TMW Mvmmmi^MM mmm jo>vimf%mi^. 



58 



^^^■^^*-*- ^imr-^-^-^'f?-*^*-^^-^*-*-* ■* 



The barrel is to be kept permanently 

 air-tight. 



HOW TO HEAT HONEY. 



Sometimes 1 heat honey in the pro- 

 cess of straining, at least when the 

 weather is cold, and that part I expect 

 to keep over winter. In an article 

 published in the American Bee Jour- 

 nal of Aug. 8, 1888, I gave the form 

 of a strainer, which is a muslin bag 

 about four feet long, cone-shaped, 

 hemmed at the opening over an iron 

 or wooden ring, or hoop, to keep it 

 open, and to X'cceive hooks for sus- 

 pension. 



When the honey in the bag is too 

 thick and cold, to strain freely, I slip 

 into it a tin cone, nearly half the size 

 of the bag, and fill it with boiling 

 water ; as the honey gets heated by 

 induction, the straining goes on ad- 

 mirably. When the water loses its 

 heat, it can be i-eadily removed by a 

 syphon, for which I simply use a com- 

 mon gum-elastic tube. Sometimes I 

 place the vessel that receives the 

 strained honey, over a kerosene stove, 

 and lower the strainer with the honey 

 into it, and heat carefully. 



After the whole mass comes to a 

 proper temperature, the strainer is 

 drawn up by the aid of pullies, and the 

 bag will soon become empty. B3' this 

 method the temperature is regulated 

 by the sense of touch. Much careful- 

 ness, however, must be exercised, for 

 fear of over-heating the honey, and 

 getting melted wax into it, and other- 

 wise impairing its value. As I am 

 writing this (Dec. 2, 1889), I have 

 straining going on, by the aid of heat 

 in my honey-house. 



One difHculty in straining through 

 fine cloth, is that it soon becomes 

 clogged with fine particles of wax, etc. 

 This will oblige us to keep several 

 clean strainers on hand, and as one 

 ceases to be serviceable, a fresh one 

 must be used, leaving the honey that 

 may remain in the partially-clogged 

 one to percolate slowly, which may 

 take several days before it is empty 

 and fit for washing. The water in 

 whicli the strainers are washed, may 

 be used for making honey-vinegar. 



It is an interesting experiment to 

 extract honej' and do crystal straining 

 simultaneously, and with marked 

 rapidity. This is efl'ected by placing 

 the comb, after it is uncapped, into a 

 loose-fitting sack, made of thin, fine 

 muslin, which is the strainer. The 

 same centrifugal force that will throw 

 the honej^ out of the cells, will force 

 the honey through the strainer. These 

 sacks are very easily changed and 

 cleansed, and are not so quickly clog- 

 ged as the cone-strainer, for in revers- 

 ing them an opposite pressure has a 

 tendency to clean the sides of the 



sacks, working the debris to the 

 bottom. 



Another method, is to extract lioney 

 in the ordinary way, and afterwards 

 strain it hj placing it (and even cap- 

 ings) in tin boxes with straining-cloth 

 on botli sides, and strain by extraction. 



TO BLEACH honey, AND TO CONVERT 

 IT INTO SUGAR. 



The question of bleaching honey has 

 often come to my mind. As solar 

 bleaching has such a happy efi'ect on 

 wax, I was led to try it on honey. So, 

 for the double purpose of breaking 

 down crystallization in jars.and bleach- 

 in the same time, I filled a "solar 

 wax-extractor " with jars of honey. 

 The heat destroyed the crystallization, 

 but the excess of heat darkened the 

 honey, and virtually ruined it. This 

 experiment shows how careful we 

 must be in manipulating honey with 

 heat. It likewise points out the method 

 of evaporization for converting honey 

 into an acceptable sugar, which should 

 be done more by a tepid-fanning pro- 

 cess, than by heat alone. 



WHEN TO SELL HONEY. 



Having secured the honey in a pure 

 condition, either in bulk or glass jars, 

 it is ready for the market. I neatly 

 label the jars, only as the honey is or- 

 dered, to give them a new and fresh 

 appearance. The human taste, in its 

 craving for sweet and fat, is more ac- 

 tive in the fall and winter, than in the 

 warm weather. It is a physiological 

 necessity. Advantage should be taken 

 of this fact, to sell at the right season. 



EXTR4.CTED VS. COMB HONEY. 



Extracted honey will evidently re- 

 main a staple article in the market. 

 Honej' in comb, on account of the 

 wax, is not as digestible, nor is it as 

 free from impurities as nicely-extracted 

 honey. As it is difficult to secure it 

 always in a neat, uniform appearance, 

 and requires much care in handling, 

 it is not likely to be much longer 

 furnished by extensive apiaries. I 

 tried it for one year, as a novelty, and 

 found the extra care and labor it re- 

 quired, made it less profitable than ex- 

 tracted honey at a less price. 



MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF HONEY- 

 SPRAY. 



It is well known in extracting honey, 

 that an atoniization of honej' takes 

 place, which not alone permeates the 

 room, but at limes arouses the whole 

 apiary while the operation is going on. 

 Persons with weak lungs, who work 

 the extractor and inhale the honied 

 air, are wonderfully benefited by it. 

 Whj' does honey work as a pulmonary 

 sedative, having no direct sedative 

 propei'ties in itself ? The medical pro- 

 fession is fast drifting into the belief. 



tliat all puhnonary diseases are main- 

 tained through a micro-organism, in 

 particular in phthisis, pneumonia, 

 whooping-cough, etc. 



Honey is an efiicient antiseptic ; but 

 diflers from all others in being void of 

 irritating properties. When kept in 

 contact with microbes, it is destructive 

 to them, and it is their destruction that 

 gives ease, and apparently serves as a 

 sedative: This accounts why it serves 

 as an efficient tropical remedy for 

 many external diseases. 



To atomize honey for any kinds of a 

 cough, asthma, influenza, hay-fever, 

 etc., it should be used in a warm solu- 

 tion, and applied by a steam atomizer. 

 In certain cases, the honey-atomizer 

 should be in the chamber of the patient 

 in continuous action day and night. 



From experience of personal benefit, 

 I am greatly interested in this part of 

 the subject — and I believe tlie bee- 

 fraternity may confer a benediction 

 upon mankind by reporting their ex- 

 perience and observation on this 

 matter. 



Austin, Texas. 



SPRAYING TREES. 



Some Foolish Advice Given by 

 Editors. 



Written for the American BeeJmimal 

 BY S. I. FREEBORN. 



A law against killing our insect foes! 

 Two generations of cultivators have been 

 striving to discover methods or enact laws 

 to enable man to harvest his share of the 

 crops. And now comes that wise and good 

 man. Prof. A. J. Cook, of Michigan, advo- 

 cating a law to prevent fruit-gi'owers from 

 spraying blossoming fruit-trees with poison- 

 ous insecticides, because forsooth, the bees 

 are also insects, and "will go into the trees 

 in search of honey. Verily, it must be that 

 Prof. Cook was trained in an ultra " pro- 

 tectionist " school ! The bees are all right, 

 and honey is a good thing, but really, it 

 seems as if the fair old rule of "the greatest 

 good to the greatest number " were a just 

 guide in such matters. 



Surely, fruit is of more importance than 

 honey I If those busy workers must have 

 Legislation, let us advocate a training 

 school for bees,in which they may be taught 

 to keep out of the orchards at the danger- 

 ous period. The fence question comes in 

 here, too. Will not the law compelling an 

 owner of domestic animals to fence them 

 in, apply to apiarists as well as to other 

 stock farmers i Is it more lawful for a bee 

 to trespass, than for a cow or a pig? 



The above item from the American 

 Garden, by the editor, it seems to me, 

 should be noticed. When the editor of 

 such a publication as the Oarden, ad- 

 vocates the promiscuous killing of bees, 

 along with other insects, and that un- 

 der the plea of "the greatest good to 

 the greatest number," it is time that 

 he was noticed by somebody. I think 

 that when the learned gentleman in- 

 forms himself of the facts in the mat- 



