THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW, 



39 



against the cover and not condense. Con- 

 densation will take place down near the cor- 

 ners of the hive where the warm air strikes 

 the incoming cold air, but with plenty of ven- 

 tilation all around the rim there will be no 

 condensation in the hive and the bees will 

 come through as bright as a new silver dol- 

 lar ; and even quite moist air going into the 

 hives will have no deleterious effect. Under 

 the above conditions I will stand up to be 

 counted in favor of sealed covers. 



Where Honey Comes From. 



[Aa address delivered by R. MoKnight, at the 

 late meeting of Ontario Bee-Keepers. | 



>R. Pbesident, Ladies and Gentle- 

 men : — I may say it is rather a try- 

 ing ordeal for a man to face an 

 audience and attempt to' interest or in- 

 struct it in these days when "the school 

 master is abroad" in such numbers. A 

 few days before I left home I received a 

 card from the secretary, saying I had been 

 selected to say something by way of filling 

 up the programme on one of the evenings 

 during the session of this Association. The 

 circumstances were such that I had no time 

 or opportunity to make preparation to do 

 so, or even to think of or fix upon a topic. 

 On mentioning my dilemma to our president, 

 Mr. Gemmell, to-day, he generously came to 

 my rescue and suggested "Honey" as a 

 good subject to treat on such an occasion. I 

 am very grateful to him for thus furnishing 

 me with a "text." It is a very common 

 place one to treat before an audience of bee- 

 keepers — an audience composed of the brains 

 and matured experience of the class to which 

 they belong in this Province. Still, the 

 topic has something in it we don't all under- 

 stand, and by way of demonstrating this, I 

 ask Mr. Blank, down there in the audience, 

 " What is honey ?" Mr. Blank pauses a 

 while and replies, " Why, honey is honey, — 

 everybody knows what honey i^s." "Your 

 answer to the (luestion is a very unsatisfac- 

 tory one, sir ; I will furnish you witli a bet- 

 ter definition, but one you may not find in 

 the dictionaries, it is one, however, that suits 

 me well enough. Honey is a translucent 

 saccharine syrup that all children and most 

 grown-up people are fond of." Now, Mr. 

 Blank, No. 2, "Where do we get honey ?" 

 Your answer is, "We get it in bee hives." 



"And how came it in the bee hives ?" " The 

 bees collected and stored it there." "Good ; 

 and where did the bees get it ?" "In the 

 flowers, of course." "Aye, and where did 

 the flowers get it ?" Now you hesitate ; that 

 is evidently a "poser." Well, it is the con- 

 sideration of the last question I propose dis- 

 cussing for a few minutes this evening. I 

 set out with the assertion that the atmos- 

 phere is the source whence our honey is de- 

 rived and I say further, that the sub tanceof 

 every green thing on the earth's surface— 

 from the tiny plant to the monarch of the 

 forest is mainly derived from the same ele- 

 ment. Science has clearly demonstrated 

 this fact. It is a fact that is easily demon- 

 strated too. Fell H tree and burn it up, the 

 ashes that remain represent just what of its 

 sabstance comes from the soil, the rest is 

 driven ofif and mingled with the air. It is 

 another instance of "dust to dust " and the 

 balance to the source from whence it came. 

 To understand how honey, and plants and 

 trees from which it is collected, have their 

 origin in the atmosphere, we must know 

 something of the composition of ; he atmos- 

 phere, and the nature of plant life. Here 

 let me say that one of the advantages of 

 bee-keeping is, that the prosecutioa of it 

 leads intelligent, observent people into 

 channels of thought they would not other- 

 wise enter upon. To understand it fully, 

 the domain of science must be pretty well 

 cultivated. Hence the bee-keeper of an en- 

 quiring mind finds in it ample scope for the 

 exercise of his talents, and usually becomes 

 an enthusiast in the business. The constit- 

 uents of the atmosphere, in the main, are 

 no longer a secret. Every school boy knows 

 that they consist, in the main, of oxygen 

 and nitrogen, but there are other elements 

 as well, one of which is carbonic acid. 

 This is the source from whence we derive 

 our honey. It is the source, too, that nour- 

 ishes and builds up the plants and trees 

 that secrete honey. The proportion of car- 

 bonic acid in the atmosphere is compara- 

 tively small, being only about four- tenths 

 of one per cent, of its volumn. Yet this 

 fraction is quite enough to supply the wants 

 of the vegetable world. It has been estima- 

 ted that there are twenty-eight tons of carbon 

 in the atmosphere that overhangs each acre 

 on the earth's surface. As less than a third 

 of the earth's surface is covered by vegeta- 

 tion, and as the atmosphere is ever in mo- 

 tion from place to place, and as the loss of 



