56 



ADVANCED BEE-CULTURE. 



dealers say that barrels or half barrels 

 are as good as anything in which to ship 

 honey. 



Upon the approach of cool weather, 

 honey will candy; and if sealed up tight 

 and put away in a cool place, will remain 

 in this condition for years; and when 

 slowly and carefully brought back to its 

 liquid state, will be found to have retain- 

 ed its original "flavor aroma and boquet." 



This is not the proper place in which 

 to discuss the marketing of honey, but I 

 wish to say that I believe that nearly 

 every one prefers extracted honey in its 

 liquid state, and that it should be put 

 upon the market and sent to consumers 

 in this condition. It should be liquefied 

 just before shipment to consumers. For 

 this reason it is an advantage if the ves- 

 sel in which it is stored, and in which it 

 IS to be shipped, is also one in which it 

 can be melted. 



Perhaps I ought not to leave this sub- 

 ject without placing more emphasis up- 

 on the liability of injuring candied honey 

 when reliquefying it, and to do this I 

 cannot do better than to quote from an 

 article recently contributed by E. E. 

 Hasty to the American Bee-Keeper. He 

 says: "Nearly every one seems to think 

 that so long as honey does not boil, of 

 course it cannot burn. That is an awful 

 mistake. 



I/et us consider the state of things when 

 a large can is set on a stove. What is 



the temperature of the iron under the 

 can ? Perhaps 250° or 300° The under 

 side of the tin speedily rises to nearly the 

 same, and the upper side to over 212°. 

 In contact with this high temperature 

 the honey remains as long as it can with- 

 out boiling. It then springs off, and 

 gives place to another film of the same, 

 which in turn is heated to about 210° and 

 sent oif. If the whole contents of the 

 can were fluid and warm, regular currents 

 might set in which would modify things 

 and prevent over-heating. But the bulk 

 of the honey is solid and cold and can- 

 not flow back and forth. It is plain that 

 a considerable part of the honey in a can 

 (if not all of it) maybe subjected piece- 

 meal to the temperature of 210°; while 

 the mass is not at any time over blood 

 warm. It is very unsafe to heat honey to 

 2[o°- There seems to be a great differ- 

 ence in the amount of heat different 

 samples of honey will stand. Some hon- 

 ey can be boiled vigorously with but a 

 moderate degree of damage to its quality, 

 while other samples are ruined without 

 coming to a boil. I am inclined to think 

 that every can of honey ought to go out 

 to its destiny with a plainly printed 

 warning stuck upon it, and a verj' em- 

 phatically worded one, too, ending up 

 with, 'Sample this honey before you heat 

 it, or I will not be responsible for its 

 quality. Bii,i,Y Fairplay.' " 



"Feeding Back." 



-v Y "feeding back" is meant the 



J feeding back of extracted hon- 



) ey to secure the completion of 



unfinished sections, or to have 



combs built new from the beginning. 

 When engaged in the production of comb 

 honey I fed back for this purpose at least 

 13,000 pounds of extracted honey; but 



my success was so varied that I never felt 

 like encouraging the practice. One year, 

 with certain colonies, I would meet with 

 such splendid success as to be greatly en- 

 couraged, while the results of the next 

 year, or the performances of certain col- 

 onies, would, perhaps, lead me to decide 

 that I was done with feeding back. But, 



