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 
off 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. 
