bees work upon it much. There is little 

 fall bloom open, and my bees are con- 

 fined almost wholly to buckwheat, yet 

 the comb is as wliite as snow, and the 

 honey richer and better to my taste 

 than any gathered before, this season. 



I am much encouraged, and hereafter 

 shall increase my stock to several hun- 

 dred colonies, as I have several rela- 

 tives at whose homes I can work 50 or 

 60 colonies, and though I have been a 

 farmer, artist, teacher and soldier, and 

 liked all the occupations, yet bee-keep- 

 ing is still more congenial to my tastes 

 and feelings. 



Scott Co., 111., Sept. 2, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Does Pure Honey always Granulate? 



BY CHAS. DADANT. 



The article of Mr. Baldridge, in the 

 American Bee Journal for October, 

 under this heading, reminds me of an- 

 other written by him several years ago, 

 in which he took sides with the adulter- 

 ators of honey, who adulterate to meet 

 the demand of those who don't like to 

 buy candied honey. 



Never have I said that all pure honey 

 would granulate. But I have said that 

 the granulation of honey was the best 

 test of purity, since the adulterators 

 have been, so far, unable to make can- 

 died honey with an addition of glucose. 



On the whole European continent, 

 and in all the Northern and Middle 

 States of the United States, all the pure 

 honey granulates. In France, granula- 

 tion begins in August ; the mean tem- 

 perature of France, in that month, 

 being generally under 70°. 



In Illinois, honey generally granulates 

 a month later ; yet this year we have 

 on hand several thousand pounds of 

 honey, extracted in July, which, so far 

 (Oct.* 1-5), does not show signs of granu- 

 lation, the mean temperature having 

 remained above 70°. 



There can be no fear of being prose- 

 cuted for selling pure liquid honey, for 

 the lack of granulation is not a proof of 

 adulteration ; yet if, in December, I 

 was offered a lot of liquid honey, I 

 would be very suspicious about its pu- 

 rity, because' I know unquestionably, 

 that all honey gathered in Illinois will 

 granulate in the fall. In Europe, all 

 liquid honey is held in suspicion, and 

 this suspicion led the food inspector of 

 Glasgow to have the bottles of Ameri- 

 can honey analyzed. 



I know some bee-keepers— a few, for- 

 tunately—who think that they will help 

 the sale of their honey by preventing 

 it from granulating. 



Eor instance, Mr. Boot, of the Glean- 

 ing8 : has never published a word I wrote 

 to him a bout granulation. It was not of 

 sufficient importance. But he imagined 

 (there is a great deal of imagination in 

 the writings of Mr. Boot), that there 

 was no sale possible for granulated 

 honey, and accordingly, he took the 

 trouble of telling his readers how they 

 can prevent granulation. He advises, 

 them to put their honey in glass cans ; 

 to put their cans in boiling water like 

 preserves, and to seal them as soon as 

 the honey begins to boil. 



Our crop, this year, reached nearly 

 ten tons of extracted honey. It would 

 be quite a job to put it all in tin cans 

 holding from H to 10 pounds. See the 

 increase of work to boil all these cans. ! 



Now let us examine the profit derived 

 from such an increase of expenses and 

 work ! By boiling, honey would lose a 

 part of its flavor ; we incur, beside, the 

 risk of spoiling it by overheating, and 

 what is worse, this work would just 

 deprive our honey of its best test of 

 purity. Our honey, remaining liquid, 

 would have to compete witn the liquid 

 adulterated honey which is flooding our 

 markets. 



Mr. Boot believes in letting demand 

 and supply regulate the market ; at the 

 same time he advises us to deprive 

 our honey of its cachet! What incon- 

 sistency ! 



At the Western Illinois and Eastern 

 Iowa Convention, held at New Boston 

 lately, Mr. Perrine, who was there, could 

 not believe that we were able to sell our 

 extracted honey to grocers for 10 cents 

 a pound or more. 



Mr. Perrine said that it was very dif- 

 ficult for him to sell at paying figures, 

 because his honey would sometimes 

 granulate in part, or be in competition 

 with base adulterations of liquid honey, 

 while his was prevented from granula- 

 ting by boiling. 



Our facility in selling our crop comes 

 from the fact that our honey is known 

 to be pure, because it granulates. The 

 number of our customers is every year 

 increasing. Our honey is becoming a 

 staple article where it has once been 

 introduced ; while the spurious article 

 is losing the ground that our solid honey 

 gains. 



We have just received an order from 

 a druggist of St. Louis for 600 lbs. This 

 druggist bought 100 lbs. last year from 

 us, and is anxious to buy, since he can- 

 not wait till November, when we usually 

 go to St. Louis. It is the same with all 

 those who have tried our article ; their 

 orders increase every year. 



The same mail brought an order 

 from a minister who had resided at 



