The Sources of Nectar and Pollen 369 



that the fruit was first damaged by some bird, by some other 

 insect (e.g. hornet), by a bruise or by some form of decay 

 and he may further be certain that the bees are sucking the 

 juices of only damaged, unmarketable fruit. It may also 

 be added that fruit juices are most undesirable stores for 

 bees and, if used exclusively in winter, the colony will prob- 

 ably die. The beekeeper is therefore often being injured as 

 much as the fruit-grower when the bees suck overripe or 

 injured fruits. 



Beekeepers naturally appear biased in seeking to prove 

 the bee a harmless and solely beneficial insect. They even 

 minimize the annoyance of the stings in their loyalty to the 

 bee. In pointing out the benefits of bees and denying in- 

 juries so often laid at their door, the present writer may also 

 be accused of this bias. The investigations that have been 

 made, however, uniformly support the contentions of the 

 bee enthusiasts and the supposedly harmed fruit-grower 

 should be led to suspect that his judgment is in error. The 

 ranks of the bee advocates are year by year being materially 

 augmented by fruit-growers who have become convinced of 

 the correctness of the attitude that the beekeeper maintains 

 toward his bees. 



Supposedly poisonous honeys. 



Frequent mention is made in the literature on bees of 

 supposedly poisonous honeys. It is of course true that the 

 juices of many plants are poisonous to man and this may be 

 the foundation for the belief that nectar of such species also 

 contains the poisonous principles. Among the plants some- 

 times reported to produce poisonous nectar from which 

 poisonous honeys are made by the bees, are mountain laurel 

 (Kalmia latifolia), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), yellow 

 jessamine (Gelsemium sempervirens) , sweet pepper bush 

 (Clethra alnifolia) and rhododendrons (one species of which 

 is supposed to be the source of honey reported by Xenophon 

 as having poisoned his soldiers) . It would be unsafe to deny 

 that the nectar of any plant produces a poisonous honey, but 



2B 



