2 CONSTRUCTIVE BEEKEEPING 



ever observe the room available for the storage of a generous 

 amount of nectar. He looks for queen-cells, the amount of brood 

 and sealed honey, and in this way he is conscious of what he calls 

 plenty of room. While there is yet space between brood and 

 honey, he concludes that the bees swarm before they are crowded 

 for room. Did they have room to carry on all the work of the 

 hive? 



Consider a farmer, who has ample granary room to store his 

 wheat, and who tried to put it in the granary before it was 

 thrashed. It can readily be seen that the granary would not hold 

 it. The bees must have temporary storage cells just as the 

 farmer must have sufficient room to stack his grain before it is 

 thrashed. This is the room that the beekeeper has sensed, rather 

 than to have observed it as room necessary for the domestic work 

 of the bees. As the farmer must put aside the straw, so must 

 the bees evaporate the water to 'get the finished honey that can 

 be stored economically. 



How do the bees dispose of the great amount of water 

 carried into the hive in the nectar? You say: "they evaporate 

 it and it is carried off by the air." But is it? Try, drying the 

 family wash in a room of dimensions, as regards water to be 

 evaporated, temperature and opening at the floor, proportionate 

 to the beehive, and see how fast your wash dries. Be sure you 

 have no windows in the room to condense the water vapor. Try 

 it when temperature outside is 60 deg. F and the atmosphere one- 

 half saturated, (one-half saturated in the evening is about as 

 dry as we find the air in May and June where there is ample rain 

 fall). Then try it when the atmosphere is 9-10 saturated, and 

 after this experience you will be more amazed than ever at the 

 bees' efficiency. 



Still you are skeptical and remember that you should have 

 put an electric fan at the opening, because the bees are seen 

 to fan at the entrance. Let us not delude ourselves about the 

 bees moving all the water vapor, given off in ripening honey, 

 out of the hive by fanning. 



Records of temperature and humidity taken from the U. S. 



