1894 



(J LEANINGS IN HEE CUI/ITIUH. 



19 



wife, it's to see ciirnpi^iiiiy like her vittles and 

 eat harty. 



"It seems to me, ' sez lie. after he had eat 

 some more of it. and looked like he was tastin 

 it careful and studyin over it, " it seems to me," 

 sez lie, "that it's uncommon ripe for so erly in 

 the season. When did you take it off?" s<'z he. 



" Let me see," sez I; "aint that some of the 

 1st was took last yeer, mother?" sez L 



"Yes," sez she, "that's some of the very 1st 

 drawer was took," sez she. " It was so white 

 and nice Ive kep it kind a choice." 



Then Mr. Dinant lookt snpprised, and he sez, 

 sez he, layin down his nife, sez he, " Do you 

 mean to tell me that youve kep that hunny for 

 mourn a yeer?" 



" Why, sirten," sez I; "we always hevenuff 

 to last from 1 yeer to anuther." 



" Well, I declare!" sez he. 



" Why, I thot evry buddy that kep bees hed 

 hunny the yeer round," sez 1. 



"That aint what 1 meen. ' sez tie. ••it's the 

 condishen. Cobm hunny doaiit offen keep like 

 that over winter," sez he. " Now I wish yude 

 tel me before we go enny farth(3r whair you 

 keep your hunny." 



" Up in the garret, doant you, mother?" sez I. 



" Yes," sez she, " up in the garret." 



" What was the tcmpertoor up there?" sez he. 



" Hot as blazes in summer," sez I, " and cold 

 as Greenland in winter." 



"And does it never candy in the winter, nor 

 the cobm crack?" sez he. 



"Not as I ever noticed," sez 1. 



" Yes."' sez Zed, •' when it's put there late in 

 the season, without bein capped over, then it 

 candies and cracks too." 



Then Mr. Dinant began askin Zed questions, 

 and it turned out that Zed had been studyin on 



tlie things a good eel, and In; giv(! us his notion 

 about it. 



" It's this way." sez he. "You know if you 

 cook sugar surrnp.it miikes ditferent kinds of 

 candy, accordin to how much you cook it, and 

 it's a very different thing if you cook it a big 

 lot. Well, it's a good bit the same way with 

 hunny. When it first comes from the field it's 

 thin stuff, and ittle sour and candy without half 

 trying. Hut after it's kep in the hive it gits 

 cooked down and sealed up, and then it keeps. 

 Hunny and neckter is two different things. Up 

 in the garret it gits cooked still more, so it 

 woont candy nor crack, no matter how cold it 

 gits. The hive-cooked hunny is different from 

 neckter, and the garret-cooked hunny is differ- 

 ent still from the hive-cooked hunny." 



"I declarel" sez Mr. Dinant. "I beleive 

 you've about struck it, Zed. It is true, a sirten 

 grade of heat makes a change in the caracter 

 of sugar in solution, and why not in hunny? 

 When sulphur is heated to a perticular de- 

 gree, it changes and becomes like rubber, re- 

 maining so for months. My thought has al- 

 ways been that the only thing that heat did to 

 hunny was toevapperate the moisture out of it, 

 but accordin to Zi^d's philosophy it not only be- 

 comes thicker in the garret, but undergoes a 

 real change. I see no reason why it may not be 

 so changed that it can resist the effect of cold. 

 I wonder," sez he, "if another result may not 

 follow. I wonder, after it's garret-cooked, as 

 Zed calls it. if it may not resist the action of 

 moisture. You know if sugar is dissolved and 

 then heated to a sirten point, it makes a candy 

 that gits damp and melts in the open air, while 

 granulated sugar from which it was made, lyin 

 right beside it, stays dry. Perhaps cookin hun- 

 I y to the right point makes it so it woont at- 

 track dampness from the air." 



Now, Mr. Gleenings, if you tell the people to 

 cook their hunny in the garret, it mite ,be a 

 good thing. You mite make sumthing like 

 wax-extractor, only leave it a little open, sose 

 the steam cood git out. and sose it woodent git 

 too hot and spoil the hunny. 



Zed's been a tryin to git inc tolnrn to spell, 

 but it's up-hill bnisness. So menny words is 

 spellt all wrong. I doant see much sents to it. 



•Jake Smith. 



CALIFORNIA ECHOES. 



HY RAMBLE K. 



Hasty, in the i^efieic, thinks that chestnuts 

 are the main ingredients in the articles that 

 treat upon wintering. Of course, we Californi- 

 aiis will agree with him there, for we skip all of 

 those articles. But say, Bro. Hasty, are there 

 not chestnuts in a great many other articles? 

 Is there not danger of their becoming all chest- 

 nuts? Then imagine what a wry face you will 

 make in testing and condensing. Preserve your 

 good looks, Bro. H., and quit in time. 



