THOUSAND ANSWERS 127 



captured the reward. The same offer has also been made by the 

 National Beekeepers' Association. 



Honey, Ripe. — Q. When honey is sealed and capped over by 

 the bees, is it ripe and ready to take off, if not, how is one to 

 know? 



A. As a rule, when honey is sealed it is ripe, and it isn't ripe^ 

 until it is sealed. That's the rule, and if you follow it in taking 

 ofl honey all the mistakes you make will never send you to the 

 penitentiary. As with most rules, there are exceptions. The bees 

 may seal up honey before it is ripe, and they may leave it un- 

 sealed after it is ripe. You can tell by seeing whether the honey 

 is thick or thin. If 'it's thick, call it ripe. But the exceptions are 

 so few that in actual practice I never paid any attention to them, 

 merely counting all honey ready to take off if sealed. 



Honey, Soil Affecting Yield. — Q. Why is it that some plants 

 produce honey in some places and don't in others? Cotton, for 

 instance, yields heavily in both north and south Georgia, but does 

 not yield honey, or the bees do not get it, just a little north of 

 the center of the state, among the red hills. 



A. I don't know; only I know it is so. The soil or the eleva- 

 tion may have something to do with it. 



Honey, Sour. — Q. (a) Will honey extracted from comb freshly 

 built and not capped over sour if placed in a can? If so, how 

 would you prevent this? 



(b) Will comb and extracted honey put in regular honey 

 buckets sour if kept any length of time? 



A. (a) Maybe, and maybe not. Sometimes honey is sealed 

 before it is ripened, but generally not. The remedy is to wait 

 until the honey is sealed before extracting. Even if it never 

 soured, it will be money in your pocket in the long run if you 

 never put anything on the market but the very best ripened 

 article. 



(b) Either kind may be kept for years without souring if well 

 ripened by the bees and then kept in a dry place where it will not 

 attract moisture. Keep it in a place where salt will keep dry. If 

 salt gets moist in a certain place so will honey, unless it be ex- 

 tracted honey tightly sealed. 



Q. What makes honey sour in the hive when the flow is at 

 its best and no honeydew? This season I ran my bees for comb 

 honey; in some of the hives honey soured before it was capped. 



A. I don't know. I know it sometimes occurs, and I sup- 

 pose it is something in the character of the honey itself. 



