1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



963 



tight, and have to bring some weight to bear 

 in order to do it. I have tried other ways, 

 but had to come back to the old tiresome way, 

 so the fingers could be used to guide the cov- 

 ers on straight. Perhaps I can best describe 

 it by saying that I put on the covers as the 

 Irishman played the fiddle. When asked 

 whether he played by ear or by note, he said, 

 " Nayther, but by m.ain strength, be jabers." 

 Oberlin, Ohio, Nov. 27. 



[As I have before explained, friend Fowls 

 is a bee keeper whose acquaintance I made 

 while I was studying at Oberlin College 20 

 years ago. At that time he had just started 

 in the business ; and if ever a man had a real 

 case of bee-fever, he was the one. Many and 

 many a time he came to my room and talked 

 bees. During the subsequent years we have 

 kept more or less in touch. 



Knowing that he has had an extensive ex- 

 perience in bottling and retailing honey, I re- 

 quested him to go into the matter exhaustive 

 ly, giving details step by step. I also asked 

 him to have some good photographs taken at 

 our expense, illustrating the various processes 

 that he was to describe, and this he has done. 



It is to be noted that Mr. Fowls heats the 

 '-oney, and bottles it while hot, while Mr. 

 Pouder, who also does a large bottling busi- 

 ness, bottles while cold, and then heats the 

 honey. There may be special conditions when 

 one method may be preferred to the other ; 

 and in Mr. Fowls' case this is particularly true, 

 as he says he can do no work in summer. 

 The A. I. Root Co. has been using to a limited 

 extent the Pouder method of bottling while 

 cold, and heating the honey while in the bot- 

 tle. I am inclined to think that, where one 

 has steam, and plenty of it, the latter plan is 

 preferable, because the temperature is regulat- 

 ed to an absolute degree if desired. But I 

 will describe our method in the near future. 



I believe Mr. Fowls is right in saying that 

 160° F'. should be considered the highest point 

 to which honey should be heated for bottling. 

 When I stated 180° in Gleanings I was under 

 the impression that I was giving the same 

 figure that was in the A B C book. At the 

 time the article in the last named was writ- 

 ten, I remember that a bee-keeping friend of 

 mine made some exhaustive experiments in 

 determining the degree or degrees of heat 

 which average clover honey would stand with- 

 out injuring its flavor. The result of those 

 experiments showed that 160° was about as 

 far as one could go, on the average, although 

 a few minutes' temperature slightly above that 

 would do no harm. I wish to recall, then, 

 the statement that I made in these pages, that 

 180° was the right temperature ; and, strange- 

 ly enough, the early experiments of my friend 

 coincide almost exactly with the statement 

 made by friend Fowls above I have known 

 honey to be heated to 180° without injuring 

 its flavor ; but as long as tne 160 limit serves 

 the purpose of preventing cand3ing for at 

 least six months (and I have known it to keep 

 it liquid for two and a half years when prop- 

 erly bottled), then we should consider 160° 

 high enough. 



Still another fact is somewhat interesting 

 right here : Our honey-man, Mr. Boyden, in 

 arranging to heat the honey for bottling, said 

 he disagreed with me that 180° was the right 

 temperature. His experience had shown him 

 that 160° was enough to prevent candying, 

 and he saw no reason for heating it more. 



A great deal < f bottled honey put up by 

 bee-keepers has been ruined by carelessness 

 in heating it. I have tasted samples, and 

 have been disgusted, to say the least, to notice 

 that otherwise good honey should be almost 

 entirely ruined. Honey brought to a temper- 

 ature of 200, and kept there for half an hour, 

 will taste as if it had been almost burned ; and 

 if it has been actually boiled, one, on sam- 

 pling, is reminded of burnt taffy. 



It seems as if we had had almost enough 

 corroborative proof on the question of tem- 

 perature ; but let us have reports from bee- 

 keepers who have had experience in bottling. 

 M. H. Tweed & Co , of Pittsburgh, have done 

 a great business in this line, and perhaps they 

 would be willing to give us their experience. 



Referring to the photos, it is interesting to 

 note that the bottling is all done by Mr. Fowls 

 and his family. That means a greater perfec- 

 tion of work than could be accomplished by 

 ordinary people working for day's wages. 

 The fiimily are all in partnership ; that is to 

 say, each member is individually interested 

 in keeping up the quality, and at the same 

 time increasing the sales. 



Gleanings is glad to introduce Mr. Fowls 

 and his family to its readers — his family — well, 

 perhaps I had better say they are not all rep- 

 resented. At some future time we may have 

 the pleasure of showing the whole force, fach 

 in his or her individual capacity, bottling 

 honey. — Ed 1 



BEE-KEEPING IN CHILE. 



BY OSCAR SPOERER. 



We send you by post a photo taken by us 

 of the first installation of your bee-hives in 

 Chile. It represents 20 of your Dovetailed 

 hives in the agricultural school of this town 

 (Concepcion) last year. Although the last 

 winter was very severe, the hives, without any 

 covering, were perfectly sound, and the fam- 

 ilies in a splendid condition. This year dou- 

 ble the amount will be added to this installa- 

 tion. The idea of the directory is to increase 

 it gradually every year 



We think this may be of some interest to 

 your company. 



Concepcion, Chile, Sept. 22. 



[The countries in the South American con- 

 tinent are making great strides; and foremost 

 among them is Chile. We are very glad to 

 get a peep at an apiary in the far, far South- 

 land ; but, why hives on stilts ? Is it because 

 of floods, or because it is easier to work the 

 hives? I suspect the latter, and I don't 

 blame any one for desiring to work the hives 

 in comfort. Hives on legs or stilts is an Eng- 

 lish fad. We should be glad to hear from 

 you again, friend S. — Ed.] 



