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GIvEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



get the same kind, as nearly as I can, so con- 

 sumers will get the same flavor they are ac- 

 customed to. For instance, this year, having 

 bought some mixed clover and basswood from 

 Wisconsin, I am mixing in clover honey from 

 Michigan, as I find the Wisconsin honey has 

 not as large a proportion of clover in it as is 

 natural to my locality. Instead of putting 

 up a large quantity at once, as some do, I put 

 up only as fast as needed for my trade. I use 

 six-gallon lard-cans as storage-cans for my 

 own crop ; and when buying I get it in five- 

 gallon square cans when possible. For lique- 

 fying they are placed in cans large enough to 

 admit of having three or four inches of water 

 underneath and surrounding the honey. The 

 liquefying-tanks had better be made of cop- 

 per, as tin soon rusts out ; and if the tank 

 gets rusty the water will cause the honey-cans 

 to rust too. A wood or coal stove may be 

 used in heating, but it needs constant atten- 

 tion to keep the fire just right ; and I now 

 use and prefer a gasoline-stove for t^e purpose, 

 first heating the water boiling hot on the 

 kitchen range, to save time. It is safe to 

 start with the water at the boiling-point, as 

 the cold honey lowers the temperature at once. 

 The gasoline flame can be regulated so as to 

 keep it just hot enough. In tact, I have some- 

 times put the honey on to melt at bed time, 

 and then went to bed, leaving it melting all 

 night ; but in that case I should leave the 

 flame low enough so the water surrounding 

 the honey would be not higher than 150 de- 

 grees ; for it should be borne in mind that the 

 temperature will rise as the honey gets melted. 

 It's very easy to ruin the honey by getting it 

 too hot, especially honey of delicate flavor, 

 like that from white clover and all varieties 

 that contain pollen grains. Pure basswood 

 honey, owing mainly, I think, to the absence 

 of pollen grains, may be heated much hotter 

 without damage. 



While it is probably all right for an expert 

 like Mr. Ponder to heat his honey to 190 de- 

 grees, I think the limit of 180 degrees, as giv- 

 en by the editor on page 802, or 160 degrees as 

 given in the A B C of Bee Culture, is much 

 safer to give out to the general public. I have 

 had clover honey that would not stand 190 de- 

 grees without impairing the flavor, and, of 

 course, would be ruined if allowed to get 

 much hotter ; and for my part I can see no 

 need of heating so near the danger-point. I 

 think it best to melt slowly, allowing, say, 

 five or six hours for clover and two or three 

 hours more for basswood, and not letting the 

 temperature rise above 150 degrees for clover 

 or 160 for basswood, until it is melted so no 

 lumps can be found in it. Then the tempera- 

 ture should be raised about 20 degrees, and 

 held there an hour or so, when the honey is 

 ready to put up. The tank I use in filling 

 bottles and tumblers holds about 16 gallons, 

 or is large enough to hold either three five-gal- 

 lon square cans full or the contents of two of 

 my regular six-gallon storage-cans. 



My clover and basswood honey is always 

 light in color, for, notwithstanding the heavy 

 expense for large apiaries, every hive is pro- 

 vided with a queen-excluding honey-board. 



and consequently my extracting-combs are 

 clean. But in buying I often get honey which, 

 owing to having been laised in dark combs, is 

 darker than my own, though equal in body 

 and flavor. In this case I put in two or more 

 cans alternately, as mentioned by Mr. Ponder, 

 so as to equalize the color as well as the flavor. 



My filling-tank is set over a pan of water,, I 

 and the whole thing set on the step burner of 

 my gasoline-stove, so the honey can be kept 

 hot during the process of putting up. I used 

 to dip out part of the honey from the can in 

 the melting-vat, and lift out the can from the 

 hot water, and pour in the rest of the honey. 

 But the five-gallon square cans had to be lift- 

 ed out bodily by a slender ring at the immi- 

 nent risk of being scalded by the ring break- 

 ing loose ; so I now use a glass siphon to run 

 out the honey into the filling-can. I prefer to 

 keep the honey up to 140 degrees or more un- 

 til it is sealed up in the bottles or tumblers. 



I have never used wax in sealing up, and do 

 not think it necessary if packages can be seal- 

 ed air-tight without it. The main idea is to 

 cause a vacuum, as in canning fruit ; and to 

 aid in securing this the packages should be 

 filled as full as convenient with the hot honey, 

 and there will still be a space left when cold, 

 the same as in canned fruit ; and the smaller 

 this space is, the better, as the honey will then 

 remain more quiet, which is important. 



It may be interesting for clerks or custom- 

 ers to invert a jar or tumbler of honey, and 

 watch the bubble of air rise slowly through 

 the honey, and it may also be an effective way 

 of showing the body and general attractive- 

 ness of the honey ; but the more it is moved 

 back and forth, the sooner it will grain. Just 

 imagine, if you can, how it would seem to 

 have honey put up by the bees in their waxen 

 bottles in such a slipshod manner that it could 

 be slopped about from side to side or from end 

 to end, and then remember that honey rarely 

 candies in the comb unless exposed to a very 

 low temperature. 



On page 802 the editor asks whj' it will not 

 do to bottle up honey cold. I will answer 

 that by saying that, if I were asked the quick- 

 est way to make honey candy, I would say, 

 " Pour it cold from one dish to another." Be- 

 sides this, it would not stay in the bottles, as 

 there would be no vacuum ; and just as soon 

 as it was put in a warm store, it would expand 

 and stream over the sides. 



I well remember putting up a dozen glasses 

 for a grocer who would not wait to have it 

 heated, saying it would do just as well to put 

 it up cold. He never wanted any more like 

 that. Every glass ran over, although not fill- 

 ed quite full ; and the fun of it was, they 

 never stopped running over. He would wash 

 them all off clean every morning, and they 

 would begin to stream down the sides before 

 noon, or as soon as it got warm in his store. 



But, to return to my process. I have never 

 used the square bottles and corks, as I have 

 always felt it would be an imposition on the 

 consumer to give him a comparatively worth- 

 less bottle with his honey when I could just 

 as well give him something that would be use- 

 ful for some other purpose. I have heretofore 



