614 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sprig of pine covered with vegetable honey-dew. The leaves that glisten are fairly varnished over with 

 the sweet secretion. 



bees to work on, and black is consequently 

 foreign to them, while, on the other hand, 

 there are plenty of yellow and white flowers 

 that they are constantly working on, hence 

 their frenzy to sting the former color. 1 no- 

 tice you mention the interior of the hive is 

 black; but I think you will alter your opin- 

 ion when I tell you I was locked in a dark 

 room for 18 months with an eye trouble, a 

 few years ago, and the only light in the 

 room was admitted through an aperture not 

 more than Vs of an inch in diameter, and 

 I can assure you that, after a week, I could 

 discern every article in the room, and find 

 my way about; therefore I say the hive is 

 not totally dark or black. 

 Johannesburg, S. Africa. 



HONEY-DEW ON PINE 



BY J. C. BALL 



[The above letter was sent to Prof. H. A. 

 Surface, Economic Zoologist of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, Harrisburg, Pa., whose 

 reply follows. — Ed.] 



I have received and examined the sprig 

 of pine from J. C. Ball, Kinsale, Va., and 

 1 find corsiderable honey-dew upon it. I 

 find no ijlant lice nor scale insects, and 

 must say that either some insect of this 

 kind was present on the trees above these 

 limbs and dropped the honey-dew upon 

 them, or this came from glandular exuda- 

 tions of the pine tree, which is possible. In 

 fact, upon careful microscopic examinatiou 

 of the specimen at hand I must say that 

 there is no evidence that the honey-dew 

 originated from any other source than di- 

 rectly from the bark itself without the in- 

 tervention of insects. Internal glands will 

 secrete sweet liquids of this kind. 



H. A. Surface, Economic Zoologist. 



Harrisburg, Pa., April 15. 



I am mailing under separate cover some 

 twigs of pine covered with honey-dew that 

 T thought might be of interest to you. The 

 honey-dew, 1 think, must have been caused 

 by a heavy frost just after a very warm 

 spell. I am sure it is from the pines, be- 

 cause there are no trees near but pines, and, 

 besides, the other trees have not budded 

 out yet. It is very seldom that it is seen on 

 pines about here. Some seem to think that 

 pines never have honey-dew. This has bee i 

 on the pines about a week, and tlie groui d 

 is well spotted with it. Sometimes it hangs 

 in large drops on the twigs. 



Kinsale, Va., April 15, 



LOCATING APIARIES CLOSE TO THE MAIN 

 SOURCE OF NECTAR 



BY LOUIS H. SCHOLL 



There is quite a diversity of oj^inion re- 

 garding the proper distance apiaries should 

 he located from each other. I have been an 

 advocate of smaller apiaries, located close 

 together, for many years. My own apiaries 

 contain 50 colonies each, and are scattered 

 over the country, three and many two and 

 a half miles apart. This way I get a good 

 distribution and more evenly distributed 



