82 



EIGHTH ANNUAL RKPORT OF THE 



crop? They are ventilating it; they 

 are passing a current of air over the 

 lioney, and the air is warm, and that 

 evaporates it. Tliere is more than one 

 way to evaporate it. I don't believe 

 you can lay down any single rule. Dr. 

 Bohrer raised the question, Is there a 

 difference between the weight of the 

 hive in the evening and in the morn- 

 ing? Our friends tell us that in the 

 morning you cannot shake the honey 

 out. It has evaporated during the 

 night. That strong current of air that 

 forces through has evaporated a great 

 deal of the moisture, and it will evap- 

 orate more during the day, and the 

 next day, until it is ripened. 



Mr. Kimmey: As Mr. Dadant says, 

 there is honey all over the hive, but 

 there is a difference. Now, I don't 

 think I ever saw any of that thin 

 honey in the super or near the top of 

 the comb in any frame. I find that 

 / the bees will commence sealing at the 

 ' top and work down, and it seems to 

 . me, without knpwing about it, as if 

 they brought it from below soonewhere, 

 and brought it gradually up, and this 

 ripening or evaporating process is done 

 with system, as if there was an object 

 in what they were doing. I always 

 find that they commence to seal at the 

 top, perhaps at one corner, extending 

 across in a zigzag direction. But I 

 always find that the thin, watery hofiey 

 is near the botom of the hive, which 

 leads me to guess — I am sorry that I 

 didn't see before my eyes got so poor, 

 so that I could know what they do — 

 but I have an idea that one set of bees 

 takes the honey up there and seals it 

 over. 



Mr. Baxter: I wish to take excep- 

 tion to one stateiTient. I am positive 

 that the bees in a big flow of honey 

 will distribute it all over" the hive. 

 You can't turn a single frame upside 

 down, but the honey will flow out. 



Mr. Horstmann: I have several ob- 

 servation hives in my apiary, and I 

 notice that as soon as I put a super of 

 empty comb on the top, the bees im- 

 mediately commence to bring in honey. 

 That shows that they bring it direct 

 from the field and carry it up in the 

 super. You will notice at night after 

 a hard day's work, a big flow of honey, 

 there will be an awful roar in the 

 apiary. I have gone out many a time 

 to hear that, and you will not find 

 many bees at the entrance, but you 

 would hear the roar of the bees evap- 

 orating the honey. If you light a 



match at the entrance of the hive, the 

 wind from the hive will blow it out, 

 and I have shown people that that is 

 a fact, and I believe it is altogether 

 for evaporation. 



Mr. Moore: You say that proves 

 that the bee that brought the honey 

 took it up to the super. How do you 

 know it did not hand its load to an- 

 other bee that took it up to the super? 



Mr. Horstmann: It is hard to tell 

 that. I cannot. I have a hive on 

 scales, and have had it on the scales 

 for three or four years, and weigh it 

 night and morning. If a colony of bees 

 brings in nine pounds of honey in one 

 day, it will weigh two and a half 

 pounds less the next morning. Out of 

 nine pounds, two and a half pounds of 

 water is pumped out during the night. 



Mr. Dadant: I will explain why Mr. 

 Kimmey and Mr. Baxter do not agree 

 on this point. One produces comb 

 honey and the other extracted. One 

 has the bees build down and they seal 

 it up first at the top; but if you get 

 an empty comb, they will fill the comb 

 all over. 



Dr. Bohrer: Who knows that one bee 

 ever handed honey to another on en- 

 tering the hive? 



Dr. Miller: I have seen them do it. 



Dr. Bohrer: I have seen one bee 

 feed another. I never saw one bee 

 turn honey over to another, and that 

 bee go and deposit it in the cell. The 

 tendency has been to make that im- 

 pression, that one bee entered the' hive 

 with a heavy load and handed it to 

 another bee, and it deposited it in the 

 cell. There \\^ould be no policy in "that. 

 The bee takes its load there <and de- 

 posits it itself. 



Mr, Kimmey: My bees, as far as I 

 have had a chance to observe, invaria- 

 bly, not once in a while, commence 

 sealing the surplus honey at the top 

 of the frame or the top of the section. 

 Mr. Baxter maj^ have different bees 

 from mine. 



Dr. Miller: One time there was a 

 horse lost and they tried to find it, and 

 there was a half-witted fellow that 

 found the horse. They asked him how 

 he did it. He said he went to the stump 

 where the horse was last seen, and he 

 said, "If I were a horse which way 

 would I go?" and he started and went 

 the way he thought the horse would go, 

 and he found the horse. If I were a bee 

 coming in from the field with a load, 

 what would I do with the load? The 



