ILI.INOIS STATE BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCIATION 



83 



thing I am after is to get back to the 

 field to get another load, and if there 

 is another bee within ready to receive 

 my load, that is the first thing, and I 

 would be willing to hand it to that oth- 

 er bee. If they are so busy and so 

 -many others coming in, then the next 

 thing would be to dump it into the first 

 cell I would come to. If I didn't find a 

 cell at the bottom of the frame I would 

 go a little higher up, and, if necessary, 

 I would go clear up in the hive, and if 

 there were extracting combs there, I 

 would very likely find a place clear 

 up at the top, but if it Avas comb honey 

 or section honey, there would not be 

 any place I could dump it there. That 

 is what I would do. You can do what 

 you like about it. 



Mr. Kimmey: And I would be the 

 other bee, and when you said "Duiup 

 this honey," I would say, "Dump your 

 own honey; I am going into the field!" 



Mr. Baxter: In opening hives, I 

 ^ have seen them come into the open box 

 and deposit the honey in the eombs 

 there before my eyes. In other in- 

 stances, with chaff hives, about twelve 

 inches deep, the bottoms are immovable 

 and it gets pretty hot in summer time, 

 and although I have the three entrance 

 holes about half way up, I have two 

 deep boxes on top of the hive, and I 

 have been obliged to slide my boxes 

 back to give them ventilation, and the 

 bees stop going in below at once, the 

 bulk of them, and they go right in 

 there, the nearest place they can get, 

 into -the super. If they deposit their 

 honey ; in the bottom part first, why 

 don't they go and deposit it there? 

 That proves to me that it is not de- 

 posited in the bottom of the hive alone 

 and carried up. 



Keeping Comb Honey Over Winter. 



"How can comb honey be kept over 

 winter without cracking or granulat- 

 ing?" 



Mr. Wilcox: I have done that re- 

 peatedly, and again and again. Set it 

 up on top of a high shelf in a warm 

 room where it will not freeze. 



Pres. York: How many tons do you 

 keep on that shelf? 



■ Mr. Wilcox: As many as I need for 

 my own eating. If I can keep one 

 case, I can keep a thousand cases the 

 same way. The temperature being the 

 same and ventilation the same, the 

 result will be the same. If you can 



keep the moisture out and keep it 

 warm, it will not granulate, it will 

 not crack. I have some now I have 

 kept two years. 



Mr. Moore: What temperature, Mr. 

 Wilcox? 



. Mr. Wilcox: I said a warm room. 

 The temperature is about seventy or 

 eighty degrees. If it is eight feet to 

 the ceiling, within a foot of the ceiling 

 the temperature would be from five to 

 ten degrees higher. 



Mr. Wheeler: What kind of honey? 



Mr. Wilcox: It makes difference 

 about granulating. Everybody knows 

 that clover honey will not granulate as 

 quickly as basswood. Basswood will 

 granulate more readily than anything 

 else. 



Dr. Bohrer: Do you think that bass- 

 wood honey will granulate more quickly 

 than alfalfa honey? 



Dr. Miller: I think that honey will 

 keep as well in winter time as in sum- 

 mer if you have the same temperature. 



Mr. Wilcox: There is the humidity. 



Dr. Miller: Sometimes we are anx- 

 ious to keep comb honey over winter; 

 and I will say that I have seen comb 

 honey kept in excelent icondition, and 

 kept where it was submitted to the 

 most severe freezing, and all that there 

 is of it is to have enough heat before- 

 hand. I cannot say that the honey 

 stores up heat, but I do know that I 

 have seen comb honey that had been 

 subjected to the most severe freezing 

 and it remained all right. I saw it in 

 two places — in Johnstown, Pa., and in 

 Hockford, 111., and the conditions in 

 both cases were the same. The honey 

 had been kept^I am repeating what I 

 wrote a few days ago, and you will see 

 it in print in a day or two in "Glean- 

 ings," if you will pardon me for recall- 

 ing what I wrote, because I can write ' 

 better than I can state it. I went to 

 Johnstown, Pa., on a visit to my moth- 

 er, and I spoke about sending her some 

 honey. She said, "Charles, you don't 

 need to send me any more. I have 

 plentj^ left of what you sent me last 

 year." "But," I said, "comb honey 

 doesn't keep, and what you had last 

 year won't be in nice shape." She said, 

 "It is all right, just as good as when I 

 got it." She got some of the honey, 

 and I found the sections were just as 

 good, as far as I could see, as when I 

 sent it to her the previous year, and I 

 said, "Where did you keep it, mother?" 



