138 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



often the honey harvest is past before 

 they get things in shape to suit them, 

 and they usually "get things in shape" 

 by absconding with a virgin queen 

 when no one is by to see them. 



Wm. E. Ilairis : Xear my apiary 

 are tall trees, and it is difficult to get 

 swarms down out of them. I have 

 tried clipping the under wing of a 

 queen, and found that she could fly 

 when thus clipped. 



C. E. Rulison : With proper appli- 

 ances, I can take down swarms that 

 are clustered 30 feet high. I can stop 

 a swarm from issuing' by throwing a 

 wet sheet over the hive. 



W. Z. Hutchinson : We have had 

 more trouble with swarms having 

 queens whose wings were clipped, 

 than with those having queens with 

 undipped wings. A swarm without 

 a queen wanders about a long time 

 before returning, and when it does 

 come back it sometimes enters the 

 wrong hive or hives; or if it strikes 

 the right hive, it sometimes clusters 

 all over the outside of it, and only goes 

 in after a long time. When a queen 

 is given to a returning swarm, she 

 sometimes comes out again, and the 

 bees follow suit. If one is going to 

 practice clipping, clip all of the laying 

 queens ; clipping part of them greatly 

 complicates matters. 



R. L. Taylor : I cage the queen and 

 lay her in the shade until the bees re- 

 turn, enter the hive, and begin to show 

 signs of uneasiness when she is given 

 to them, and gives no trouble by 

 coming out again. If a swarm at- 

 tempts to enter the wrong hive, I 

 throw a sheet over the hive. 



W. D. York: Could not the queen 

 be caged, and the bees be induced to 

 cluster around her by elevating her 

 upon a pole among the bees V 



\V. Z. Hutchinson : We have tried 

 it, aud the plan is not always a suc- 

 cess. 



APIAKIAN EXHIBIT AT NEW ORLEANS. 



R. L. Taylor, who had visited New 

 Orleans, gave a brief description of 

 the apiarian exhibits at the exposi- 

 tion. They number five ; California, 

 Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa, and that of 

 the general government. 



California's exhibit was in the form 

 of a pyramid 8x8 feet square at the 

 base, and 10 feet high. It was on a 

 table, and consisted of comb and ex- 

 tracted honey, tine beeswax and a col- 

 ony of bees in an observatory hive. 

 The extracted honey was shown in 

 large glass vessels ; the comb was in 

 sections, and in large frames so ar- 

 ranged as to be easily divided. 



The Wisconsin exhibit was arranged 

 upcjn a table in a similar manner to 

 the California exhibit, but the pyra- 

 mid was not more than 4 feet high. 

 The honey was mostly in one-pound 

 sections. The whole exhibit was cov- 

 ered with glass. 



The Ohio exhibit was about SxS feet 

 sqiuire, six feet high, and consisted of 

 both comb and extracted honey, and 

 was surmounted by a wax figure. Im- 

 slcments were also shown. I'he State 

 lad also induced Dr. Besse to bring 

 down 100 colonies of bees. The Doc- 

 tor brought them with a view to see 

 if it would pay to take bees South to 



I 



winter. Excepting 10 colonies, the 

 combs of which had been placed cross- 

 wise instead of parallel with the car, 

 all came in good condition. The 10 

 colonies whose combs were crosswise 

 of the car were dead. 



The exhibit from Iowa was sent by 

 O. Clnte, and was not entirely ar- 

 ranged , but gave promise of being fine. 

 It consisted largely of extracted honey, 

 but there was a glass case filled with 

 sections that were tastefully arranged. 



The exhibit of the general govern- 

 ment was large and varied, but the 

 persons having it in charge did not 

 understand making and caring for an 

 apiarian exhibition. The comb honey 

 had been removed from the shipping 

 crates and exposed with no covering 

 of glass, and had been considerably 

 punched and fingered. Hives and im- 

 plements were so shut up and covered 

 up that it was impossible to examine 

 them. 



STIMULATIVE FEEDING. 



R. L. Taylor had tried "feeding up" 

 bees in the spring, and the result was 

 that he " fed them down." 



M. D. York: I have fed a thin 

 sugar syrup after apple bloom, and it 

 was a benefit. 



KEROSENE OIL AND BOBBERS. 



N. Van Patten had stopped a terri- 

 ble robbing raid by driving out the 

 robbers with smoke, closing the liives 

 and then wetting them and their sur- 

 roundings with kerosene oil. When 

 quiet was restored, the entrances were 

 slightly opened. The bees belonging 

 to each hive clustered under the bot- 

 tom-boards of their hives, and were 

 brushed off and put into the hives. 



The election of officers resulted as 

 follows: President, R. L. Taylor; 

 Vice-President, John Rey ; Secretary, 

 W. Z. Hutchinson ; Treasurer, Byron 

 Walker. The Convention adjourned to 

 meet on the first Wednesday in Feb., 

 1886, at East Saginaw, Mich. 



W. Z. Hutchinson, Sec. 



R. L. Taylor, Pres. 



For me American Bee Journal. 



The Origin of Honey-Dew. 



W. C. B. KEMP. 



Some months ago I wrote an article 

 for the Bee Journal on "Honey- 

 Dew— what is it V" and in that article 

 I attempted to show what honey-dew 

 is, and whence produced. This called 

 forth a half dozen or more articles 

 from as many different correspondents, 

 and but one or two — notably, Chas. 

 Dadant, of Illinois — agreeing with my 

 theory ; and in a recent number of the 

 Bee Journal, Mr. J. M. Hicks comes 

 to my assistance. I now desire to 

 more fully state my position on this 

 subject. 



The preponderance of testimony 

 from those who have written concern- 

 ing this subject, favors the production 

 of this substance by bark and plant 

 lice. No one questions the fact that 

 trees and plants are infested, to a 

 greater or less degree, by these in- 

 sects, and nature has supplied them 

 with necessary subsistence, and this 



substance, which is termed honey- 

 dew, must have a producing agent, or 

 a source from which it comes. 



Prof. Cook, before some bee-keep- 

 ers' convention, made the remark that 

 it was "all foolishness to say that 

 honey -dew rained down." That may 

 be ; but, is it not more foolish to say 

 that aphidcc produce it, or secrete it in 

 some mysterious manner y 



That plant-lice live and thrive and 

 multiply on it we all concede, and 

 none deny. Let me ask, where does 

 the saccharine properties of the juices 

 of the sugar-tree, sugar-cane, the nec- 

 tar in the flowers, aud the sweets con- 

 tained in the various fruits, berries 

 and vegetables, come from? Will 

 Prof. Cook answer ? Will the host of 

 other bark-louse theorists answer? 

 There are but 3 sources from which it 

 can be derived, namely, earth, air and 

 water. The component parts of these 

 three elements combined, enter into 

 the structure of every tree, plant and 

 shrub in the world. 



Take a shovelful of earth, or soil, 

 from the richest part of your garden ; 

 burn it, digest it, analyze it, aud not 

 a particle of sugar will be found. 

 Take a barrel of rain or spring water, 

 boil it until it all evaporates, and then 

 how much saccharine matter have you 

 left ? Then it it clear, that from 

 neither of tliese two elements is nec- 

 tar formed. Then we have but one 

 left, namely, the atmosphere ; and I 

 shall not attempt to solve the problem 

 as to how honey-dew is derived from 

 the atmosphere, for nature has never 

 yet unfolded the mysterious workings 

 of her wonderful "machinery to the 

 knowledge of man. We know that 

 grass grows and flowers bloom, but 

 how they do this, we do no know. 



It is known, to botanists at least, 

 that the leaves of trees are the lungs 

 through which they breathe. "Res- 

 piration in plants is analogous to res- 

 piration, or breathing, in animals. In 

 both it is equally constant, and equally 

 necessary, and in plants, it is per- 

 formed principally by the leaves." 

 " Respiration consists of the absorp- 

 tion of oxygen from the atmosphere, 

 accompanied by the solution of car- 

 bonic acid." I take it, then, that the 

 exhalation or saccharine pi'operties of 

 the abundance of bloom of all kinds, 

 fills the atmosphere, and under cer- 

 tain influences and conditions, which 

 we know not of, condenses and settles 

 on trees, leaves and plants, and is ab- 

 sorbed by the leaves of trees which 

 secrete sweet sap, aud furnishes food 

 for insects, etc. The conditions of 

 the atmosphere required to convert 

 these properties into sugar, may exist 

 in the greenhouse as well as else- 

 where, and accounts for its appear- 

 ance there — if it does so appear. 



Mr. Cogswell says, on page 567 of 

 the Bee Journal for 1884, that " the 

 vapor which rises from the honey- 

 cavity of flowers, or from uncapped 

 combs in process of ' ripening,' is 

 probably only a surplus of water with 

 no sensible trace of sweetness about 

 it." Did Mr. C. ever visit a sugar- 

 camp when the sap of the sugar-tree 

 was being boiled, and not smell it ? 

 Did he never smell the aroma from 

 the coffee-pot on the stove, or the cab- 



