114 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



frames to the other two, and continue till 

 the hive is full. Place them on the third 

 day, on the stand they are to occupy, and 

 allow them to fly, by opening a small hole. 

 Eelease the queen at once, and there is no 

 danger of her being killed. 



We had large quantities of honey dew 

 this year again, and bees have paid well, 

 where they have had attention, and I think 

 Western North Carolina is destined to be 

 one of tl.e greatest honey- producing coun- 

 tries in the world. It is well adapted to the 

 culture of all the fruits and gi'apes that will 

 grow in the climate of this temperature. 



Stock raising is wonderful ; it is very 

 healthy, pin-e air and water, and water 

 power "to run almost all the machinery in the 

 IJuited States, if it was aj^plied. 



EoBEET T. Jones. 



Flat Kock, N. C. 



For The American Bee Journal. 



Granulated Honey. 



In an article in the February No. T think 

 Mr. Dadant in his article on adulterated 

 honey does the bee-keepers of this country 

 a great injustice. I was astonished on read- 

 ing that article. I had supposed he was 

 better informed on that subject. He says : 

 "It is consequently of the greatest import- 

 ance that all Bee Joi'rxals inform their 

 readers that the best test for honey is the 

 candying • that honey candies because it is 

 formed of grape sugar, which granulates 

 and does not crystal ize. That on the other 

 hand sugar syrup is made from cane sugar 

 which does not candy hut crystalizes. Tliat 

 if they find on the market from December to 

 June, a so-i'ulled honey in liquid condition, 

 they can with absolute certainty declare it 

 a sophisticated honey, or at least a honey 

 which by boiling, or by pure mixture, has 

 lost its character as true and pure article." 

 If Mr. D. had stopped when he said that can- 

 dying was a good test that the article was 

 not sophisticated, it would have been well 

 enough, but when he asserts that all pure 

 honey granulates before December with an 

 absolute certainty he not only states what 

 is not the fact, but he injures the business 

 of all bee-keepers that wish to put a pure 

 and first class article of extracted honey on 

 the market. Honey will not granulate ex- 

 cept through a process of deterioration while 

 the flavf)r is not injured as much as by boil- 

 ing, yet it is injured so that it is readily de- 

 tected in tasting a sample of each. 1 have 

 had honey two years old. and no more signs 

 of granulation than the day it was extracted. 

 If ^Ir. Dadant would drop in now at the 

 Patron's Corporation store ni Ijawrence. he 

 could see some of my honey that was ex- 

 tracted and bottled last Juiie under four 

 linden blossoms, that is as clear as when 

 put up. The fact is, if honey is iiroperly 

 evaporated, it will not granulate for a long 

 time, it at all. The thinnest honey granu- 

 lates the first, and the best honey is lion(>j^ 

 that is not granulated, the next best is the 

 granulated and the granulated brought back 

 to the licjuid state i)y heating, is still a lit- 

 tle inferior. This of course has reference 

 to honey from a given plant. ]hit if care is 

 taken in heating, the ditlerence is scarcely 

 precejitable. Ir uiusl be held in water and 

 the vessel that contains the honey nuist iu)t 

 come in contact with the bottom or sides of 



the vessel that holds the water, and the wa- 

 ter must be heated very slowly and must 

 not be brought to the boiling point at all 

 and only enough to dissolve tlie honey. If 

 Kellogg had done that way he could" haVe 

 evaporated his honey without making sor- 

 ghum of it and without very much injuring 

 its flavor, and if the water is not heated 

 more than 150 degrees, we doubt if it would 

 be possible to detect any injury to the flavor 

 of tlie honey. But the best way to evaporate 

 honey is in vats or pans made of galvanized 

 iron or tin and the honey put in about 3 

 inches deep, in this way in the summer 

 time it will evaporate itself without artifi- 

 cial heat, and you will have from the thin- 

 est honey taken out the same day that it is 

 gathered. 



Just as thick honey as you choose, you can 

 prepare in that way that will, in many 

 instances keep for ye"ars without any show 

 of granulating. Sometimes honey is very 

 thick when gathered. I will say here, that 

 the honey that I had over two years with- 

 out granulation, was put up as fast as ex- 

 tracted. It was gathered i)rincinally from 

 the poly-gonum and buckwheat. What we 

 want in tTie disposition of our honey, is hon- 

 est dealers. Another way is for bee-keepers 

 to put their own honey on the market, un- 

 der their own name. Many are doing that 

 way now, and there is no reason why it 

 could not be more universally practiced. 



Lawrence, Kan. N. Cameron. 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



My Report. 



I have started an apiary, and will show 

 some bee-keepers here, how to keep bees. 

 I think that I can keep more bees than has 

 ever been kept by any one man here yet. 

 Some claim that 1 cannot run my number 

 higher than 40 or 50 colonies, if I do my best, 

 but I don't believe a word of it. Quite a 

 number in this county have started the bee 

 business, and have a bright looking apiary, 

 of 30 colonies, more or less, but when spring 

 would come, they would have iierhaps 10 

 colonies left to ijuild up again through the 

 summer. This is the way they have done 

 for three or four years, they let their bees 

 go down and then say that there is no mon- 

 ey in thenl. AVe renmrked that they gather 

 honey, and we can get money for that. Yes, 

 but "they will die through the winter, they 

 say ; but I say there is a reason for vour 

 bees all dying. I have handled bees all my 

 lifetime, more or less, and for the three 

 last years I have done but little else. 



Bees are wintering very well heiT, so far. 

 I have 11 of my colonies put uj) a new way 

 for wintering." I went to the saw-mill and 

 got some slabs, cut short ; ri^i feet is about 

 the right length to sjilit up for stakes, and 

 to cover with. 1 drove 4 stakes around the 

 hive and about a foot from it. leaving the 

 stake about as high as the hive with the cap 

 on ; then stutfed straw all around the hive, 

 clear to the top. my bees all stand with the 

 front to the southeast, then covered the 

 hives, straw and all. with the slabs. Jnone 

 of these hives I have three nuclei, each one 

 having a (jueen. They were all O. K. when 

 last I saw them. 



A word for the Italians ; they are the 

 only bees for me. I wouldn't give one good 

 Italian eolony for five of the best black bees 



