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THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



BLL-RIPLNLD HONLY. 



It Takes Time to Ripen Honey on 



the Hives, but it is Superior to 



all Others. 



The foundation of a honey market is 

 well-ripened honey. I am satisfied that 

 no honey is the equal of that ripened by 

 the bees. The practice of extracting 

 honey when it is only partly sealed over, 

 can not be too strongly condemned. Not 

 only ought it to be sealed over, but left on 

 the hive to ripen. It is a pleasure to 

 know that this view is being adopted and 

 advocated by such men as W. P. South- 

 worth, Manager of the Western Honey 

 Producer's Association, who has a most 

 excellent article on this subject in Glean- 

 ings. Here is what he says: 



All bee keepers are interested in the 

 production of ripe honey, if they are 

 striving to put the best honey on the 

 market that can be obtained anywhere. 

 This cannot be done unless the honey is 

 ripened on the hive. Bee keepers are 

 also interested in increasing the consump- 

 tion of honey, and not much can be 

 expected along this line until all will allow 

 the honey to be ripened on the hive. 

 There has been a good deal of nectar 

 sold as honey, and the consumer who 

 received it has noted the peculiar taste, 

 to say nothing of its tendency to sour. 

 He is, therefore, not anxious to buy 

 honey again, and is suspicious of all that 

 is offered him. 



The first two years nearly all the 

 honey came to us in small lots, and we 

 soon noticed that there was quite a 

 difference in the quality and density. 

 This led to close examination and tests, 

 and the cause was soon located. Some 

 of the honey had been extracted too 

 green. One such lot that was received 

 in the fall of 1908 soon began to show 

 signs of outgrowing the cans, and, in 

 some cases, the cans could be heard to 

 hiss if the day were warm and the room 

 quiet. This honey was at once heated 

 to see if the fermentation could be 

 stopped. We succeeded, by warming it 

 up well, and removing the heavy scum 

 that gathered on top of the honey in the 

 tank; but the flavor was ruined for table 

 use. Two-thirds of the honey in these 

 cans was granulated; but the part re- 

 maining liquid was very thin. This ex- 

 perience and many others led us at once 



to be on our guard against green honey 

 Last year we had to refuse a number 

 of lots of honey that were offered, be- 

 cause the samples showed that the 

 honey had been extracted before it was 

 properly ripened. 



We have been very much interested in 

 the article that appeared in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, entitled "The Two 

 Cans of Honey," and we wish that every 

 bee keeper might read it, and also the 

 note on the same subject by Mr. R. A. 

 Burnett, of Chicogo. The Agricultural 

 Department at Washington has published 

 a bulletin. No. 75, entitled "Production 

 and Care of Extracted Honey," the price 

 of which is 5 cts. I wish every producer 

 of extracted honey would get one of these 

 and study it carefully. 



This subject of ripening honey on the 

 hive does not apply to extracted honey 

 only, but, to quite an extent, also to the 

 production of comb honey. The delicate 

 white sections that are removed from 

 the hive early, and not marketed im- 

 mediataly, sometimes become damp in 

 spots, drops of moisture even collecting 

 on the cappings, and the nectar in the 

 open cells becomes "bubbly" and runs 

 out. These are indications that the 

 honey, though sealed, was not perfectly 

 cured or ripened. 



The retail dealers are nearly all glad 

 to get this delicate white honey; but if 

 some of it ferments, the party that sold 

 it to him will get something, when he 

 calls again, that is not pleasant. I have 

 had some experience along this line, 

 both with the dissatisfied dealer and 

 with the sour comb honey. Last season 

 we had to melt up considerable comb 

 honey that had begun to sour, and save 

 what we could of it and the wax. 



We can produce nice comb honey in 

 favorable seasons, have it look nice and 

 clean, and remain so for a long time; 

 but we must not be in a hurry to take it 

 off the hive nor to produce it close to old 

 combs that have been used for some 

 time for brood-rearing, as the bees are 

 sure to take some of that dark wax to 

 use in the cappings of the comb honey, 

 especially if it is late in the season. 



The climatic conditions have consider- 

 able to do with the length of time that 

 it takes the bees to ripen honey. Last 

 year the process was very slow in this 

 locality on account of the continued cool, 

 damp weather. From a bulletin pub- 

 lished by the Agricultural Department at 

 Washington, entitled "The Chemical 

 Analysis and Composition of Comb 

 Honey," I note the following: "In the 

 modification of the nectar by the bees 



