FIFTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES 



DIFFERENT KINDS OF FLAVORS. 



Many people think "honey is honey" — all just alike; but this is a 

 great mistake. Honey may be of good, heavy body — what beekeepers call 

 " well-ripened " — weighing generally twelve pounds to the gallon, or it may 

 be quite thin. It may also be granulated, or candied, more solid than lard. 

 It may be almost as colorless as water, and it may be ss black as the 

 darkest molasses. The flavor of honey varies according to the flower from 

 which it is obtained. It would be impossible to describe in words the flavors 

 of the different honeys. You may easily distinguish the odor of a rose from 

 that of a carnation, but you might find it difficult to describe them in words 

 so that a novice smelling them for the first time could tell which was which. 

 But the different flavors in honey are just as distinct as the odors in 

 flowers. Among the light-colored honeys are white clover, linden (or bass- 

 wood), sage, sweet clover, alfalfa, willow-herb, etc., and among the darker 

 are found heartsease, magnolia (or poplar), horsemint, buckwheat, etc. 



ADTJLTEEATION OF HONEY. 



In these days of prevailing adulteration, when so often " things are 

 not what they seem," it is a comfort to know that strictly pure honey, both 

 extracted and comb, can still be had and at "■ reasonable price. The silly 

 stories seen from time to time in the papers about artificial combs being 

 filled with glucose, and deftly sealed over with a hot iron, have not the 

 slightest foundation in fact. For years there has been a standing offer by 

 one whose financial responsibility is unquestioned of $1000 for a single 

 pound of comb honey made without the intervention of bees. The offer 

 remains untaken, and will probably always remain so, for the highest art 

 of man can never compass such delicate workmanship as the skill of the 

 bee accomplishes. 



Extracted hoiney, however, is not incapable of imitation. Time was when 

 a tumbler on a grocer's shelf labeled honey might contain honey, and it 

 might contain glucose. If you were well enough acquainted with honey you 

 might tell the difference by the taste; otherwise you had to trust to the 

 honesty of the grocer. Always, however, you could be sure of the genuine 

 article by getting it from the beekeeper himself. But the pure-food laws 

 have changed all that, and nowadays you may trust that the label correctly 

 represents what is under it. 



CAKE OF HONEY- — ^WHERE TO KEEP IT. 



The average housekeeper will put honey in the cellar for safe keeping 

 — about the worst place possible. Honey readily attracts moisture, and in 

 the cellar extracted honey will become thin, and in time may sour; and with 

 comb honey the case is still worse, for the appearance as well as the quality 

 is changed. The beautiful white surface becomes watery and darkened, 

 drops of water ooze through the cappings, and weep over the surface. In- 

 stead of keeping honey in a place moist and cool, keep it dry and warm, 

 even hot. It will not hurt to be in a temperature of even 100 degrees. 

 Where salt will keep dry is a good place for honey. Few places are better 

 than the kitchen cupboard. Up in a hot garret next the roof is a good place, 



