OCR Text |
Show Honey Is Bees' Winter Food. If tho plants produced nectar and pollen all the year round we should have no honey; but tho- wlso bee knows winter will come, nnd makes provision for It Nectar Is the normal food of the bees, honey an "emergency ration" manufactured from It In us concentrated a form as possible. Nectar Nec-tar consists of 70 per cent of water, nnd tho rest cane sugar and flavoring matter. In honey, on the other hand, there Is only 7 to 10 per cent of water; and tho cane sugar, by the process of digestion, has bocomo grape sugar. All sugar becomes transformed Into grape sugar In tho human system before It Is assimilated. Tho bee, therefore, during dur-ing summer digests and concentrates Ids food for winter. Each portion of nectur Is digested by two or more bees, nnd regurgitated. The heat of tho hive helps tho process, und also ulds In the t'vnpomtlou of the suierlluous moisture. |