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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



possibly be a better place to keep honey than 

 on the hive, with the bees covering it. But 

 as this can not well be, the next best thing 

 is to put it in a room which will keep it as 

 near as possible where the bees would keep 

 it were it left on the hives." 



' ' I see. But do the bees keep a tempera- 

 ture as hot as that?" 



"The temperature at which brood is rear- 

 ed is from 92 to 98, which is about the same 

 as is needed for the working of wax by the 

 bees; and while we can not keep quite as 

 even a temperature as the bees do, yet we 

 can approximate quite nearly to it; for where 

 the temperature of the room can be kept at 

 100 degrees during the afternoon of any or 

 every day, the pile of honey we have in the 

 room will become so thorougly heated through 

 that it will hold this heat till the next day, 

 when the sun comes up to warm it up again ; 

 and in this way we have our honey growing 

 better and better each day, similar to what 

 it would be doing if left with the bees, while 

 we do away with the travel- stain which 

 would come to it were it left in care of the 

 bees." 



"Yes, I begin to see now. But suppose 

 the temperature goes too high in our hot 

 climate. Might there not be danger here?" 



' * Possibly the temperature of one of our 

 curing- rooms might run high enough in your 

 climate to melt the combs sufficiently to al- 

 low the honey to fall from the sections ; but 

 I hardly think so, and especially if you pro- 

 vide for ventilating the room as we do here. ' ' 



"What means do you employ for ventila- 

 tion?" 



" My honey- room has three windows in it 

 and a door. These all have screens on them; 

 and whenever the temperature of the room 

 rises to 95 or 100 degrees these windows, 

 and sometimes the door, are left wide open. 

 This not only keeps the room from becoming 

 too hot, but helps very much, through a cir- 

 culation of air all through the room and pile 

 of honey, thus carrying off all moisture from 

 the honey to a still greater extent than 

 where the room is kept shut all the while. 

 This is also something on the principle that 

 the bees cause the honey to become better 

 in quality when it is left on the hive." 



" What do you mean by that?" 



" Through their fanning at the entrance, 

 on hot days, the air is caused to circulate all 

 through the hive, thus carrying the moisture 

 out into the open air; for this ventilation 



Eart is one of the great items with the bees 

 y way of reducing the thin nectar, as 

 brought in from the fields, to the nice ripe 

 honey which we so much enjoy." 



"Well, the bees do know what they are 

 about, don't they? But how do you pile your 

 honey when it is in the room?" 



"That depends upon how it is left. If 

 you take it from the supers then you will 

 want a platform fixed so that none of the 

 honey comes nearer the fioor than one foot, 

 for it is damp down on the floor, especially 

 where the honey is set right on the floor so 

 as to shut off all ventilation. Then the top 

 of the platform should be made of slats 



strong enough to hold the weight of honey 

 you expect to place on it, and these slats 

 should be so spaced that the edges of the 

 sections just rest on them, leaving the space 

 under the larger part of each section all 

 open to the air." 



" What is that for?" 



' ' That is so that the air can go all under 

 and through the pile in every direction, the 

 same as it would do were the sections left 

 on the hive; for if you leave all sections a 

 bee-space apart, the same as they are on 

 the hive, you will have ventilation going on 

 between every section in the whole pile, no 

 matter if you have five to eight tons in it, 

 as I did one season. ' ' 



' ' I had not thought of that. But suppose 

 I wish to leave the sections in the supers, 

 just as they come off the hives, till I wish to 

 send the honey to market— what then?" 



"Fix your platform just the same, only 

 have it so that the edges of the super rest 

 on it, the same as the sections did by the 

 other plan. Now, after you put a super on 

 the platform put an inch-square block on 

 each of the four upper corners to the super, 

 and on these blocks set your next super, and 

 so on till your pile is completed. In this way 

 you have things fixed as before, and with 

 very much lees work, if you have extra su- 

 pers enough so that you can spare all full 

 ones till the end of the season " 



' ' I see now. This last is much the easiest 

 way, and I will make a few extra supers, I 

 guess, so I shall have all I need. Is there 

 any thing more?" 



"Yes, there is one thing I forgot to say 

 in our talk; and that is, no super or sections 

 are to touch the side walls to the room in 

 any place. I generally see that they are 

 at least two inches out from the walls on 

 every side, for the air seems more loath to 

 circulate around the sides of the pile than 

 up through it." 



"How long will honey keep in this way? 

 I want to keep mine until there is a demand 

 for it; and if the demand does not come the 

 year it is produced, I want to keep it until 

 there is such demand." 



' ' The honey will keep getting better and 

 better just as long as the proper conditions 

 are kept up. We have no trouble here till the 

 dark cloudy fall days come on, with their 

 mists and rains. Then we have to resort to 

 artificial heat, such as oil- heaters, stoves, 

 etc. ; and if you have such weather down 

 there in winter as we do in October and 

 November here, you will have to employ 

 artificial heat as well or else have your hon- 

 ey begin to deteriorate." 



"And can I keep section honey for a year 

 or two, if I keep the temperature from 80 

 to 100?" 



"Yes, certainly. During winter, here at 

 the North, we run our furnaces and coal- 

 stoves all the while, night and day; and by 

 piling the honey in such a heated room, and 

 throwing a sheet or something of the kind 

 over the pile of honey, to keep the dust off, 

 it will keep just as well through the winter 

 as at any other time of the year." 



