1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



1053 



Coffversatioos 



with 



DooJittI 



I 



AVHERE KEEP HOXEY: WHAT MAKES CO.MB 

 HONEY SWEAT OR LEAK ? 



"This is S. E. Brown: and I believe this 

 is Mr. Doolittle. is it not ? "' 



"Yes. this is Doolittle. Well named." 



"Well, by your size, and what I read of 

 yon. I have my doubts in the matter of be- 

 ing well named." 



"Yes. well named. Big man — do-little. 

 But what fan I do for you this hot day. Mr. 

 Brown ".' ' ' 



"It is hot, surely." 



"Yes. our August days are often very hot. 

 and this is one of them. Let us sit down 

 hei'e in the shade of this basswood-tree. 

 Father set out this tree when I was a boy, 

 and nothing has pleased me in the tree line 

 tetter than this. It is the very first of all 

 the basswood-trees to bloom, so that I know 

 to a day when the basswood bloom opens: 

 and right over there is one he set later, after 

 I was married, and, strange to say. that is 

 the very latest to bloom, so that I have right 

 here, within a stone's throw, the knowledge 

 of the limit of the basswood bloom." 



"That is quite an item, surely. But how 

 much is the difference in the time of bloom- 

 ing ? " 



"The earliest, or the tree we are sitting 

 under, opens from the first day of July to 

 the 15th, according to the season. This year 

 it was the 8th: and it is generally from' the 

 5th to the 10th. The 1st and tte loth are 

 the extremes — the first for a very early sea- 

 son, and the last for a very backward' one. 

 Then the late-blooming tree commences to 

 blossom about ten days after the first bloom 

 opens on this early tree." 



"I see. So you have ten days of bass- 

 wood bloom." 



' ' Not jvist that way. It is ten days from 

 the time the first opens to the time of the 

 opening of the latest. Then each tree is in 

 bloom from six to ten days, just in accord 

 with the amount of hot or cool weather while 

 they are in bloom, so that we have from 16 

 to 20 days of basswood bloom here on the 

 lowlands: and this, with a continuation up 

 to and on the high hills to the south, has 

 given me in certain best years as high as 28 

 days of continuous flow from basswood." 



"My 1 that almost takes my breath away." 



"And so it did Do-little s, that year w&en 

 each colony gave an average of 166 pounds 

 of section honey. But no Tjreath was taken 

 away this year, for our almost continuous 

 rains, together with mostly east air, which 

 is against the secretion of nectar, allowed 

 the basswood season to come to an end with 

 almost no honey in sight from that source. 



But I judge you did not come to talk about 

 basswood honey. "" 



"That is right. I want to know where 

 you keep your honey after it is off the hives. 

 My clover honey is looking quite badly. 

 Why does honey ooze out of the comb after 

 it is taken from the hive and stored away?" 



"This is a (juestion which is often asked, 

 and one that confronts every comb-honey 

 producer sooner or later." 



"I think it is l)ecause the bees did not 

 thoroughly ripen this honey before I took it 

 from the hives. Am I right ': " 



•'Let us talk the matter over a little and 

 see. Whether ripened or not. the honey can 

 ooze from the cells only after l>eing capped, 

 on account of a larger Inilk of liquid being 

 in the cell afterward than there was at the 

 time the bees sealed the cell. Do you agree?" 



"I guess I shall have to." 



"This can come fi'om only one source, 

 which is always brought about by either 

 cool, damp weather, or a non-circulation of 

 air. or both. Honey swells only as it be- 

 comes dau)p. and the first that will be seen 

 of that dampness will be in the unsealed 

 cells which have honey in them where the 

 honey will become so thin that it will stand 

 out beyond the cells, or. in other words, the 

 cells will be heaping full." 



' ' I guess you are getting at the matter 

 rightlv, for that was just what I fii'st no- 

 ticed.'' 



"Yes: and if the dampness remains, the 

 cappings of the sealed honey will soon be- 

 come transparent, while the honey from 

 those unsealed cells will commence to run 

 out, daubing every thing below it. and, 

 eventually, if the cause is not removed, the 

 cappings to the cells will burst, and the 

 whole will become a sickening, souring 

 mass. ' ' 



"Well, I guess you are nearly right: for 

 quite a little of mine has liegun to ooze from 

 the unsealed cells, while the combs where 

 they are sealed is taking on a watery ap- 

 pearance. ' ' 



"Where do you keep your honey?" 



"In an unused room on the north side of 

 the house, where it would be kept as cool as 

 possible. ' ' 



"About as I expected. When I first com- 

 menced to keep bees I stored my honey in 

 just such a room, thinking that was just the 

 place for it, so vou need not think that you 

 have been making a mistake others have 

 not." 



"How did you find out what the trouble 

 was?" 



"Mrs. D. wished to use that room for 

 household purposes, so I had to abandon it 

 and take a I'oom upstairs for the honey. As 

 this upstairs room was fearfully hot I feared 

 the result: but when I came to crate the hon- 

 ey for market, lo and behold: I found that 

 all this sweating and souring had not taken 

 effect that year, for the honey was so thick, 

 even in the' unsealed cells about the edges of 

 the sections, that it would not run out — no, 

 not even when the sections were laid down 

 flat on their faces. I took the hint, and ever 



