788 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



RIPENING HONEY ARTIFICIALLY; WHY WE DO 



NOT RECOMMEND IT FOR THE AVERAGE 



BEEKEEPER. 



We call attention to a most excellent ar- 

 ticle by Mr. Isaac Hopkins, p. 801, of this 

 issue, on this subject. While we believe 

 that the average beekeeper and all begin- 

 ners should not attempt to ripen artificially, 

 we are convinced that Mr, Hopkins knows 

 how to do it ; and there are doubtless other 

 experts who have been able to do so. We 

 hesitate to give countenance to the method 

 because of its tendency to induce careless- 

 ness on the part of many extracted-honey 

 producers, in that they will extract before 

 the honey is thoroughly ripened, assuming 

 that the process will be finished in open 

 vats screened from bees. Too many times 

 in this climate the humidity of the atmos- 

 phere is such that such exposed honey, so 

 far from evaporating out the excess of 

 water, takes up more of it. It is this con- 

 dition of atmosphere that is responsible for 

 the poor quality of some of the artificially 

 ripened honey on the market. Such honey 

 when put into cans and barrels causes no 

 end of trouble. The honey ferments, causes 

 a pressure until the cans burst, and the 

 barrels shoot their bungs out like the shot 

 of a gun. The honey then boils over, soil- 

 ing every thing. In a damp atmosphere 

 bees can ripen their honey while man fails. 



When the late Mr. Alexander advocated 

 ripening honey artificially he was roundly 

 scored by honey merchants and beekeepers 

 alike, and we were severely condemned for 

 IDublishing the matter in the first place. 



If all beekeepers were as careful as Mr. 

 Hopkins, and if all of them would use a 

 hydrometer to test the specific gravity of 

 the honey before it is sent to market, there 

 might not be so much objection to the proc- 

 ess of artificial ripening. By the way, the 

 hydrometer is something that every extract- 

 ed-honey producer ought to have; for it 

 transpires that sorne bee-ripened honey is 

 not as thick as it should be. 



GIVING A COLONY HAVING A VIRGIN, EGGS TO 

 HASTEN HER EGG-LAYING. 



Referring to the discussion on page 796 

 of this issue between the two Millers, we 

 beg to butt in again — even if we do get 

 smashed between two such heavy weights — 

 especially so as one of the contestants says, 

 '' I will turn my attention to E. R. He is 

 sitting as a judge, but I will make him co- 

 defendant." In the first place, we may say 

 we are of the same opinion still as exjoress- 

 ed on page 708, Nov. 15, namely, that we 

 have " never been able to discover that the 



giving of eggs and larvae had any thing to 

 do with hastening the demise of a virgin 

 queen ;" also that Mr. Prit chard " makes it 

 a practice to give colonies with virgins 

 young brood." Notice in the second quota- 

 tion that we are talking about colonies and 

 not nuclei. As a matter of fact we do not 

 make it a practice to give nuclei eggs and 

 larvae to stimulate their virgins to laying. 

 As A. C. Miller points out it would be too 

 expensive, and take too much time. In the 

 second place, we did not abandon our baby 

 nuclei as we had intended. Early in the 

 season we did think (see page 326) that 

 full-size-frame Langstroth nuclei would be 

 better than our twin baby nuclei; but a 

 further and much more prolonged test dur- 

 ing this season has convinced Mr. Pritchard 

 that the babies more than hold their own. 

 We did not j^ropose to abandon them (see 

 page 327) as Mr. Miller implies, because 

 of a " loss of queens," nor because we had 

 to give them eggs, but rather because we 

 thought, all things considered, the larger 

 full-sized nuclei would raise queens just as 

 cheap or cheaper (see page 326). But on 

 this point our Mr. Pritchard changed his 

 mind before the season was over. We have 

 been testing out these baby nuclei in lots of 

 300 at a time. We tried out 200 of the full- 

 sized Langstroth-frame nuclei alongside of 

 about 300 of the small ones. The little ones 

 showed their superiority in more ways than 

 one. 



Yes, Mr. Pritchard is a man who keeps 

 tab on everything he does. He has to or he 

 could not keep up with orders. When we 

 ask him for an opinion on a certain queen- 

 rearing proposition he proves his statement 

 by his records. These records, in connec- 

 tion with raising nearly 3000 queens in a 

 season, were the basis of the statement on 

 Y>age 718, which we quoted above at the 

 head of the editorial. 



We may say further that Mr. Pritchard 

 explains that he does not give the baby 

 nuclei eggs or larvae, for the simple reason 

 that they do not need them. The laying 

 queens just taken out of them he says leave 

 no deficiency of either at the time new vir- 

 gins are put in to take their place. These 

 larger-sized twin-baby nuclei maintain their 

 strength fairlj? well throughout the season. 

 It is only the small-sized ones such as Mr. 

 Pratt used that " peter out." 



RETROSPECT FOR THE YEAR 1912. 



Hardly had the new year been launched 

 when most severe winter weather set in. The 

 mercury began to drop, drop, clear down, 

 and beekeepers everywhere were hoping and 

 confidently expecting there would be a let- 



