Honey -Comb. 115 



cell nearly full, she begins to put a cover 

 over it. She begins at the bottom of the 

 cell to put on this "cap," as it is called, 

 and by the time she has finished the cap, 

 the cell is as full of honey as she can get 

 it, but there is a little air left in, which 

 acts as a cushion, and keeps the honey 

 from running against the cap. 



So there is her honey-cup, filled and 

 sealed. 



Miss Apis fills her honey cell rather 

 slowly, and leaves it uncapped for a few 

 days until the extra water evaporates and 

 the honey is " ripened." 



You know very well that if you have 

 molasses in an open dish, it becomes thicker 

 as time goes on ; that is because it loses 

 its water by evaporation, and that is exactly 

 what happens when honey is left uncapped 

 for a while. It gets thicker and keeps 

 better. 



Miss Apis does not fill all of her fine 

 little wax preserve jars with honey. If 



