764 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Dec. 15 



cessful wintering. Not that all honey-dew 

 is so very bad, for there are at least two 

 kinds of it, differing considerably in compo- 

 sition. One is a saccharine juice which ex- 

 udes under certain climatic conditions from 

 the leaves of various trees, amongst them 

 being oak, chestnut, lime, beech, ash, coni- 

 fers, and fruit trees. Now, as is well known, 

 there visits these "sweating" leaves an 

 aphis which feeds greedily on this sweet 

 substance. It, like the bee, has something 

 in the nature of a honey-sac, quite separate 

 from its ordinary stomach, and from which, 

 when the sac gets overcharged, it regurgi- 

 tates, or rejects, " aphidian honey " by means 

 of two tubes used for no other purpose, for- 

 tunately for the bees and their keepers. In 

 itself this fluid, which is a secretion, not an 

 excretion, would not be wholly unpalatable. 

 It looks like a bright, sparkling, clear drop 

 of liquid when held up against the light, and 

 tastes by no means harsh. But, unfortunate- 

 ly, a soot fungus grows on the leaves, mak- 

 ing them appear as if they had been coated 

 with this substance. To the sorrow of the 

 bee-keeper and to his serious loss, this gives 

 a black inky appearance to the saccharine 

 matter when it is gathered and consigned to 

 the cells, and when extracted it looks dark 

 and muddy, sometimes resembling in color 

 blacking or coal tar. Much of it m the ad- 

 mixture thoroughly injures the sale of the 

 honey, and even a little of it goes far to de- 

 teriorate the quality and flavor. 



The following method may be used to test 

 the amount of real honey and the proportion 

 of honey-dew: Place a large spoonful of slak- 

 ed lime in about two pints of water, and stir 

 the compound thoroughly. Allow the lime 

 to settle at the bottom, and then pour off the 

 clear liquid into another bottle. Place a tea- 

 spoonful of the inky honey into a tumbler 

 nearly full of this lime-water, and give it a 

 good shaking or stir it smartly. It the mix- 

 ture remains clear you have pure honey; if 

 partly cloudy you have a small mixture of 

 honey-dew; but if it turns very muddy it is 

 largely contaminated. 



The eye at once detects its presence, how- 

 ever, as the honey assumes a muddy, cloudy, 

 dark appearance unknown in flower nectar. 

 1 he sense of taste aids the eye, and to the 

 initiated not only clearly proves that it is 

 present, but pretty well gauges its propor- 

 tion. Aiding these two senses comes that of 

 .■smell. The odor of honey-dew is something 

 apart from that of any true nectar secreted 

 by Flora's offspring. 



The very worst type should be sold to the 

 blacking manufacturers, or it might be used 

 as a lubricant. Large quantities of inferior 

 htmey are annually purchased by biscuit 

 manufacturers, and honey-dew can, if not 

 too strongly flavored, be substituted if sold 

 as such. For those who have a trade in low- 

 grade honey a blend of honey and honey- 

 dew will sell easily under a suitable nanie 

 at a low price. Foreigners and a certain 

 class in great parts of our larger cities would 

 not object to the pronounced flavor if they 

 got it cheap. A blend, if honey- dew is not 



in the ascendant, might be allowed to granu- 

 late, and can then be sold cheaply in this 

 form as honey-dew honey. If there is only 

 a slight coloring many would purchase at a 

 small figure if the home market is worked 

 up. Those having a large quantity much 

 contaminated should preserve it carefully 

 till spring, and feed with a view to stimulat- 

 ing. For turning into bees it is as good as 

 the very best and choicest grade on the mar- 

 ket. Another use to which I wonder some- 

 body has not advised it should be put is to 

 draw out new combs. With a glut from hon- 

 ey-dew a large number of combs could be 

 built in a few days. Honey-dew is a saccha- 

 rine substance, but it contains a residue. 

 This latter the bees would carefully eliminate 

 in changing the liquid into a solid, so that 

 the combs would be perfectly sweet and 

 clean. It is possible, however, that they 

 might be of a darker shade, or assume some- 

 thing of a green tinge. With a heavy flow 

 on from this source, remove regular shallow- 

 frame bodies, and replace them by full-depth 

 frames fitted with full sheets of foundation, 

 and they are drawn out as if by magic. It is 

 not generally known, but it is a fact all the 

 same, that far more perfect combs are con- 

 structed in surplus-chambers than can be 

 obtained in the regular body-box, and with 

 a heavy flow and a full force of bees they 

 can be got flat as a board. 



This has been an uncommonly bad season 

 for honey-dew, and an undue proportion of 

 the little genuine honey gathered has been 

 spoilt by the admixture. Fortunately, the 

 plague in its worst form is not of frequent 

 occurrence. The year 1907 was bad, 1898 

 was worse, but these are the only really bad 

 seasons, I think, for over twenty years. Dr. 

 Miller records that he had only one vile year 

 in forty-eight. Mr. Carr, in 1898, described 

 that season as the only really bad one he had 

 experienced in over twenty-five years, and 

 for over twenty years I have never had its 

 presence made offensively manifest. Ancient 

 writers set a higher value on honey-dew than 

 we do, and Pliny called it the spittle of the 

 stars, while others called it a dew from hea- 

 ven. I should like to impress on readers 

 that, although it is frequently associated with 

 the presence of aphides, cocci, etc., they are 

 a result of it, and not it of them; and, fur- 

 ther, I would desire to emphasize as a fact 

 that the "aphidian " honey is not an excre- 

 tion, but simply an exudation from the leaves, 

 or an ejection from "honey-sacs " by pecul- 

 iar organs of these insect pests, and that the 

 black inky shade is due to the mold, or fun- 

 gus, and not to the insect or the "dew." 



THREATENED DAMAGE SUIT AVERTED. 



Mr. Root:— I wish to thank you for the interest you 

 have taken in my case with Mr. . You will re- 

 member that he claimed my bees injured his peaches, 

 and threatened to bring suit for damages. I sent him 

 your letter as well as some communications which I 

 received from other sources, together with " Bees and 

 Fruit " and other printed matter. I have not seen him 

 nor heard from him since, and do not think he will 

 carry the matter further. 



Valparaiso, Ind., Oct. 9. E. S. Miller. 



