1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



375 



General Correspondence 



THE IMPORTANCE OF ALLOWING HONEY 

 TO RIPEN ON THE HIVES, 



Most Honey, Removed Soon After Being Capped, 



Not Equal to That Left on till the 



End of the Season. 



BY W. p. SOUTHWORTH. 



[On page 342, June 1, we published an article from 

 (i. C. Greiner, who advocated extracting several 

 times during the season — not, however, before the 

 combs were .at least three-fourths capped. There is 

 something to be said on both sides of the ciuestion; 

 but we presume that no one doubts that honey is 

 imijroved by being left on the hives as long as pos- 

 sible. The following article is from the manager of 

 the Western Honey-producers' Association. It will 

 be noted that Mr. Southworth has a number of ar- 

 guments in favor of the plan of leaving honey on 

 the hive until the end of the season. — Ed.] 



All bee-keepers are interested in tlie pro- 

 duction of ripe honey, if they are striving to 

 put the best honey on the market that can 

 be obtained anywhere. This can not be 

 done unless the honey is ripened on the hive. 

 Bee-keepers are also interested in increasing 

 the consumption 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 sus- 

 picious of all that is offered him. 



The first two years nearly all the honey 

 came to us in small lots, and we soon notic- 

 ed that there was quite a difference in the 

 quality and density. This led to close ex- 

 amination and tests, and the cause was soon 

 located. Some of the honey had been ex- 

 tracted 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 suc- 

 ceeded, by warming it up well, and remov- 

 ing 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 hon- 

 ey in these cans was granulated; but the 

 part remaining liquid was very thin. This 

 experience 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, because the sam- 

 ples showed that the honey had been ex- 

 tracted before it was properly ripened. 



We have been very much interested in 

 the article that appeared in tlie Amn'ican 

 Bee Journal, entitled "The Two Cans of 

 Honey," and we wish that every bee-keep- 

 er might read it, and also the note on the 

 same subject by Mr. R. A. Burnett, of Chi- 

 cago. The Agricultural Department at 

 Washington has published a bulletin. No. 



75, entitled "Production and Care of Ex- 

 tracted 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 imme^liately, sometimes be- 

 come 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, tlie party that sold it to him 

 will get something, when he calls again, 

 that is not pleasant. I have had some ex- 

 perience along this line, both with the dis- 

 satisfied dealer and with the sour comb hon- 

 ey. Last season we had to melt up consid- 

 erable comb honey that had begun to sour, 

 and save what we could of it and the wax. 



We can produce nice comb honey in fa- 

 vorable 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 i^ late in the season. 



The climatic conditions have considerable 

 to do with the length of time that it takes 

 the bees to ripen lioney. Last year the pro- 

 cess was very slow in this locality on account 

 of the continued cool damp weather. From 

 a bulletin published 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 

 several changes in the composition are pro- 

 duced. Among the most important of these 

 is evaporation of the nectar to a water con- 

 tent of about 20 per cent. This is effected 

 in the hive by the bees exposing the nectar 

 in thin layers to the action of a current of 

 air produced by the fanning of the wings. 

 This evaporation is further hastened, ac- 

 cording to some, by a process of regurgita- 

 tion, the nectar being continually thrown 

 out from the honey-sac on the j^artly dou- 

 bled tongue, and then drawn in again until, 

 by the movement of the air and the heat of 

 the hive, the nectar is sufhciently reduced 

 to be deposited in the cells of the comb. 



" Another change of considerable impor- 

 tance whicli takes place while the nectar is 

 in the honey-sac of the bee, and also prob- 

 ably during evaporation and storage in the 

 comb, is the inversion of a considerable part 

 of the sucrose in the nectar through the 

 action of an inverting enzym secreted by 

 the bees. 



"Anotlier modification produced in the 

 nectar by the bees is the introduction of a 

 minute quantity of formic acid. This acid 



