126 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



and fine, in the grain, and that will not 

 drain : 



Lret the bees ripen and cap before extract- 

 ing'. 



Extract on a drying- daj'. 



Keep the hooej' well protected from the air. 



Stir and mix well before putting it into 

 small containers. 



To candy it, jar, agitate, or rock the hon- 

 ey while in the small vessels. This can be 

 done by machinery. But I prefer to let the 

 changes in temerature caused b}' daj' and 

 night do it. Place the honey in a thin- 

 walled building — in one whose inside tem- 

 perature changes rapidly with outside 

 changes. The expansion and contraction 

 furnish the necessary movements in the 

 honey. 



Note 1. — Thin unripe honey candies 

 coarse and rough, and it is ill-flavored, ;-nd 

 will drain; and, more, the selling and 

 keeping qualities are of a low grade. 



2. With plenty of combs you'll get as 

 much capped honey as of the thin stuff, and 

 the wax will pay for uncapping. The 

 young bees that do not go to the fields any- 

 way are just anxiously waiting for the job. 



Aylmer West, Ontario, Can., Jan. 8. 



HASTENING THE C\NDYING OF HONEY. 



I find that, to have candied honey in the 

 tank when extracting, and pouring the hon- 

 ey in and letting it mix thoroughly, it will 

 cau.se the wh^le to candy at once, and solid. 

 Our honey here requires a lot of cold weath- 

 er to candj\ sometimes not granulating he 

 whole season; but this summer, when I be- 

 gan extracting, I had a few pounds of can- 

 died honey in my tank, which holds 3600 

 lbs. I poured in on this from the extractor, 

 and I drew the honey from the uncapping- 

 box in half gallon jars. The honey from 

 the box is liquid yet, not granulated a par- 

 ticle; but the honey in the tank was solid 

 long ago. I drew out of the tank when full 

 during extracting in August, and all stored 

 in the same place, all subjected to the same 

 conditions; and as to keeping honey liquid, 

 I am convinced that the ]iquef_\ ing of honey 

 per Weber is correct, and I will give my 

 reason. To liquefy thoroughly, and not get 

 too hot, will take nearly 36 hour-. If there 

 is a particle of granules in the honey it 

 will candy again. One will think he will 

 have the job complete, when, on close in- 

 spection, there will be granules in the mass. 



I don't claim the discovery as to mixing 

 granulated honey with liquid to cause it to 

 candy. But I know that it is the best way 

 yet discovered, and is a comp'ete success 

 with me. J. T. Hairston. 



Salina, I. T. 



[Some interesting facts are brought out 

 by the three correspondents. First, that 

 agitation does hasten the process of solidi- 

 fying. Even the driving of the hoops of the 

 barrel, and rolling the barrel on the floor, 

 seems to have quite a perceptible effect; 

 while honey from the same source, and the 



same cans, left without agitation, will re- 

 main perfectly liquid. 



Another fact quite clearly brought out 

 is that old candied honey mixed with new 

 extracted also hastens the process, on the 

 principle that " a little leaven leaveneth the 

 whole lump." Granulation in honey is a 

 process of crj'stalliz.ition; and therefore 

 when cr3stallization is once started it 

 spreads, shooting out in different directions. 

 I have had bottles of hone\ exposed in front 

 of mj- window; and I have noted particular- 

 ly that the entire mass of honey would re- 

 main clear for a considerable length of 

 time; but just as soon as the least particle 

 of cloud intss appears in any portion of the 

 mass, the cloudiness will increase very 

 rapidly from that time on. 



Another interesting fact is that Eastern 

 honey can be succe?sfully bagged. I have 

 been a little fearful for some time back as 

 to whether or not the Aikin paper package 

 would be suitable for Eastern bee-keepers; 

 but it appears from the testimony offered 

 by our correspondents that it will probably 

 be all right. 



To sell candied honey it seems to be nec- 

 essary to introduce it to the trade in per- 

 son. The customer must have confidence 

 in the purchaser or seller, for he is not in- 

 clined, in view of all the stories of adulter- 

 ation that are afloat, to buy brown sugar 

 under the name of honey. But when he is 

 fully persuaded that it is the genuine prod- 

 uct from the flowers, gathered by the bees, 

 that candying is a natural characteristic 

 of nearly all honeys; and when he is in- 

 duced to take home and test a sample, and 

 learns that it has a most delightful flavor, 

 he becomes an eager and willing customer 

 for more of that kind of goods. 



While agitation, and the mixing of old 

 candied honey with new extracted are con- 

 sidered important requisites, yet, after all, 

 a low temperature (the colder the better) is 

 the most essential condition for rapid can- 

 dying. — Ed.] 



A MODEL APIARY. 



Hives on Individual Hive-stands. 



BY T. C. CRAGON. 



In position for the winter I have a sepa- 

 rate stand for each hive, made 8 inches 

 high, and strong enoush to hold any reason- 

 able weight. The hives are placed with 

 the entrance to the south; the back of the 

 hive is raised one inch higher than the en- 

 trance, which is full width of the hive. The 

 bottom-board is made to allow a foar-inch 

 alighting- board, and so that the body of the 

 hive will project js inch over the bottom at 

 the back on either side. It is fastened with 

 a I'^-inch screw on each side, so that the 

 screw can be removed without moving the 

 h've. Handhold cleats are nailed on all 

 hives and supers. The covers are made of 

 plain boards one inch larger each way than 

 the body, and held at each end with cleats 



