1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



219 



I had just read in Gleanings (specimen copy), a 

 letter from one of your correspondents, statiug that 

 honey-dew was an exudation from the leaf itself, 

 and that the insect theory was homeopathic, &c; so 

 of course I looked closely for the insects, and found 

 them thickly clustered on the body of the same twigs, 

 on the leaves of which the drops of dew were hang- 

 ing. Always, over the drops of honey, I found the 

 aphis; and always, under the aphis, I found the 

 drops, and every appearance indicated str mgly that 

 the aphides were the producers and not consumers 

 of the honey-dew. Though the pines were all near- 

 ly of the same size and appearance, perhaps not 

 more than one in every twenty had the drops or the 

 insects on them, but wherever the honey was, there, 

 just over it and on the same twig, were the insects. 

 The honey did not seem to have dropped and lodged, 

 but rather to have run from the cluster of insects 

 down the needle-like, pine leaves, and gathered in 

 drops on their points. John C. Pickens. 



Flat Creek, Buncombe Co., N. C, Mar. 5, 1880. 



NOT THE PRODUCT OF APHIDES. 



Here is my observation of the honey-dew in Eu- 

 rope; never having seen any here, 1 cannot give an 

 opinion as to its origin in this country, yet I think 

 the results in both countries are the same. I never 

 saw any in Europe except in the latter part of June 

 or July, when acres and acres of rape were in bloom, 

 which is raised there for the oil extracted therefrom. 

 To my knowledge, it would come two or three times 

 a week, in little sun showers or clouds. I remem- 

 ber going many times through rye fields, rye being 

 in bloom about the same time, and taking my fingers 

 and catching honey drops from the rye heads. Gen- 

 erally it would not be long before bees would come 

 from the rape fields to the rye fields and gather the 

 sweets. Now, some of your readers may laugh, es- 

 pecially those that believe in the insect theory ; yet 

 is it not reasonable to suppose that where there is 

 such a larg-e amount of sweets as is deposited in 30 

 acres or a square mile of rape, and very few bees to 

 gather it, that it collects in clouds, and then rains 

 down on us in showers? Now this is my observation 

 and conclusion, and, being a "German," I intend t« 

 "sit" on it, until overwhelming proof to the contra- 

 ry is offered. C. Hanker. 



Majority Point, 111., Feb. 20, 1880. 



That is right, friend II.; "sit on it." and 

 stick to it, until they can get you oh' by fair 

 and square proof. 1 confess to being a little 

 loth to accept the idea that honey "rains 

 down," but I shall be very glad to find that 

 it really is so, and I think we all will ; will 

 we not, boysV 'cause, you see, we shall be 

 looking forward hopefully, every summer, 

 to a shower of honey. Such a shower would 

 be a line thing for spme of our " blasted 

 nopers," if it would just come along right in 

 the nick of time. But dont you think, 

 friend H., we shall be more likely to see it if 

 we plant broad iields of rape, such as you 

 mention? Our neighbor 11. was in a few 

 days ago, and said be was just going to plant 

 a held of 4 acres, and he hoped he should 

 outwit the black tleas by having it early. 

 My patch, sowed last fall, all winter-killed, 

 as, in fact, did my late sowed, seven top tur- 

 nip. The other, sowed in Sept., is just now, 

 April 5, putting out buds and very green 

 leaves. 



HONEY from the foliage, and not from the 



BLOSSOM. 



On p. "6 American B>e Journal for Jan., Prof. 

 Cook notes some observations which settle the 

 question of honey dew, showing that the plants have 

 gland- which secrete the nectar. The summer of 

 1877 was exceedingly dry in this vicinity. One day, 

 I heard bees humming around the catalpa trees. As 

 it was afternoon, and the July sun had long since 

 dissipated any moisture, I was curious to see what 

 could attract them in such numbers. In a moment 

 a bee came near enough for me to see distinctly, 

 and, judge my surprise when I saw that it was the 

 under siac -of the leaf which was visited. After 

 watching several, and noting that they invariably 

 gave attention to the under side only, I broke off 

 some of the leaves and found in the angles formed 

 by the lateral ribs' with the mid-rib— a bare spot; 

 that is, I thought it had no epidermis. Certainly the 

 down which covered the under side of the leaf was 

 wanting here. The bees began work between two 

 and three o'clock P. M., and worked until dark. 

 They did not tarry long on a leaf, but visited them 

 often. There were about three such "spots" on a 

 leaf, decreasing in size toward the apex. 



A kind of senna (C. Marilandica, I think but am 

 not sure) grows wild here in profusion. Upon the 

 upper side of the petiole, between its base and the 

 first pair of leaves, is a dark knot about the size 

 of a piu's head, which was the only part of the 

 plant the bees visited last summer, although the 

 large wild bees worked upon the blossoms, of which 

 there was the greatest profusion. 



Grand Lake, Ark., Jan. 20, '80. H. A. Harriman. 



CHAFF HIVE QUESTIONS; ANSWERED 

 II> FU1E!\U TUWNLEY. 



IjMjjf'R- J- H. TOWNLEY: — If you please, I have 

 _L */ "I some queries about hives to hold chaff all the 

 ~~ ' year, as you suggest in Nov. No. of Glean 

 ings, 1879, page 442. The only difficulty in doing so 

 (with me at least) is in preventing mold from gather- 

 ing in the hives, on the outside part of chaff. If the 

 outside box is tight and the chaff is about 6 or more 

 inches thick, mold will accumulate here, provided 

 we have a changeable winter. I have not experi- 

 mented as you have (Gleanings, 1815, p. 134) with 

 chaff 2 inches thick, or 3 inches; and if you, in us- 

 ing it 3 inches thick, have no mold, I would like to 

 know it. It may be that the outside box should be 

 made with many cracks so that the moisture may 

 dry out better. 



I have been thinking of making this of lath, and 

 Leaving a small space(say }$ inch) between the pieces. 

 What do .\"u think about it? 



In Glkantngk, 18T8, page 104. under the picture of 

 your apiary, you mention the two story hive of A. I. 

 Root's invention. Do you think such a hive conve- 

 nient for using section boxes, when the boxes are 

 held in a rack? i. e., is the upper story not in the 

 way? 



If I knew how many inches thick to havethechaff, 

 and how to make the hive to get rid of the mold, 

 then I, t Di i, would be in favor of chad' around bees 

 all the year. Pktkk MOYER. 



Clark, Mercer Co., Pa., Feb. 27, 1880. 

 Mil. townlky's answer. 



The bees were put into my first chaff hives (21) in 

 Oct., and left there until the following May, whoa 

 they were all taken out and the hives unpacked 



