37 



at all when extracted. It was duly ripened and matured in my tanks, and 

 finer honey I never had. It was sent to England and all over the Dominion, 

 and gave no cause for complaint. I followed the same process with similar 

 success all the time I was raising honey, and the same system is now'prac- 

 tised at the State apiaries. 



It gave me much pleasure some seven months after the publication of 

 the first edition of this bulletin, wherein I had suggested the adoption of 

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

 extensive 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 the 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 ripen 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 pro- 

 viding 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 advantage 

 is to be taken of the conditions mentioned. 



RIPENING AND MATURING TANKS. 

 The most efiective 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 ofi, 

 leaves the honey in the very best form for market. Air-bubbles, which in 



