84 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Fel. 10, 



fire till the water boils, then I pour in five pounds of granu- 

 lated sugar and stir constantly while pouring it in. 



Then if the fire gets quite hot, and the syrup begin^i to 

 foam up, I raise the kettle and put the stove-cover under it. 

 The boiling will continue in the center of the kettle, and there 

 is no danger of burning unless your wife or your daughter, or 

 your hired girl, comes around aud builds up a big fire to bake 

 some bread or heat the flat-irons. In that case you may have 

 to move your kettle to some other part of the stove. If the 

 bee-keeper happens to be unmarried, he will remain undis- 

 turbed, as it is not likely that his sweetheart will be around 

 on such occasions. 



Keep stirring while this slow boiling is going on till the 

 water is nearly evaporated. You can tell when this takes 

 place by the manner of the bubbling which is going on in the 

 kettle. If the bubbles are few, and the bubbling labored, you 

 may know that the job is nearly completed. Put a spoonful 

 or so of the bubbling mass into a cup of cold water and you 

 can tell for sure. 



Pour the mass out into a common-sized, oblong baking- 

 tin, and you will find the tin is just even full. When suffi- 

 ciently cool, place the cake over the cluster, bottom side up, 

 with two or three sticks half-inch thick under it. You may 

 have to take a little of the stuffing out of the cushion, and 

 then it will tuck down nicely over and around the candy. My 

 sacks for cushions are made somewhat longer than the supers 

 and left op^n at one end, so that it is an easy matter to re- 

 move part of the chaff. Decatur Co., Iowa. 



Report of the Northwestern Bee-Keepers' Con- 



veution, Held in Chicago, Nov. 10 and 



11, 1897. 



BEPOBTED BY A SPECIAL BEE JOtJBNALaBEPOBTEB. 



(Continued from page 74.) 

 FIRST DAY— Evening Session. 



GBANULATION OF HONEY IN WOOD, TIN OB GLASS. 



"Will honey granulate sooner in a wooden or tin pall 

 than in glass ?" 



Pres. Miller — Who knows anything about that? I will 

 venture a suggestion, that it ought not to granulate quite so 

 soon in wood or tin, because it is generally supposed that light 

 has a little to do with it ; on that account, other things being 

 equal, it ought to granulate just a little sooner in glass than 

 in wood or tin, but I don't know anything about it. 



Mr. Baxter — I don't believe that light has anything to do 

 with the granulation of honey. I never found that out. I 

 believe It depends upon the temperature altogether. The 

 variation of temperature causes It to granulate much sooner 

 than an equal temperature. That has been my experience. 

 The way I can get honey to granulate the quickest is to take 

 barrels and move them around often, and especially if they 

 are down in the cellar. But if I take liquid honey and put a 

 few grains of granulated honey into it, it will granulate very 

 fast. I think it is owing to variations in temperature. 



M. S. Miller — I askt that question, and the reason I askt 

 it was, I have had it stand around in tin packages and glass, 

 and while that In glass did not show any signs of granulation. 

 In tin it did. There was another thing in my mind : The 

 honey in tin packages had been more exposed to air, having 

 been opened several times ; perhaps that had something to 

 do with it. I don't know what to think of it. It made quite 

 a difference in selling honey to the city trade. 



Pres. Miller — Was the honey put in at the same time ? 



M. S. Miller — It was, and the same kind of honey. 



Pres. Miller — Was there any difference in the handling 

 afterward ? Was one shaken any more or handled any more 

 than the other ? 



M. S. Miller — If It was, the one in tin was the most. I 

 am not sure whether there was much difference. The cans 

 were filled about the same time from the same honey. 



Mr. Baxter — Mr. Christie, who used to attend these meet- 

 ings from northwest Iowa, told me that he sells his Spanish- 

 needle at retail by canning It, and sealing it up tight ; it never 



granulates then. The more exposed to air it is the more it 

 will granulate. 



Pres. Miller — To what point would you heat it ? 

 Mr. Baxter — It wants to be so the air is thoroughly driven 

 out. 



Pres. Miller — If you go beyond IGO^ you are in danger, 

 you know. 



Mr. Baxter — By -putting the cans in warm water there is 

 no danger. 



Pres. Miller — It hurt my honey ; it may not dark honey. 

 Mr. Baxter — It won't white clover honey. Put it in hot 

 water. 1 put my jars on a board in the bottom of a boiler, so 

 the glass does not touch metal at all, aud I have never had 

 any trouble. 



Mr. Green — Have you ever heated heart's-ease honey to 

 that point? 



Mr. Baxter — Yes, I have ? 



Mr. Wheeler — Some samples of heart's-ease honey we find 

 granulating in a day or two after they are put in jars, espe- 

 cially if put in while warm, but I have a sample of honey 

 which I had on exhibition at the World's Fair which was shipt 

 down here in November, and after it was sent home it was 

 shown at the Nebraska State Fair twice, and has not granu- 

 lated yet. Those samples were treated differently. I took it 

 off in the fall, carried it in a warm room in combs ; it was ex- 

 tracted in April, and put into jars and shipt down here; it 

 weighed lo pounds to the gallon. I have had it show the 

 effects of granulation while I was shipping it 100 miles. If 

 honey is taken off and extracted and put into jars while yet 

 warm from the hive, it will granulate much quicker than if it 

 is kept on hand to ripen more. 



Pres. Miller — I have no doubt that Mr. Wheeler has 

 struck an important point; if we don't want honey to granu- 

 late it should be very ripe. 



Dr. Besse — I have had some experience in keeping honey 

 from granulating, and am satisfied that if you bring it almost 

 to the boiling-point and put it in fruit-jars and can it up with 

 sealing-wax, air-tight, you can keep it for years without 

 granulating ; and by adding a little cream of tartar with it — I 

 want to ask whether or not that would be adulterating it. 

 Mr. Wheeler — How much to 60 pounds ? 

 Dr. Besse — Well, to 100 pounds I should think about a 

 tables poonful. 



Mr. Wheeler — What effect has that on the honey as to its 

 color ? 



Dr. Besse — No effect at all. It will keep sugar from 

 crystalizing, and I should think it would honey. I don't think 

 there would be any harm in adding it. 



Mr. Baxter — If the secret in keeping honey from granu- 

 lating is to have it thoroughly ripened before extracting it, 

 why is it that in California they extract it before it is ripe, 

 and it never granulates ? 



Mr. Wheeler — It does not granulate in extremely dry air 

 like California so quickly as It does here, because it does not 

 gather moisture from the air. 



Pres. Miller — All familiar with honey know that the char- 

 acter of the honey itself has a great deal to do with granula- 

 tion. 



Dr. Besse — I have some honey put up in one-half pound 

 and pound jars, that has been put up for four or five years; 

 some of it did not granulate at all, but the greater part did. 



Mr. Wheeler — I think that point by Dr. Besse Is a good 

 one, about adding cream of tartar, if it works. I would like 

 to find out what experience he has had ; in what shape he 

 adds it, and so on. I think there is a great demand by the 

 people for honey that does not granulate, and if we can find 

 something that will not be considered adulteration, I think 

 that is one of the greatest helps to the sale of extracted honey 

 there is. 



Mr. York — I would like, as Mr. Wheeler asks, that Dr. 

 Besse tell us a little more about what has been his experience 

 in using cream of tartar to prevent granulation of extracted 

 honey. 



Dr. Besse — I have never used it, but I have been tempted 

 to use it. I am against adulteratiou. 



Mr. Green — Perhaps my experience with cream of tartar 

 would be of some use. I used to use it for putting up sugar 

 syrup for winter — a piece to 10 pounds of sugar. I think I 

 used a piece of tartar about the size of a hazel-nut mixt with 

 hot water, and added to hot syrup; boil a little after that, 

 and It would never granulate or crystallize, and If used In 

 honey in the same way It might have the same effect. 



Dr. Besse^I am satisfied it will keep honey from granu- 

 lating the same as sugar from crystallizing. I should like to 

 have our friends here experiment on that. I don't think there 

 would be anything wrong lu It at all. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have tried using It In sugar syrup, and it 



