THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 19 



Heating- the honey settles one of the most perplexing questions 

 connected with extracted honey production ; especially is this true in 

 our dry climate in the alfalfa districts where our honey is so thick it 

 is practically impossible to strain it while cold. 



The old way of putting it into large tanks or five-gallon cans 

 and letting it become candied before we can find the time to heat 

 and strain it and get it into our regular packages for market, is 

 enough to disgust any one with extracted honey production. The 

 best way to handle candied honey is never to let it candy, and the 

 best way to keep it from candying is to heat it as fast as extracted. 

 If heated to about 140 or 150 degrees at this time it will keep liquid 

 for a year. This I have proven by actual test the past two years. 

 Our alfalfa honey will begin to granulate in two or three weeks 

 after extracting if not heated. (I am of the opinion that honey 

 heated before granulation will keep liquid longer than if heated after 

 it has granulated, but am not satisfied on this point). 



Honey right from the extractor without being heated 1 find 

 practically impossible to properly strain either through cloth or by 

 the gravity system. Perhaps in some localities where honey has not 

 much body or if extracted 1)efore it is properly ripened, the above 

 methods may be satisfactory, but in our dry climate with alfalfa 

 honey properly ripened it is so thick that to strain it through cloth 

 is out of the question, and as to the gravity system it simply will 

 not work with any speed, as it takes hours and sometimes days for 

 the particle of wax pollen and other foreign matter to rise to the top. 



Xo doubt the great bulk of the honey produced is put into five- 

 gallon cans as fast as extracted with more or less attempt made at 

 straining and allowed to granulate before it is sold. If sold to the 

 wholesale dealer no liquifying is required. But the bee-keeper who 

 sells to the retail grocer or to the consumer direct, or to the honey 

 peddler, will be obliged to liquify it or put it into the different retail 

 packages. 



My experience is that very few consumers want the candied 

 honey. A fine article of thick ripe liquid honey is what takes with 

 most people, and they will come back for more. wSome years ago we 

 practiced selling honey in the granulated form and had plenty of 

 complaints from customers which required a lot of explaining to 

 prove that it was pure honey, and also how to liquify the same, 

 although plain 4nstructions were printed on the labels. 



For the last twelve years we have sold from 2,000 to 50.000 

 pounds of honey each year, mostly direct to consumers and since 

 giving our customers nothing but a uniform grade of liquid honey 

 put up in bright new tins or glass, we receive nothing but praise 

 for the line quality of the honey, and have not yet been able to pro- 

 duce enough to supply our trade. 



