272 FORTY YEARS AMONG THE BEES. 



GRANULATED HONEY. 



If comb honey becomes granulated or watery, I 

 know of no way to restore it. If for home use, or if one 

 happens to have a market where extracted honey sells 

 for a good price, the sections may be put in stone crocks 

 slozvly melted, being sure it is not overheated, and then 

 when cool, the cake of wax may be lifted off the honey. 



The best place to keep comb honey is also the best 

 place to keep extracted ; but if extracted honey becomes 

 granulated or watery, it may be restored to its former, 

 or even a better condition. If thin and not granulated, 

 by setting it on the reservoir of a cook-stove and letting 

 it remain days enough, it will become thick. I suppose 

 you may have known this, and also that extracted honey, 

 when granulated, may be liquefied by slowly heating, but 

 did you know that when thin honey is warmed for a long 

 time the flavor is improved? I have had the flavor im- 

 proved and could attribute it to nothing but remaining a 

 couple of weeks on the reservoir. I do not mean by this 

 that if fine-flavored honey in good condition is placed on 

 the stove reservoir it will be improved. Most people, 

 however, who have had much to do with honey, must 

 have noticed that when extracted honey becomes thin 

 from attracting moisture from the atmosphere, it seems 

 to acquire a different flavor — perhaps I might say it has 

 a sharp taste — and the slow heating seems to restore it 

 partly if not wholly to its former condition. 



RIPENING HONEY. 



The same thing is true of honey which is taken 

 thin from the hive, not yet having been brought to proper 

 density by the bees. 



There is a difference of opinion as to whether honey, 

 or perhaps nectar, evaporated outside of the hive, is 

 equal to that which remains in the hive till thick. Of 



