of this process, to find that the well-known E. W. Alexander, one of the 

 most extensiye and experienced beekeepers in the world, was working on 

 the same method. His articles on the subject in Gleanings, early in 

 1906, created quite a sensation among beekeepers in America, some of 

 whom rather fiercely criticized him and his method, and in reply he wrote, 

 " But I do say that the man who has had experience, and has the 

 necessary storage-tanks, can riper his honey after the bees commence to 

 cap it so that it will be just as good as if left with the bees all summer. 

 In this way we not only get twice the amount, but we save our bees much 

 labour and waste of honey in capping it over, and ourselves at least half 

 the work in extracting." I may add that by ripening honey outside the 

 hive swarming can be better kept under control. 



During a heavy flow of honey when it is left in the hive to ripen it 

 is necessary to keep adding top boxes to take advantage of the flow, as 

 the honey will be stored faster than it^can be ripened. This means the 

 providing of a large quantity of extra material and combs, at considerable 

 cost. Each top box would be worth at least 2s. 6d., and the nine frames 

 of comb at Is. 3d. each, lis. 3d., making a total of 13s. 9d. ; and two 

 of these extra boxes may sometimes be needed for each hive if full ad- 

 vantage is to be taken of the conditions mentioned. 



EIPENING AND MATUKING TANKS. 

 The most effective method of ripening and maturing honey is to 

 expose a large surface of comparatively shallow mass to a warm, dry 

 atmosphere. Many of the "tanks" in use at the present time consist 

 of cylinders similar to those of a honey-extractor, about 18 in. or 20 in. 

 in diameter, by 36 in. deep. These, besides being small, are wrong in 

 principle — they are too deep, and the surface is too small. Even when 

 the honey is allowed to ripen within the hive it is necessary to have shallow 

 tanks to mature or clarify it, for, no matter how small in the mesh the 

 strainer may be or how carefully the honey is strained, it is impossible 

 to prevent very fine particles of wax and pollen-grains running from 

 the extractor into the tank with the honey. If the body of the honey is 

 deep these particles cannot rise to the surface as they do in a shallow 

 tank, forming a scum, which, when skimmed off, leaves the honey in the 

 very best form for market. Air-bubbles, which in themselves may con- 

 tain moisture (and it is absolutely certain that honey .containing air- 

 bubbles quickly deteriorates), cannot rise or escape through a deep mass 

 of honey. 



With regard to the scum just mentioned, it is by no means uncom- 

 mon to find an unpleasant-looking film, or layer, anywhere between \ in. 

 and \ in. deep on the top of honey in tins sent into the market. This 

 is the result of tinning it before it has been matured and skimmed. 



