. The American bee keeper. Bee culture; Honey. f HE AMErIcaM Bfig-KiiiiPi^R U that honey is deliquescent in humid air, and that the atmosphere of the hive is rather humid, will logically bear out what has been seen by a few observers. The fanning by the bees is not so much to bring currents of drying air over the cells of honey, as many apparently be- lieve, as it is to bring dry air to the laboring insects in the hive, air into which they can little by little unload moisture from their respiratory organs. To offer an illustration, by no means intended as exact, it seems as if the bee was able
. The American bee keeper. Bee culture; Honey. f HE AMErIcaM Bfig-KiiiiPi^R U that honey is deliquescent in humid air, and that the atmosphere of the hive is rather humid, will logically bear out what has been seen by a few observers. The fanning by the bees is not so much to bring currents of drying air over the cells of honey, as many apparently be- lieve, as it is to bring dry air to the laboring insects in the hive, air into which they can little by little unload moisture from their respiratory organs. To offer an illustration, by no means intended as exact, it seems as if the bee was able by some delicate process to separate the water from the honey something after the manner that we can separate buttermilk from butter. The spiracles of the bee carry away the water in the form of vapor, while the buttermilk leaves the churn as a liquid stream. If the level of the buttermilk outside the churn could reach the level inside, the flow would cease; if the hu- midity of the air in the hive reaches a certain point, then no more moisture can leave the body of the bee by way of the spiracles. Is it any wonder, then, that the bees put forth such stren- uous efforts to keep up the circulation of air in the hive in the hours following a heavy honey-flow? The new air be- comes warmer in the hive, becomes thereby drier, and hence acquires the power of taking up more water. To cite still another instance in con- nection with the effect of moist air up- on bee-life: When the south wind comes in winter time, bringing with it air of high humidity, the bees, espec- ially in the cellar, become exceedingly restless. Heat is generally blamed for this restlessness, but unjustly. Let him who doubts this last statement bring the celler to the same tempera- ture with dry air. This article, with its various phenom- ena brought under one head, has been rambling. To epitomize my theme, I would say: Humidity brings discom- fort to bees; that this discomfort causes restlessness, and sometimes
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbeeculture, bookyear1
