ILLINOIS STATE BEE-KE3EPERS' ASSOCIATION 



1<»7 



all of these things should be consid- 

 ered, and I am inclined to believe, on 

 the whole, where there is good honey, 

 take it year in and' year out, we are 

 better off to stick to honey. And yet 

 I don't know. 



Mr. Wheeler — I have had a little ex- 

 perience in different kinds of honey 

 for wintering. I lived out in Dr. Mil- 

 ler's country one time, where we had 

 white clover honey, and some other 

 flowers, and I thought at that time 

 there was nothing better than sugar 

 syrup to winter on, but since I have 

 come to Chicago, and winter my bees 

 on sweet clover honey, I would not 

 change sweet clover honey for sugar 

 syrup, any time. It is a great deal 

 better than any other kind of honey. 

 Pure sweet clover honey has very lit- 

 tle pollen in it, and the bees will wint- 

 er well on it, and breed well in the 

 spring. The thought that struck me 

 at the time Dr. Miller was talking was, 

 it is strange the kind of honey we 

 people like so well does not keep the 

 bees so well. It does not seem to be 

 as healthy, for some reason. Sweet 

 clover honey, people don't take to, but 

 the bees invariably winter well on it.. 



Mr. Baxter — Besides that, I don't 

 want to have the name of feeding my 

 bees sugar syrup, unless there is less 

 reason. A year like this, when we 

 have so much honey- dew, I might feed 

 sugar syrup in the fall, but if I had 

 good white clover honey, or good 

 Spanish needle honey, it is good 

 enough to winter anywhere. 



Temperature to Prevent Honey-Granu- 

 lation. 



"If 160 degrees is the temperature 

 to heat honey before sealing the bot- 

 tles^ how long should it be held at this 

 temperature to prevent granulation?" 



Mr. Arnd — ^I have never had any bot- 

 tled honey that would' not granulate. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I would like to ask 

 Mr. Arnd if he heats the caps or tops, 

 whatever he has on his bottles. If the 

 entire bottle, in other words, is 

 brought up to 160 degrees in sealing? 



Mr. Arnd — I don't keep it at any 

 regular temperature. I bottle the 

 honey when it is hot. 



Mr. Cavanagh — You bottle when it 

 is hot, but there is a little air space 

 there when it is cool and the tops — 

 do you heat them, too? 



Mr. Arnd — No. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I think there iis a 



fault in your bottle. The entire bot- 

 tle, and air-sipace, should be kept at 

 the same temperature. I would not 

 say it never granulated; I have had 

 good success heating the bottles and 

 heating the caps, because if the bot- 

 tles are not heated, there is a spac© 

 above the top of the honey, that when 

 the honey is poured in at 160 degrees, 

 the honey will not bring that air- 

 space up to the proper heat. May be 

 it does not have anything to do with 

 it. I am talking of clover honey in 

 Michigan. 



President York — How long should it 

 be held at a temperature of 160 degrees 

 to prevent granulation? 



Dr. Miller — I have seen a great many 

 times directions for heating it to tnat 

 point, and sealing it up, and I never 

 saw anything said in connection with 

 •.hat as to the length of time to hold 

 it at that temperature. So that I have 

 always supposed it was not faecessary 

 to hold it for any length of time. There 

 may be something in that. The point 

 that Mr. Cavanagh makes is simply 

 the difference between 160 degrees and 

 something less than that, because the 

 cold top, of course, will cool off the 

 honey, when it is not raised to the 

 same temperature. 



Mr. Arnd — Mr. York, what do you 

 say about it? You have had as much 

 experience as any one. 



President York — ^I don't remember 

 that we ever kept the honey at 160 

 degrees for any length of time. We 

 never heated the bottles. There may 

 be something in that, because if the 

 bottles were cold, it would cool the 

 honey off much quicker. I should think 

 that might help, heating the bottles 

 and sealing it up quickly. 



Mr. Cavanagh — I would like to ask, 

 when you have the honey candied, 

 when done for the market, haven't you 

 had any experience in melting that, 

 without opening the bottles, and then 

 sealing up, ever notice whether that 

 honey candies again or not? Doesn't 

 that remain liquid almost indefinitely? 

 I mean taking h<3ney that is candied 

 and liquefying it in bottles. You do 

 that sometimes ? ^ 



Mr. Arnd — Yes, very often, honey 

 that comes back, we heat it. 



Mr. Cavanagh — Does that ever candy 

 again ? 



Mr. Arnd — Oh, yes. 



Mr. Cavanagh — As badly as it was 

 before ? 



