partly fliled, and capped very 

 white; but, to ray surprise, I found no queen or eggs. About 

 six days later I again examined the hive and found all the 



