1388 



GLEAN IJ^^GS IN BEE CULTURE. 



675 



I don't think it advisable to extract thin honey, to 

 be ripened artificially. We have no apparatus for 

 the purpose. E. Fkance. 



No— not nearly as advisable as to get the honey 

 ripened by the bees, on the tiering plan; not so 

 cheap nor as good. James Heddon. 



No. The bees ripen it best. The apparatus is a 

 good thing to talk about, but have you ever seen a 

 crop of honey ripened with it? P. H. Elwood. 



Not if it is to be sold for eating. The market for 

 extracted honey has been injured, and in some 

 localities spoiled, by selling unripe honey. 



Dr. a. B.Mason. 



We do not like to extract raw nectar, but we know 

 of successful and practical apiarists, friend Muth 

 for one, who do so, and succeed. Read what he has 

 to say about it. Dadant & Son. 



Not ordinarily, at least. This would not produce 

 a flrst-class article; but under certain circum- 

 stances I think it would pay well with a process of 

 ripening, suflBciently rapid and inexpensive. 



James A. Green. 



I don't know whether it is best to let the bees rip- 

 en it, but I think it can be ripened artificially. For 

 a small quantity, set it in a stone crock on the res- 

 ervoir of the cook-stove. A good place is in any 

 hot room, or in hh attic next the roof. 



C. C. Miller. 



This is not advisable, as, unless you use artificial 

 heat, the raw nectar would ferment, and this arti- 

 ficial apparatus is where the profit would go to, 

 then you would produce a syrup which would not 

 taste much like honey, as it would be lacking the 

 formic acid to which honey owes its peculiar taste. 



P.\UL L. VlALLON. 



I would not advise it for the average bee-keeper. 

 This is a method which 1 have investigated very 

 largely and thoroughly. That the raw nectar may 

 be taken from the combs, and evaporated as per- 

 fectly as can be desired, I have proven beyond a 

 doubt. Yet on the whole I do not advise the prac- 

 tice. L. C. Root. 



I have sometimes done this, yet I hardly think it 

 advisable. In ripening, I use the extractor-cans as 

 sold by A. I. Root, filling them full in the chamber 

 of my shop where there is a great degree of heat. 

 Tie a piece of cheese-cloth over the top, and leave 

 it 5 or 6 weeks, when, as far as consistency of body 

 goes, it will be equal to the very best, but not as to 

 flavor. G. M. Doolittle. 



Not unless the yield of honey is so enormous that 

 the bees themselves can not manage it. I have no 

 such apparatus as alluded to. By the way, I think 

 that it's going to be held in the light of the latest 

 science, that nectar ripened artificially is not honey. 

 It must first have its proper portion of secretion 

 from the bees' honey-glands, and have its cane 

 sugar changed to grape sugar in the laboratory of 

 the bee's honey-pocket. E. E. Hasty. 



There is much more ado made about raw, or 

 green or unripe honey, than facts warrant. Honey 

 gets its flavor from the blossom, and the watery 

 parts evaporate in open vessels, perhaps not as 

 fast, but as perfect, as in the hive. The more sur- 

 face there is exposed to the air, the faster is the 

 process of evaporation. The ripest, heaviest honey 

 is in the bottom of the can or tank, pressing upward 



to the surface the watery parts until the evapora- 

 tion or ripening is complete. No flavor is lost there- 

 by. What experienced bee-keeper has not extract- 

 ed from capped combs, green, raw, or watery hon- 

 ey? Chas. F. Muth. 



Ordinarily it is not; but with us there are two 

 cases in which it is advisable. One is when the 

 bees commence storing fine honey from sage, all 

 the mixed varieties should be quickly thrown out 

 clean to keep the better variety distinct; and so at 

 the close of the season, when sumac and other in- 

 ferior honey begins to come in, all the fine honey 

 should be thrown out, to let the bees fill up with 

 second grade for winter use. To evaporate such 

 honey I use 4 tin pans 12 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 

 1 foot deep, set on inclined ground far enough ajmrt 

 so that the honey may flow from the bottom of the 

 upper one through a two-inch pipe entering on the 

 top of the next one below, so on to the last one» I 

 paint the outside to prevent rust. A 1 x 2 piece of 

 wood around the top serves to stiffen it. Four 6- 

 foot strips across the top, screwed to the side 

 strips, serve to hold the sides from bulging. I cov- 

 er with thin muslin. In a wet country it would 

 have to be thick, and put on roof fashion. These 

 pans, or evaporators, contain about 2i4 tons each. 

 I let the honey stand thus two to four weeks, then 

 draw from the lower one. letting all above follow. 

 A molasses-gate on the lower end of each pipe con- 

 trols the contents of each pan. R. Wilkin. 



The answer to this depends much on locality and 

 on the duration and quality of each honey-flow. In 

 Iowa, where the air is very dry, the bees are able to 

 cure the nectar so rapidly that it is seldom enough 

 green honey is ever in the hives at a time to pay 

 for taking it out; while in Florida, where the air is 

 not only damper, but where the main honey-flow 

 comes in the rainy season, it is seldom that sealed 

 honey is ever cured as it ought to be, and some of 

 the most successful bee-keepers there run their en- 

 tire crop through sun-evaporators, and seal their 

 barrels up tight as soon as full. 



The character of each flow of honey varies great- 

 ly, and necessitates different management in this 

 respect. Some bee-keepers, good ones too, have 

 practiced letting their honey remain in open ves- 

 sels for some time, and consider the honey so han- 

 dled as having been artificially ripened; but they 

 are as wrong in calling it so as they would be to 

 call a hive, when covered with coarse straw, a chaff 

 hive; and tha opinions of these persons are not 

 really pertinent to the correct answering of this 

 question. I understand that Mr. L. C. Root, two or 

 three years ago, conducted some exhaustive experi- 

 ments to determine for himself the correct answer 

 to this very question, and I should like it very 

 much if you could secure from him an article giv- 

 ing his exvierimenis, and the opinions he formed 

 from them. 



A small amount of thin watery honey is always 

 present in any honey just extracted, whether from 

 sealed or unsealed combs, and this should never be 

 run into barrels with the rest of the honey. I used 

 deep tin cans (about i feet deep) into whicb all hon- 

 ey was run from the extractor, and then drawn off 

 through gates at the bottom into barrels after hav- 

 ing stood as long as I could spare the use of the 

 cans, never for a less time than over night, and 

 never drew so but what from 6 to 12 inches of honey 

 would be left in the cans. By so doing, all thin or 



