THE BEE-ICEEPERS' REVIEW 



283 



UNRIPE HONEY. 



Some of the Evils That Come From Ex- 

 tracting Honey Before it is 

 Sealed Over. 



It is to be hoped tlial the journals 

 will take up the crusade against the 

 extracting' of unripe honej', and keep 

 it up until no more honey is extracted 

 until it has been sealed over. I will 

 admit that it is possible that honey 

 may be ripe before it is capped over, 

 but the circumstances are exceptional, 

 ar.d the only safe advice is to uv^e the 

 cappinj,'- before extractinj;-. If this 

 course should become universal it 

 would greatly advance the demand for 

 extracted tionej-. Right in this line I 

 taUe pleasure in copying an article 

 from Alpine McGregor, of Ontario, 

 Canada, publislicd in a recent issue of 

 Glesnings. Mr. McGregor says : — 



I just wish to emphasize an editorial 

 comment on Mr. E. W. Alexander's 

 article, p. 153, Feb. 1. Referring- to 

 the advisabilit}' of allowing the ex- 

 tractirg-combs to become fully capped 

 before extracting, you say, '"In all the 

 lake regions I am sure it is impera- 

 tive " The "lake region," if I am cor- 

 rect, includes nearly all Canada except 

 Manitoba and the Northwest, where, 

 practicallj', there are no bees, and a 

 part of the United States. I too am 

 sure that it is imperative. 



1 remember very well when D. A. 

 Jones was "King" in Canada. He 

 ]H"acticed and advised extracting be- 

 fore the combs were capped, and ripen- 

 ing- the honey in tanks holding about 

 375 lbs. All the bee-keepers with 

 whom I was acquainted, and I think I 

 may sa}' the majority in Canada, fol- 

 lowed this plan. The result was that 

 the hone_v market for years was such 

 that it was more dililicult to sell the 

 honey than to produce it. Many went 

 out of the business; and those who re- 

 mained, the writer among the number, 

 decreased their stock. I will mention 

 just one case in point. 



A man, less than two miles from 

 here, about twenty years ago extracted 

 over 200 lbs. per colony. Being short 

 of ripening-tanks he ran it into cans 

 too soon; and the consequence was that 

 every pound fermented, bulged out the 



cans, and forced itself out at the top. 

 It was all sold within twelve miles 

 from here, and I need not enlarge on 

 the eR'ect it had on the demand for 

 honey in this "locality." 



I will not say that good thick honey 

 can not be produced by artificial ripen- 

 ing: provided there is plenty of ripening- 

 tank capacity and the weather is hot 

 and dry; but take any one of the last 

 three summers, last summer especially, 

 when almost every second day there 

 was rain, a damp atmosphere, cloudy 

 and cool day and night— will any one 

 say that honey could be properly 

 ripened in such an atmosphere and at 

 such a temperature ? 



About twenty years ag-o the writer 

 was present at a convention in the Ciiv 

 Hall, Toronto. The Rev. L. L. 

 Lang-stroth, Mr. A. I. Root, Prof. 

 Cook, Mr. D. A. Jones, and many 

 other prominent bee-keepers from the 

 United States and Canada were there. 

 In the course of a discussion Prof. 

 Cook arose and asserted, with all the 

 dogmatism of a fifteenth-century Cal- 

 vinist, that honey extracted before it 

 is sealed and artiticiall}^ ripened is 

 just as good as that fully ripened in 

 the hive. He had tested it — with some 

 of his students I think he said — and 

 the,y could not tell any difference. He 

 further stated that he could not afford 

 the time to let the honey ripen inside 

 the hive. Mr. A. I. Root took the op- 

 posite view, and maintained thathonej- 

 which is full}' capped before extracting 

 is superior— a position which I believe 

 is endorsed by nine-tents of the bee- 

 keepers throngl out the United States 

 and Canada toda}'. 



Right here I may say that I do not 

 consider an extracted-honey producer 

 fully prepared for his business unless 

 he has three supers for each colony of 

 drawn combs. Thus equipped we ran 

 afford the time to allow our honey to 

 become fully ripened in the hive. 



I shall not presume to question the 

 Alexander method of extracting: honey 

 in /ir's local it3', especially buck'cvheal 

 hone}'. I rather fancy that exposing it 

 in large tynks for a week or so would 

 improve it, as it might dissipate some 

 of the aroma (?). But I do not want 

 to see that system revived and reintro- 

 duced through the medium of Glean- 

 ings. 



The editor of Gleanings comments as 

 follows: — 



[As I have before stated, I will sa}' 

 again with further emphasis, that for 



