160 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



HOW DO BEES RIPEN HONEY? 



FHIEND DOOLITTLE GIVES US THE RESULT OF HIS 

 OBSERVATION, AND DRAWS SOME CONCLU- 

 SIONS. 



T|p FEW days ago a friend called in, and, while 

 9fM talking- about bees, honey, etc., as most bee- 

 ]R* keepers will when they get together, he said 

 -^*- to me, " What do you think of the idea which 

 some advocate, that bees can not properly 

 ripen their honey when it is stored in deep cells 

 or in old comb?" 



I replied something like this: That I did not think 

 that the advocates of such a theory had any solid 

 ground to stand on in advocating it; for, unless I 

 am greatly mistaken, bees reduce their thin nectar, 

 as brought in from the field, in just the same way 

 in this, the nineteenth century, as they did thou- 

 sands of years ago, before each bee-keeper had a 

 sheet of foundation to place in a section so that 

 they might have it all so handy for the heat to pass 

 over shallow combs. If nectar can not be properly 

 evaporated in deep combs, what have the poor bees 

 done all of these thousands of years, previous to 

 the advent of foundation, to get their honey fit to 

 live on after the first year in which they built their 

 combs, as at that time they had their new combs to 

 build, so of course had shallow cells. Then how 

 comes it that, as a rule, we find a much better 

 grade of honey in old hives in the fall of the year 

 than we do in hives having all new combs? for eve- 

 ry bee-keeper whom I have ever talked with on 

 this subject has been free to admit, that the best 

 honey he ever ate came from combs which had been 

 in the hive for some years. It seems to me that the 

 reason for such a theory about shallow cells ripen 

 ing honey better than deep ones has been sprung 

 on the public from an ignorance of the principle by 

 which the bees reduce their nectar to the thick 

 honey which we find in all hives after it is sealed. 

 Honey is so manipulated by the bees, that the 

 change from raw nectar to thick honey comes 

 through the manipulation rather than by its being 

 stored in shallow cells; hence the depth of the cell 

 in which it is stored has nothing to do with the mat- 

 ter whatever. Let us look inside of a hive during a 

 large basswood yield, and see if we can not learn 

 something. It is now 2 o'clock p. m., and we find 

 that, in handling the combs, if we hold them a lit- 

 tle out of perpendicular the nectar will run out, 

 while a sudden jar daubs things generally by the 

 amount which falls from them. When we handle 

 the brood-combs, an examination will show us that, 

 scattered all through the brood, are cells of this 

 thin honey. If we now handle the sections, we 

 find that, although they are nearly all unsealed, 

 very little honey will run out of them, and none 

 from the deeper cells, which are the ones from 

 which it should flow, if there be any thing in the 

 theory that honey evaporates fastest in shallow 

 cells. Now come with me to this observatory hive. 

 You will remember that, when we were here at 9 

 A. m., we saw every bee which came in with a load 

 of honey give it to another bee, instead of putting 

 it into a cell, as we are told that held bees do. You 

 will also remember, that these bees which took this 

 nectar from the field bees seemed to hold it, for we 

 saw very few of them putting.their heads into the 

 cells. Now we see them taking the nectar the same; 

 but instead of holding it as before, we see these in- 

 side workers putting their heads often into the cells. 



and find honey in the midst of the brood the same 

 as we did at the other hive, while at 9 A. m. these 

 same cells were empty. By this you see that as 

 long as the young bees could hold all of the nectar 

 gathered by the field bees, they did so; but when 

 more honey than this came in, these young bees 

 were obliged to place it in the cells, and in doing so 

 they used the empty cells in the brood-combs first, 

 which are scattered around among the brood; while 

 if they are still further crowded they will next use 

 the store comb; and when the rush of honey is very 

 great I have known them to put it in an empty 

 comb outside of the hive, in some instances where 

 I left such a comb by carelessness, near the en- 

 trance. Night comes on. and we light a lamp and 

 go to our observatory hive. Now lie down in such 

 a position that you can keep steady for quite a 

 length of time. Do you see those bees which are 

 facing this way, yet hanging by their legs to other 

 bees? Do you see them straighten out their pro- 

 boscis and draw it back again? and do you see that 

 drop of nectar sparkle in the light when the pro- 

 boscis is thrown out? What do you suppose they 

 are doing? Suppose I tell you that they are only 

 allowing the heat to pass over shallow cells, so that 

 the nectar may be ripened, will you believe me? 

 No, you would not. Well, what are they doing? for 

 you see that all of the bees thus hanging are at this 

 kind of work. Oh! it has just come to me. These 

 are the "loafing bees" we hear so much about, 

 which always hang around in all of the pretty 

 lounging-places which are left between the combs 

 and between the ends of the frames and the hive, 

 which the advocates of closed-end frames tell us 

 about, which should not be; at least they say so. 

 Well, joking aside: These bees are evaporating 

 nectar in the good old-fashioned way, just the 

 same as they did it when Adam and Eve dwelt in a 

 garden, when God pronounced all of his works 

 good, and it doesn't matter how much you try to 

 help them by giving shallow combs, for they will 

 always do it the same, just to be contrary, I sup- 

 pose. Now, come to this hive which has sections 

 on, closed up at the sides with glass. Don't you 

 see the same thing going on here, only to a far 

 greater extent? Many a night have I lain by the 

 side of a hive, witnessing the bees thus reduce the 

 thin nectar brought in during the day, so that it 

 would be fair honey in the morning. Don't be- 

 lieve it? Well, what are they doing then, and what 

 is the reason that, in the morning, before any more 

 nectar of any amount comes in, none will jar from 

 the combs as it did yesterday afternoon? and why 

 do we see plenty of young bees putting honey 

 in the cells in the morning, which honey is of very 

 fair consistency, when none at all is coming in from 

 the fields? We must account for this in some way, 

 and I firmly believe that the process which we have 

 seen is the way the bees have of reducing their nec- 

 tar to honey. Of course, the heat of the hive has 

 much to do with it, for, as the nectar is thrown out 

 on the proboscis, it needs heat to carry off the par- 

 ticles of water, which more readily float away from 

 these small drops of honey which are being thus 

 stirred over than would be the case were the whole 

 mass in cells, whether deep or shallow. Now come 

 into my honey-room and see if you can tell which 

 sections were full of comb when put on the hive, 

 and which had only foundation in them. What! 

 can not tell? Neither can I, except as the sections 

 in which the combs were are seen to have a little 



