MABKETING HONEY. 479 



by the bees before it was fully ripened or evaporated 

 (744), during a plentiful honey harvest. The changes of 

 temperature in Spring and Summer cause a certain amount 

 of fermentation in it, exactly as in the housekeepers' sealed 

 preserves, when not sufficiently heated or sweetened. The 

 result is a bursting of the cappings, by the pressure of the 

 expanding honey, which runs out and over the comb and 

 renders it unsalable. The same expansion sometimes takes 

 place in granulated extracted honey accompanied by a slight 

 fermentation. 



837. It is also held, by some leading Apiarists, that the 

 cells, although sealed are not moisture-proof, and that comb- 

 honey gathers water from the air, till it overfills the cell 

 and escapes through its pores. For this reason they keep 

 their comb-honey in a warm dry room. This is a good thing 

 to do in every case. Honey is hygrometric, and whenever 

 exposed, gathers moisture rapidly, so that when kept in 

 a damp place, a few unsealed or damaged cells very readily 

 overflow, with watery honey, that daubs everything. There- 

 fore, whether we believe that the sealed cells are air-tight 

 or not (263), we should keep our honey in a dry place at 

 all times. 



To prevent the leaking honey in sections from running 

 out of a crate and daubing other boxes, a sheet of strong 

 manila paper should be placed at the bottom of each ease, 

 with the edges folded up slightly, say half an inch. 



" The cases for shipping and retailing honey, should be light, 

 and glazed on one or both sides. Those holding hut one tier are 

 best. The sections should rest on narrow strips of wood } inch 

 thick, tacked to the bottom of the case over a sheet of manila 

 paper. This is to preserve the boxes from being daubed, In case 

 the honey drips. 



" These cases should be in readiness before the honey is ready 

 to be taken olf. " — (Oliver Foster). 



828. " Glazed sections " — one glass on each side of 

 each section — have been largely sold in the East ; but this 



