1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



743 



THE SOURCE OF HONEY-DEW. 



BY H. M. MOVER. 



It is a disgrace to say that honey-dew honey is not 

 honey. It is honey as well as white-clover honey, only 

 of a poorer quality. Some even go so far as to call it 

 "bug juice." It is not bug juice. I have been a read- 

 er of Gi.E.\NlNGS, and a bee-keeper, about thirty-five 

 years. During this time I have noticed honey-dew 

 every three or five years, and I have watched it most 

 carefully. It takes from six to eight days after the 

 honey-dew is on the leaves for the lice to come. I 

 think that the dew brings the insects, and not the in- 

 sects the dew. When the honey-dew is on the leaves 

 of the trees it is honey-dew; but when it is gathered 

 and stored in the combs it is honey. The sweet sub- 

 stance in the white-clover blossom is called nectar; 

 but when it is stored in the combs it is honey. 



The older bee-keepers call honey-dew a gift of God, 

 and I myself think it is a blessing when we have such 

 a poor season as the past. If it had not been for the 

 honey-dew this summer we would not have had over 

 half a crop. 



Bechtelsville, Pa. 



[The above communication was submitted 

 to Prof. H. A. Surface, State Zoologist of 

 Pennsylvania, and President of the Pennsyl- 

 vania State Bee-keepers' Association. He 

 replied as follows: — Ed.] 



Before we can say what is honey and what 

 is not honey we must first establish a fixed 

 definition of the term " honey." We can do 

 no better than to accept that which is given 

 by the Board of Expert Chemists working in 

 connection with the Pure-food Division of 

 the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, which demands universal approbation 

 and support for the most excellent work of 

 its chief. Dr. Wiley. These careful students 

 and chemists have defined honey as "the 

 natural saccharine exudations from nectaries 

 or glands of plants, gathered, transformed, 

 and stored by the honey-bee." Now, it is 

 well known that honey-dew is chiefly the 

 product of insects; and the form with which 

 the bee-keeper has been plagued this year is 

 not directly from plants, and, therefore, 

 could not possibly agree with the definition 

 of "honey" so properly established by the 

 chemists of the Committee on Pure F'ood. 

 If honey-dew is honey, then any food that is 

 taken by the bee and stored in the comb is 

 also honey, and it would be legal to sell not 

 only the stuff from fruit juices, cider-mills, 

 oorghum pulp, and sugar-cane and sugar 

 beets, but also the refined products from 

 these in the form of syrup. It is certain that 

 sugar syrup fed to the bees and stored by 

 them in the comb is much more palatable 

 and wholesome as a product than is the hon- 

 ey-dew which they gather and store. This 

 can not only be proven by a practical test of 

 serving it on the table, especially to children, 

 who are competent and critical judges, but 

 also by attempting to winter bees on honey- 

 dew exclusively, or upon sugar-syrup feed- 

 ing. Both should likewise oe ruled from 

 the list of honey, as it would probably for- 

 ever injure the legitimate trade to sell either 

 stored sugar syrup or stored honey- dew as 

 honey, such as we usually have in mind 

 when we speak of this delicious product. 

 It is my experience that a low grade of hon- 

 ey injures the sale for that of better nuality, 

 and I am well convinced that a ton of noney- 



dew honey scattered through almost any city 

 would seriously injure the sale of genuine 

 honey in that city for the coming year. 



There should be no comparison between 

 the so-called honey-dew honey and white- 

 clover honey, for the reason that the latter 

 conforms to the definition in coming from 

 the nectar of the flower, while the former 

 disagrees entirely, and is a product of an in- 

 sect. Honey-dew in this State is never 

 found excepting on plants that are infested 

 with certain scale insects, plant lice, or sim- 

 ilar insects. It is true that it will be seen on 

 the lower leaves of a tree before the insects 

 get there; but this is because they often 

 leave the trees by flying through the air and 

 commence to feed on the tender new leaves 

 of the upper part and drop their sweet se- 

 cretions on the leaves below. Later they 

 drop to the leaves below or crawl down the 

 tree, and may be seen on the lower leaves. 

 This does not mean that honey-dew was on 

 the leaves before the insects were there. 



Honey-dew attracts ants, wasps, flies, bees, 

 and other insects that feed on sweets; but 

 the plant-lice do not feed on the honey- dew 

 nor on sweets, as they draw all their living 

 from the sap of the trees or plants that are 

 infested. No one has ever seen plant-lice 

 feeding on the sweet liquid called honey- 

 dew; but, on the other hand, we have fre- 

 quently observed this liquid coming from 

 the cornicles or honey-tubes of plant-lice, as 

 well as from the vent or digestive tract. 

 No one can watch plant-lice during the sum- 

 mer without seeing the honey-dew appear 

 first in small globules, and then increase to 

 larger drops on the cornicles or honey-tubes, 

 especially when ants are stroking the plant- 

 lice with their antennae. There can be no 

 possible doubt of the source of this liquid. 



As to whether the honey-dew is a benefit 

 to the bee-keeper depends upon how he win- 

 ters his bees, and upon locality. If the bees 

 can be wintered on their summer stands, or 

 where they have flight as frequently as they 

 need it, and the locality and season are such 

 that they can fly frequently, say once every 

 two or three weeks, they will winter all right 

 on honey-dew; but if they are to be put into 

 a cellar, or otherwise kept from flying for 

 six weeks or two months, they will doubt- 

 less perish with dysentery. Honey -dew 

 makes far more waste material to be voided 

 from the system than any other food that the 

 bees can take, and it is known that this void- 

 ing is done only when in flight. This ex- 

 plains why bees must be given an opportu- 

 nity for flight if they are forced to feed on 

 honey-dew. If such opportunity be not giv- 

 en, it is better to feed the bees abundantly 

 as soon as possible with sugar syrup, after 

 having removed the honey-dew, and save 

 this for stimulative feeding next spring. 



At the annual meeting ot the Pennsylvania 

 State Bee-keepers' Association, held in Leb- 

 anon, Pa., the general sentiment was that the 

 honey-dew this year was a great nuisance, 

 and the bee-keepers would rather be without 

 it. There was no expression to the contrary. 



Harrisburg, Pa. 



