110 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIE]/p , 



in other respects so far as I could discover. 

 I considered it important that the heating 

 should be gradual, for the reason that the 

 process of meltiug candied honey must be 

 rather slow as it is a poor conductor of heat. 

 If the heating were rapid, that at the sides 

 of the containing vessel would be melted 

 and might be badly injured before that at 

 the center was even warmed. This would 

 be more especially so if the vessel were of 

 considerable size. If through rapid heating 

 the temperature at the sides of such a 

 vessel goes above the highest point of safe- 

 ty and it is maintained at that point until 

 the honey is all reduced, much damage will 

 certainly be done, although the tempera- 

 ture at the centre of the mass of honey may 

 have, for only a short time, approxima- 

 ted the danger point. Without question, 

 the length of time during which a high tem- 

 perature is maintained is an important ele- 

 ment in the forces that work damage, 

 though this perhaps is not a practical point. 

 However, in a subsidiary test, I learned this 

 fact by running the temperature of a small 

 quantity of honey up (jiiickly to 200\ and 

 allowing it to remain at that point but for a 

 brief space of time. The injury done to 

 the honey was found to be trifling. But I 

 think this to be of no great practical im- 

 portance on account of the fact that heat 

 permeates candied honey so slowly, render- 

 ing it undesirable to attain a point of tem- 

 perature which cannot be safely maintained 

 until the honey is completely liquetied. 



For the purpose of comparisan for deter- 

 mining the effect of heat at different tem- 

 peratures, portions were taken from each 

 sample when the mercury inserted in them 

 reached the following points, namely, 145% 

 1()8'^, 180% and l!t4\ except that none was 

 taken from the alfalfa honey at 14.5 for the 

 reason that it appeared to be still unmelted. 

 The results of the experiments were to some 

 extent a surprise, and appeared to indicate, 

 first, that the material composing the vessel 

 containing the honey while it is undergoing 

 the heating process may have something to 

 do in aiding the heat to do its injurious 

 work. I think this must be so, because the 

 injury done to the sample used in my first 

 experiment is so much greater both to the 

 color and flavor than tfiat done to the comb 

 sample used in the present one that it 

 could only otherwise be accounted for by 

 supposing that they were from different 

 sources, while the fact is that tliey were 



very nearly the same, the only difference 

 being that that used in the former case may 

 have had a somewhat larger proportion of 

 clover honey. The more decided scorched 

 taste of that brought to a high temperature 

 in the earthern-ware vessel, as compared 

 with that heated to the same degree in a 

 vessel of tin, leads me to suppose that the 

 heat may be conveyed with greater intensity 

 and directness through ea:thern-ware than 

 through tin. 



Second, that samples of honey from dif- 

 ferent sources, /. e. , from different classes 

 of plants, vary considerably in their liability 

 to injury from overheating. This is owing, 

 I surmise, to a difference in the amount or 

 quality of the acids they contain. 



Third, that the melting of virgin comb 

 with honey does not effect the color or flavor 

 of the honey at any temperature otherwise 

 safe. 



I have said the results appeared to indicate 

 these things, advisedly, for the elements of 

 the case are too complicated to warrant one 

 in speaking with entire contidence without 

 farther experimentation, but the evidence 

 of these things, so far as it goes, is in the 

 results themselves which I now give. 



I am inclined to regard the sample of 

 alfalfa honey with suspicion, fearing that it 

 is not a fair specimen. Whether or not it 

 had been affected injuriously by ferment, 

 or otherwise, it acted differently from the 

 other samples on exposure to heat. The 

 willow herb and the basswood honeys readi- 

 ly liquefied and became limpid at 14.5% but 

 alfalfa honey at that temperature seem- 

 ed only semi - liquid and as far from 

 being transparent as it was before it was 

 heated at all. I did not examine it crit- 

 ically at this temperature but thought it 

 had not been dissolved, in which judge- 

 ment I may have been hasty. However, I 

 removed no samples, but those taken at 1(!8'' 

 and at 180° were dissolved, but entirely lack- 

 ing in limpidity. At l'.>4 it was fairly clear, 

 but very much injured in color, that having 

 become an amber inclined to brown. The 

 flavor, however, so far as I could discover, 

 was very slightly affected. At 145° the hon- 

 ey from the great willow herb was almost 

 water white, having only a slight golden 

 tinge, while the basswood sample heated 

 with the wax was light, but, in comparison 

 with the willow herb sample, was of a much 

 more golden color. In both these samples 

 the change in color from 145 to '[Gi*-" and 



