32 



SEVENTH ANNUAL. REPORT OF THE 



Mr. Dadant: While we are on this 

 subject it may be well to read an ex- 

 tract from the American Bee Journal 

 of this month. 



HONEY RIPENED ON HIVES, ETC. 



By P. Greiner. 



In the October number of the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal it is said that honey 

 improves if left on the hive to the end 

 of the season. Thousands of bee keep- 

 ers of long experience, here and abroad, 

 have said so again and again, and green 

 honey has been severely condemned 

 ever since I kept bees, if I remember 

 rightly. We all know that green honey 

 not only lacks in body, but it has not 

 the fine flavor of well ripened honey of 

 the same source; it is therefore very 

 important that the honey producer ex- 

 ercises care in extracting. The notes of 

 warning Mr. Townsend and Mr. Hutch- 

 inson sound should be heeded, and we 

 should at least not extract from the 

 combs till all sealed. If found neces- 

 sary to extract from unsealed or partly 

 unsealed combs, such honey should be 

 kept separate and sold for less money. 

 So far, so good. 



I would now ask the question: Has 

 any extensive experiment ever been 

 made which goes to show that honey, 

 after being sealed, improves with age if 

 left on the hive, say to the end of the 

 season? I am aware that comb-honey 

 has sometimes imparted to it a peculiar 

 — let me call it hive-flavor — if left on 

 the hive an unduly long time. This 

 flavor is somewhat objectionable to 

 many, but possibly not so to some oth- 

 ers. I very much doubt, however, that 

 the body and general qualities of honey 

 can be improved after it is sealed. I 

 have had honey sour on the hive dur- 

 ing the summer season and raise the 

 cappings. The bees sometimes remove 

 a part of such honey from those cells 

 which appear to contain the worst 

 honey, but even that which is left in 

 those cotnbs by them has a sour taste 

 and smell. The bees seem to have no 

 way to -improve it even if left on the 

 hive to the end of the honey season, as 

 Hutchinson. Townsend and Dadant rec- 

 ommend. It is therefore necessary to 

 go a little further in the selection of 

 our combs before they go to the extrac- 

 tor. The combs which contain sour 

 honey have a varying per cent of un- 

 sealed or open cells sprinkled in among 

 the rest. Seldom we find more than one 

 unsealed cell in -a place. Look out for 



such combs. Taste of such suspicious 

 honey. If the slightest tang can be de- 

 tected about it, reject it. I know of no 

 way to improve such honey, and the 

 only possible use that can be made of it 

 is to put it into the vinegar barrel. It 

 may also do for feeding bees in the 

 early spring, but I do not know. I 

 should want it all used up in brood- 

 rearing If I used it in this way. 



As different conditions alter cases, it 

 would not do for every honey-producer 

 to follow the advice of even such bee- 

 masters as Mr. Townsend and Mr. 

 Hutchinson to the letter, and leave all 

 his honey on the hive until the end of 

 the honey season, from more than one 

 point of view. What may be proper 

 and best for one bee-keeper may be 

 entirely wrong for another. Located 

 where I am, the early honey coming 

 from the tulip tree is very dark, more 

 so than even buckwheat, and decidedly 

 unpleasant. The red raspberry honey 

 and the earlier fruit-bloom honey is 

 also objectionable on account of flavor 

 and color. If I left on all extracting 

 combs from the beginning of the season 

 to the end, my honey would be very 

 poor as to flavor and color. A sorting 

 out of the different honeys would be 

 impracticable, and I would be the loser 

 in the end, for color always stands first, 

 flavor next, and body last; this, at 

 least, is my experience, absurd as it 

 may be. 



Now, what is to be done in such a 

 case? If extracted honey must be pro- 

 duced we must extract before the good 

 white honey comes here about the last 

 of June, then again as soon as this flow 

 stops. We have to be on our guard so 

 as not to have any late dark honey 

 stored in the supers with the white. 

 It is a very unpleasant situation. I 

 realize how much more agreeable it is 

 in a location where all honey gathered 

 is practically of one color and flavor. 

 Virginia is one of those spots favored 

 along that line; I have an out-yard 

 there where practically only white 

 honey is gathered. 



In localities where it seems necessary 

 to extract several times to keep the 

 different honeys separate, naturally 

 some green honey will have to be ex- 

 tracted. This answers nicely for feed- 

 ing to comb-honey-producing colonies, 

 and may be turned to good account in 

 this manner. The washings from cap- 

 pings can also thus be utilized if not 

 thought best to make into vinegar. 



As has been said, honey that is 



