110 
DR. MII.LER'S 
Honey not permitted in shipping grades is as follows: 
Extracted honey packed in second-hand cans. 
Unripe, or fermenting honey, weighing less than 12 pounds per 
gallon. 
Honey contaminated by excessive use of smoke. 
Honey not properly strained. 
Honey contaminated by honeydew. 
Granulation of Honey. — Q. What causes the granulation of 
honey? Is there any way to prevent it? I sold some to a man 
this fall. He says it was granulated in the combs and he will not 
buy any more. Does it make any difference when the honey is 
gathered from different flowers as to its "sugaring”? 
A. The granulation of honey is caused, or at least hastened, 
by cold. Some honey, however, granulates readily without being 
reduced to a low temperature, since the honey from some plants 
granulates very readily, while the honey from some other plants 
scarcely granulates at all. Frequent changes from warm to cold 
favor granulation more than a steady continuance of cold. 
Stirring honey hastens granulation. If honey is heated as much 
as it will stand without injuring the aroma or flavor, say some- 
where below 160 degrees, and sealed up while hot, it will continue 
liquid. 
Your inquiry, however, is more particularly about comb honey. 
While honey in the comb is slower about granulation than ex- 
tracted honey, we are more helpless about preventing granulation 
or reducing it to a liquid state after it is once granulated. To be 
sure some have reported melting comb honey — or bringing it 
again to a liquid state — without injuring the comb, yet it must be 
a rather ticklish job. I think that honey left a considerable time 
on the hive is less inclined to granulate than that which is re- 
moved just as soon as it is sealed, but here you meet the trouble 
that leaving it on the hive too long darkens the comb. Perhaps 
the best you can do is to leave your sections on as long as you 
can without having the combs darkened, and then keep them in 
as warm a place as you can until sold. 
Q. Under what conditions can extracted honey be most 
quickly granulated, or candied, so that it can be sold in paper 
packages? I am not engaged in beekeeping, and haven’t much 
literature on the subject. 
A. In Europe, where there is more desire to have honey 
granulate than here, they stir the honey occasionally.. Mixing a 
little granulated honey with the liquid also helps. There is a 
great difference in the kinds of honey. Some honey begins to 
