1S82 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



545 



chines now in use, and his bees appeared to work 

 equally well on it all, with no trouble from stretch- 

 ing or sag-ging, except that made upon the Giccti 

 Ijress, and that he could do nothing with. 



The next question was, " How many bees should 

 there be in a hive, to winter well?" Mr. Wood, of 

 Grand Ledge, wanted his hives full of bees when he 

 pat them into the cellar, and from 15 to 20 lbs. of 

 honey in the hive. He usually feeds some in the 

 spring to stimulate early breeding. Mr. Waldo, of 

 G rand Ledge, and E. N. Wood, of North Lansing, pre- 

 ferred wintering out of doors, on the summer stands. 



S. D. Newbro exhibited a very ingenious device in 

 the shape of tongs for lifting the brood-frames from 

 the hives, and to hold the cards while examining 

 them; also a machine for fastening the foundation 

 into the section boxes, and other articles. Narmore 

 & Wood exhibited their celebrated double-wall hive; 

 also their single-wall hive, known as the Baker 

 hive; their one-piece section boxes, shipping and 

 retailing cases, the Bingham direct-draft and Clark's 

 cold-blast smokers, extractors, and comb founda- 

 tion, also wire nails for general use about the apiary. 

 Narmore & Wood also stated that they had this sea- 

 son sold 2000 hives and over 100,000 section boxes, a 

 large amount of foundation, extractors, and smo- 

 kers, and say that apiculture is increasing very rap- 

 Idly in this section of the country, and of course the 

 supply trade with it. 



The association adjourned at 5 p. m., to meet on 

 the third Tuesday in April, 1883, at 10 a. m. 



E. N. Wood, Secretary. 



North Lansing, Mich., Sept. 3i, 1883. 



— ^ I ^ 



HONEY-DEW, AND NOT FROM APHIDES. 



HONEY FROM BASSWOOD, AFTER THE BLOSSOMS ARE 

 GONE. 



2 SEE that several have mentioned honej'-dew. It 

 appears to be of general occurrence in Ohio 

 this fall. About the 13th of August I noticed 

 the bees working very strong, especially mornings 

 and evenings, very often being scarcely able to 

 reach the hive. I was puzzled to know the source, 

 as we have few fall blossoms; but as I was passing 

 through the woods I heard bees roaring about sever- 

 al linden-trees, and on examining the trees I found 

 a great many leaves having large splashes of a 

 sweet, sticky substance. In a few days it became 

 more plentiful, the leaves and weeds under the trees 

 becoming all dauby. I determined to investigate. I 

 could see no source; it seemed to drop from above. 

 It looked very much as if it might have rained hon- 

 ey. But finally I found, by looking immediately 

 above the drops, that this liquid oozed out of the 

 stem of the long narrow leaf which is always found 

 near the seed, and in several cases I found large 

 drops ready to fall right on the stems of the seed; 

 but it afterward became more plentiful on the su- 

 gar trees; but where it issued on them, I could not 

 tell, as I had not time to climb them. The bees 

 worked as strong as they did in the height of the 

 basswood season. 



They got the swarming fever again, and we had 

 more swarms in August than we had before. We 

 had one as late as Sept. 1; some built their boxes 

 full of comb; I extracted some, and found it to be 

 very dark, and it had a peculiar strong taste. It 

 will spoil the quality of all the extracted honey we 

 have. It lasted only a few weekst when it was 



washed off by a big rain. Since that I have noticed 

 very little. 



We have now 85 stands; some of our August 

 swarms have enough to winter. Our honey crop 

 will not be very large— only 700 or 800 lbs. I don't 

 believe it pays lo keep bees for honey alone in Ohio. 

 I do not know if this honey will do to winter with; 

 some fear it may not be healthful. This dew was 

 not caused by insects, but setmed to ooze out like 

 sap on fruit-trees. D. B. Uleky. 



Northampton, Summit Co., O.. Sept. 11, 1882. 



Many thanks, friend U. , for your very val- 

 uable communication. I think this source 

 of honey has been at least once before men- 

 tioned. At the very same time you speak 

 of, the basswood-trees on our grounds were 

 covered with a sudsy, starchy liquid, but it 

 was not sweet, and the bees paid no atten- 

 tion to it. It seemed to ooze from stems, 

 just about as you state it ; and while I tast- 

 ed it, it occurred to me that if some process 

 of nature should happen to convert this 

 starch into sugar we should really have hon- 

 ey-dew, without any agency of insects. It is 

 Avell known that basswood twigs, bark, and 

 leaves, are always rich in a gummy matter, 

 much like slippery elm. Well, this natural 

 mucilage is almost identical in composition 

 with honey, and trees that furnish it are al- 

 most always honey-bearing. A little change 

 only would be necessary to convert it into a 

 sort of sugar. As to why the substance 

 should be in such excess as to ooze out of the 

 twigs and leaves, is a mystery ; but the oc- 

 currence is so common, that you may see it 

 in August and September, in almost any 

 basswood forest. As it hangs on the leaves 

 and stems, it looks like spittle. I remember 

 of being told, when a child, that it was snake 

 spittle ; and the association, up to this time, 

 has made it a hard matter for me to over- 

 come so I could taste it thoroughly. I found 

 the taste a little strong and unpleasant — 

 not nearly as nice as chewing basswood buds 

 and leaves, and I judged it had got a little 

 rancid by hanging so long during tlie warm 

 weather. I am inclined to think it will not 

 be very safe for winter food. Friend U., 

 will you please be kind enough to report 

 how these bees winter? Dont' it pay to 

 raise comb honey in Ohio? I fear you have 

 not read the reports carefully, have you V 



CAN A QUEEN HATCH FROM THE EGO 

 IN I.ESS THAN 16 DAYS? 



FRIEND POND'S EXPERIMENT. 



^jOMETHING is wrong somewhere. We have 

 ^)) been led to suppose that certain things in bee- 

 "^ culture were axioms and not susceptible of 

 change, among which is the statement, that from 14 

 to 16 days is always and invariably required to hatch 

 a queen from the egg; and in consequence thereof, 

 the opponents of dollar qvieens have argued that 

 many of such queens are of no value, because, in all 

 probability, they were not formed from the egg, but 

 from larvte from 4 to 6 days old. I propose to state 

 a fact which has lately fallen under my own observa- 

 tion, which would seem to disprove the axiom, and 

 prove the writers either to be mistaken in their ob- 

 servations, or that they have taken the result of a 

 few cases, and from such result predicated a never- 



