1060 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



way of expressing himself, bringing a ripple 

 of laughter all through the convention. He 

 was, he said, what one might call a farmer 

 bee-keeper. He owned a hundred head of 

 cattle, 50 acres of orchard, 400 acres of 

 land, and several hundred colonies of bees, 

 at one time having 525. But he did not be- 

 lieve the farmer could make bees work for 

 nothing and board themselves. He face- 

 tiously put it this way: A friend of his asked 

 him how he got so many bees and so much 

 farm. He replied that he got them by sit- 

 ting down at the corner grocery, whittling 

 boxes and telling yarns. The bigger the 

 yarns, the more bees and farm he got. 



Mr. Krebs thought the discussion had tak- 

 en a sort of side line, or, rather, it assumed 

 that Mr. Hutchinson would drive everybody 

 out of the business of keeping bees except 

 the specialist. Mr. H. meant nothing of the 

 sort. As he understood it, the bee-keeper 

 should be a specialist to the extent that he 

 should understand all the tricks of the trade; 

 but that in order to make the most money 

 he should keep bees only. 



I wish I could give space to all the testi- 

 mony that was offered. One man had paid 

 off a mortgage on a farm with his bees. An- 

 other had increased his income. There was 

 not enough flora in his locality to warrant 

 keeping bees on a large scale, but there Avas 

 enough to make a few bees a very nice side 

 line. 



IS GRANULATED HONEY IN AIKIN'S PAPER 

 PACKAGE A BENEFIT TO THE MARKET? 



This was one of the questions that was 

 thrown into the question-box. A lively dis- 

 cussion followed, showing that the general 

 subject of candied honey had received care- 

 ful thought on the part of many of the 

 members present. Mr. France explained 

 that he wrote that question at the request 

 of one of the members, the idea being 

 whether the effect of the granulated honey 

 on the market was injurious, or whether we 

 should push the business and seek to educate 

 the public. 



Mr. Brown, of California, had had some 

 experience with it. He had put his honey 

 in oyster-pails, and it did nicely till hot 

 weather came on, then the honey had a 

 tendency to ooze, forcing its way through 

 the paper. He admitted, however, that his 

 packages had not been paraffined. 



Mr. Weber, of Ohio, thought we should 

 educate the people to know granulated honey 

 was pure. The general impression was that 

 honey in that form was nothing but sugar. 

 We might have a good trade if the public 

 could only be convinced that honey in that 

 form was all right. 



HOW TO KEEP HONEY LIQUID FOR A YEAR OR 

 MORE. 



Mr. Lovesey, of Utah, had tried to sell it 

 in Salt Lake City; but, in spite of all he 

 could say, his customers would insist that it 

 was sugar. He had to reliquefy all the 

 honey, and even go a little further— put a 

 little amber in it to darken it, because their 

 water-white was not thought to be pure. He 



then gave a twist to the discussion, that 

 had a practical bearing. He found it was 

 necessary for him to keep his honey from 

 granulatmg as long as possible. The only 

 way to do this was to keep it at a low tem- 

 perature, 100 or 120 degrees, for several 

 days. When honey was heated higher than 

 120 it lost some of its flavor, he thought. 

 When asked how he heated the honey he 

 said he did it on a gasoline-stove having 

 three burners. 



Mr. Dadant took issue with him, saying 

 he thought the honey ought to be put in a 

 vat surrounded by water. His firm had sold 

 granulated honey in pails for many years, 

 and their trade had become educated to it. 



Mr. Abbott did not think that heating 

 honey in water was necessary. He had 

 done a large business in selling bottled hon- 

 ey; and whenever the packages candied he 

 took them back and subjected them to dry 

 heat. To put them in water would spoil the 

 labels, making it necessary to wash, wipe, 

 and relabel. 



Several assailed Mr. Lovesey on the ad- 

 visability of keeping honey hot so long; but 

 Mr. L. explained that, while the tempera- 

 ture might go up to 120, it was usually not 

 more than 100— sometimes less. 'Ihis low 

 temperature long continued would put the 

 honey in a condition to keep liquid for a 

 whole year; while a higher temperature, say 

 of 150 to 160, for only an hour, might not 

 prevent it from granulating again inside of 

 60 days. 



We have had a good deal of proof given 

 in these columns at various times to show 

 that a low temperature long continued will 

 keep honey in a condition where it will stay 

 liquid and clear for a great length of time- 

 sometimes for two years. Mr. Henry Alley 

 used to sell this as a secret, but I believe he 

 has since given it to the public. 



LOCATION OF THE CONVENTION NEXT YEAR. 



At one of the sessions there were several 

 speeches in favor of the convention going to 

 various places. Messrs. Muth and Weber, 

 of Cincinnati, spoke in favor of that city. 

 Mr. H. H. Hyde made a strong plea for 

 San Antonio, saying it was in the heart of one 

 of the best honey-producing sections in the 

 United States; that there would be a large 

 local attendance; that San Antonio had once 

 or twice stepped aside in favor of some oth- 

 er city, and now he thought that, as a mat- 

 ter of justice, his city should have the con- 

 vention next year. 



Mr. Benton invited the bee-keepers to 

 Washington, D. C, and Mr. N. E. France 

 presented an invitation from the bee-keep- 

 ers of Oregon. This matter as to where the 

 convention shall go rests entirely with the 

 executive committee. It is possible that 

 they may ask for informal votes from bee- 

 keepers, and make their decision accordingly. 



THE BEE CONVENTIONS TO BE VISITED BY 

 THE EDITOR WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. 



I EXPECT to attend the following conven- 

 tions, occurring at different points as fol- 



