3 2 CONSTRUCTIVE BEEKEEPING 



ture 20 degrees lower than that liquid. It tells them that this 

 water can be condensed readily on the propolis covered walls of 

 the hive. Wonderful is the instinct of the bee ! 



CONSTRUCTIVE HIVE 



The hive that condenses the most water vapor and leaves it 

 so that the bees can dispose of it, is the hive in which we find 

 the contented bees. This water vapor may be allowed to pass 

 from the top of the hive and be condensed the same as in the 

 condensing chamber of a still, but by this process the bees are 

 deprived of the water the same as when the honey is ripened 

 wholly by evaporation. It has been shown in the chapter on evap- 

 oration that for every pound of honey ripened in the hive the 

 bees, when they use the condensing system, have for their domes- 

 tictic use from two to four pounds of water. This amount of 

 water is from 60 to 80 per cent of what nectar the bees brought 

 in that day. Now when this water escapes from the hive and 

 they have to make special trips for water to take the place of 

 this that has escaped, it is obvious that the bees that have to go 

 for water, will reduce the number of nectar gathering bees. This 

 percentage can only be speculated upon, but it runs from 20 id 

 60 per cent of the field force. When all the field force presist in 

 gathering nectar, as I am almost certain they do at times, the 

 brood is restricted. 



What the bees want is a hive that is a good condenser and 

 that retains the condensed water on the inner surface of the 

 hive. The nurse bees can then gather it as they want it. We will 

 have to give the bees credit for being efficient, and it follows that 

 they do not evaporate the water from the nectar that they mix 

 with the food for the brood, but from the surplus. But there 

 occurs a day or a succession of days, during the urge period, when 

 no nectar nor water are brought in, and these are the days when 

 condensed water from a humid atmosphere brings contentment 

 to the colony. 



The hive, that from years of experimenting and close ob- 

 servations of weather and hive conditions, gives these results, 



