To the Editor of the Scientific American:

Seeing in your issue of October 13, 1883, an article on "Crystallization in Extracted Honey," I beg leave to differ a little with the gentleman. I have handled honey as an apiarist and dealer for ten years, and find by actual experience that it has no tendency to crystallize in warm weather; but on the contrary it will crystallize in cold weather, and the colder the weather the harder the honey will get. I have had colonies of bees starve when there was plenty of honey in the hives; it was in extreme cold weather, there was not enough animal heat in the bees to keep the honey from solidifying, hence the starvation of the colonies.

To-day I removed with a thin paddle sixty pounds of honey from a large stone jar where it had remained over one year. Last winter it was so solid from crystallization, it could not be cut with a knife; in fact, I broke a large, heavy knife in attempting to remove a small quantity.

As to honey becoming worthless from candying is a new idea to me, as I have, whenever I wanted our crystallized honey in liquid form, treated it to water bath, thereby bringing it to its natural state, in which condition it would remain for an indefinite time, especially if hermetically sealed. I never had any recrystallize after once having been treated to the water bath; and the flavor of the honey was in no way injured. I think the adding of glycerine to be entirely superfluous.

W.R. MILLER.

Polo, October 15.