33 



It is extraordinary that, considering tlie importance of the subject, 

 the ripening and maturing of honey has never been scientifically discussed 

 in bee literature — at any rate, in the best that has appeared for over thirty 

 years. There have been volumes of vague statements and assertions by 

 correspondents in the various bee journals, but nothing of value. 



TESTING HONEY FOR RIPENESS. 



My former experience as a honey-merchant brought me into contact 

 with all sorts and conditions of beekeepers, and all sorts and conditions 

 of honey — in its qualities of ripeness and unripeness. I then realised the 

 need there was that beekeepers should have some simple but reliable method 

 of testing honey for its ripeness before putting it up for the market. It 

 was frequently very difficult to decide whether honey was ripe or not while 

 it was in liquid form ; and to-day the same difficulty obtains, demanding 

 every efiort to remove it. 



It is beyond the accomplishment of the average beekeeper to ascertain 

 by evaporation the exact amount of moisture a given sample of honey con- 

 tains, and until some simple method is available (see " Remarks " at end of 

 this chapter) we must try to reach the same end by density or specific-gravity 

 tests. 



SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF HONEY. 



Previous to carrying out a series of tests of a number of samples of honey 

 (which I shall explain directly) I consulted several works in hope of getting 

 some assistance from them, but was disappointed. The British Bee Journal 

 for December, 1885, contained the only item on this matter in all my bee 

 literature. The then editor, in reply to a correspondent, gave figures from 

 difierent works representing the specific gravity of honey, ranging from 1-261 

 to 1-450, and then suggested taking the mean of these figures — viz., 1-355 — 

 " as a conventional standard for ripe honey," admitting, at the same time, 

 that " clover honey in a dry season is found to be 1-370." This was a very 

 haphazard way of deciding so important a question. Thorpe's work, 

 already referred to, gives, on page 287, a range from 1-439 to 1-448 as the 

 specific gravity of honey ; another equally well-known work gives from 

 1-425 to 1-429 for " virgin honey " — whatever that may be — and from 

 1-415 to 1-422 for "honey from old bees" (?) ; and the "Encyclopaedia 

 Britannica " gives 1-410. The foregoing figures, instead of afEording any 

 assistance, are, on the contrary, rather misleading with regard to the actual 

 density of ripe honey. 



TESTS MADE. 



Some eighteen months since I purchased from grocers in the ordinary 

 way twenty tins of different varieties and grades of honey, and tested them 

 very carefully for their specific gravity with a Twaddel's and a Fletcher's 

 2 — Bee-culture. 



