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108 



SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE 



a quilt sometimes over the section-cases 

 to keep them warm. 



Mr. Abbott— Do I understand they are 

 used without any covering at all — any 

 board, or anything? 



Dr. Miller — Let me explain, Mr. Ab- 

 bott, that this is a body of bee-keepers, 

 and that they have their Httle ways of 

 talking about things without using a lot 

 of words! 



Mr. Abbott — They should use good 

 English. The best thing I ever saw to 

 put over the top is a board. 



Dr. Miller — That is a good thing 

 too! (Laughter). 



Mr. Abbott — Mr. Wilcox says they 

 stick fast to the boards. In most hives 

 they only touch in two sections, and I 

 do not see how they stick as much as 

 the cloth. When we used to use a cloth 

 in Missouri the top would stick fast. 



Mr. Wheeler — How about the bees? 



Mr. Abbott — That is the way they do. 

 and there is a row of propolis right 

 around, just the shape of the section. I 

 never saw any in Missouri that did not 

 do that. 



Mr. Wilcox — I am surprised, for I 

 have used them for 40 years and never 

 ' saw a single instance of sticking to the 

 enameled cloth. I am sure that won't 

 happen in Wisconsin. They of course 

 build new combs to them, so that the 

 enameled cloth is stuck a little, but you 

 can take hold of one corner and turn 

 it back without disturbing or alarming 

 a single bee, and for that reason I much 

 prefer to use such an arrangement and 

 to scrape the frame down, often, be- 

 cause they will build up to it, and some- 

 times push it up and fill up the space ; 

 but when you have only the board, if 

 you leave it long enough the bees will 

 stick it down and close the cracks air- 

 tight, and if you do not it will stick 

 in places and the wind will blow right 

 through under it from one side to the 

 other. The heat must escape. It cer- 

 tainly cools off the top of the frames 

 more than it does where there is an 

 enameled cloth over it; and for that re- 

 son I prefer the inconvenience of the 

 enameled cloth rather than the board 

 with its perfect fitting on the upper 

 edges of the hive. 



Dr. Miller — May I ask, Mr. Wilcox, 

 whether you ever knew your bees to 

 carry the black material from the oil- 

 cloth down and use it in the section- 

 combs ? 



Mr. Wilcox — I have known several 

 such instances. It is not a common oc- 



currence. If there should be any ragged 

 edges the bees could get at they would 

 tear it out, and they might carry it 

 down and attach it to the cappings of 

 the combs in some cases. 



Mr. Abbott — Will they cut holes 

 through them? 



Mr. Wilcox — No; I never knew of it. 

 A worm will do it, and do it quickly, if 

 there are any moths in it, but the bees do 

 not do it unless the enamel is cracked 

 from being handled when cold. 



Is Honey Vegetable or Animal.? 



"Is honey a vegetable or an animal 

 product?" 



Dr. Miller— Yes. 



Mr. Abbott — I think some that I have 

 seen in our market was purely animal, 

 and two-legged animal. The ordinary 

 honey I think is vegetable. 



Mr. Taylor — Is a boiled potato an 

 animal or a vegetable production? 



Dr. Miller — I. believe that is really a 

 serious question, after all. I am sure I 

 don't know what the answer is. 



Mr. Moore — About a boiled potato? 



Dr. Miller — Mr. Taylor's question is 

 entirely applicable, and yet the ques- 

 tion would come, Where is the line to 

 be drawn? I should say a boiled potato 

 was a vegetable without any question, 

 because it has not ceased to be a vege- 

 table, and yet the thing gets mixed up 

 and in the case of the bee here is a vege- 

 table material that is afterward worked 

 up by an animal and there is animal mat- 

 er in it. I confess I don't know. I wish 

 I did know. If Mr. Taylor has an 

 answer to it, I wish he would give it 

 to us. 



H. M. Arnd — I asked that question. 

 I knew it would cause a good deal of 

 laughter, but one of my customers met 

 me on the street the other day, and I 

 told him that honey is vegetable, and 

 he argued and argued with me that it is 

 animal. I told him there was going to 

 be a bee-keepers' convention, and I 

 would bring it up. 



Mr. Wilcox — In my opinion it is a 

 vegetable product. There is nothing 

 animal about it. Sugar is not an animal 

 product. Sugar syrup isn't animal; has 

 nothing to do with it. It is derived 

 from a vegetable in the first place, and 

 it is boiled down — as it were, somewhat 

 digested, perhaps — I am not sure about 

 that — ^but at any rate, it is derived from 

 a vegetable and retains a vegetable 

 character, and there is no animal char- 

 acter injected in it, although it might 



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