218 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



For tue Ameiican Bee Journal. 



The Origin of Honey-Dew. 



CHAULES SAMSEL. 



On page 139, Mr. Kemp asks me to 

 explain how huney-dew gets into the 

 leaves of some plants and trees. This 

 I answer, Yankee fashion, by asking 

 other questions, viz : How does blood 

 get into our system V IIow does the 

 milk get into the cow 'f How does 

 nectar get into flowers V Answer— 

 Kot by absorption ; they are the result 

 of the wonderful chemistry of nature. 

 All plants and trees contain more or 

 less sap, some is sweet, some sour, 

 and some insipid ; when the sap (lows 

 — it often overflows, thus running 

 down the trunks of trees ; all the 

 gum-resins e.xude spontaneously from 

 trees, some are very odoriferous, and 

 we frequently find sweet moisture on 

 leaves, where no apkidce are visible, 

 this may be expelled through the 

 pores of the leaves, as sweat from the 

 human body. 



Mr. K., in support of his saccliarine- 

 condensation theory, cites the aroma 

 from the sugar-camp, the coffee-pot, 

 the cabbage in the dinner-pot, and the 

 fragrance of the rose, and leaves us 

 to infer that these aromas are con- 

 densed and absorbed by plants. 



Arnma is a term employed to desig- 

 nate those substances, the extremely 

 minute particles of which are sup- 

 posed to affect the organ of smell so 

 as to produce particular odors. The 

 particles diffused through the atmos- 

 phere and affecting the olfactory 

 nerves — if the tlieory of particles of 

 matter so dift'used be correct— must 

 indeed be extremely minute. These 

 odors have been generally supposed to 

 depend upon essential oils. 



Scientists tell us that odors of 

 flowers do not, as a general rule, ex- 

 ist in them as a store, or in a gland, 

 but are developed as an exhalation. 

 While the flower breathes, it yields 

 fragrance ; but kill the flower, and 

 fragrance ceases. It seems then that 

 odors are simply exhalations depend- 

 ent—possibly all — upon essential oils, 

 not upon vapor impregnated with 

 matter, and cannot, therefore, be con- 

 densed as such, and we have yet to 

 learn that these exhalations are visi- 

 ble or leave the least stains ; and 

 while it is well known that they com- 

 bine with various fatty matter, they 

 do not sensibly increase their weight 

 or bulk. 



If the aromas of which Mr. K. 

 speaks, were like smoke, depositing 

 carbon ; or like steam, depositing 

 water, when condensed, they would 

 most likely form deposits upon other 

 substances, besides leaves, but they are 

 not analogous, the former being much 

 too minute to produce those deposits 

 which we style honey-dew. 



As already stated, thi-;. honey-dew 

 is eitlier spontaneous exudation of 

 vegetation, or is drawn from it by 

 aphidcB and ejected as such. Many 

 trees and slirubs — as admitted by Mr. 

 K. — secrete sweet sap and furnish 

 food for insects, etc. The sweet saps 

 are absorbed by llie a?</iid(e.and again 

 ejected by them, falling upon objects 



within reach, usually upon the leaves 

 of the plants which they infest, often 

 upon those adjacent, and upon the 

 ground. I quote the following from 

 Messrs. Kirby & Spence's Entomol- 

 ogy : " This fluid, which is scarcely 

 inferior to honey in sweetness, issues 

 in limpid drops from the abdomen of 

 these insects, notonly bvthe ordin-try 

 passage, but also by two setiform 

 tubes, placed one on each side, just 

 above it. 



We all know that the bee does not 

 make honey, but simply gatliers it 

 from flowers; when it obtains its 

 sweets from sugar, it deposits sugar, 

 not honev. Tlie value of honey-dev^' 

 to the bee, therefore, depends upon 

 the source whence the aphidre obtain 

 it. Much more miglit be said in re- 

 futation of the saccharine-condensa- 

 tion theory, based upon sound scien- 

 tiflc principles, but as notliing very 

 satisfactory has yet been shown in 

 support of it. I deem it unnecessary." 



Easton,o Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Planting for Honey. 



C. n. DIBBEUN, (200). 



Just now it seems that our leading 

 bee-masters are much interested in 

 the discussion of their "pet theories." 

 One insists that it is all " pollen," 

 another " hibernation," and a third 

 "continuous passage-ways," while a 

 fourth declares that the brood-combs 

 must be tipped upside down, or the 

 bees will pay no profit. All these 

 questions have caused a great deal of 

 thought among intelligent apiarists, 

 and will doubtless lead" to some good; 

 but most of us, however, who keep 

 bees tor the money that there is in it, 

 have not the time nor patience to pick 

 the pollen out of brood-combs, that 

 the foolish bees will persist in bring- 

 ing in, to their own injury ; or to be 

 continually " tilting " the combs or 

 watching the bees through the long 

 winter to see if they really "hiber- 

 nate." What we want to know is, 

 how to produce the most honey of the 

 finest quality, and in the best pos- 

 sible shape. Many of us know how 

 anxiously we have watched the last 

 few days of the white clover and 

 linden honey-flow, and how we have 

 looked about us in vain for something 

 to take its place, as the last few blos- 

 soms dried up. Ordinarily a season 

 of five or six weeks follows when the 

 bees have nothing to do but cluster 

 idly about the the fronts of the hives, 

 leaving great numbers of sections only 

 about half finished, to be completed 

 in the fall with dark honey which 

 finds a poor demand at a low price. 



It has been my study for many 

 years, how it would be possible to 

 prolong the period of the white honey 

 harvest. Some fifteen years ago, 

 while musing on this subject, my at- 

 tention was drawn to a small patch 

 of melilot or sweet clover, growing in 

 a garden which I was passing. Seeing 

 a great many bees working on it, I 

 felt like shouting " Eureka." I did 

 not then know what it was, but I 

 gathered some of the seed and have 



scattered it in all out-of-the-way 

 places ever since. I Hud, however, 

 that it is difliouU to get started where 

 cattle are allowed to run ; but not so 

 with the Rocky Mountain bee-plant. 

 Much can be donn by utilizing all the 

 wasle places, but I have not depended 

 on that alone. Last season I had 

 aliout two acres of sweet clover ad- 

 joining mv apiary, and while it was 

 in bloom it was a beautiful sight. At 

 one time fully one-half of my bees 

 were at work upon it. This was at 

 the most important part of the sea- 

 son, and the bees were enabled to 

 finish many sections that would have 

 remained only partially completed. 

 It is plain that whatever we can add 

 to the natural honey resources, must 

 nearly all go into the sections or 

 combs for extracting. Not so with 

 the general crop ; a great deal of that 

 IS consumed by tlie bees. 



Now, as to the question, " Does 

 planting for honey pay V" I can an- 

 swer "yes." I am certain that ten 

 acres of sweet clover would have been 

 worth $500 to me last season. What 

 crop is there that will pay better? 

 There is also some demand for the 

 seed, and if taken care of and adver- 

 tised, it will pay all the expenses of 

 cultivating. Then, too, the satisfac- 

 tion of having the bees at work so in- 

 dustriously, and producing the snowy 

 white combs, while they would other- 

 wise be idle, or intent only on robbing, 

 is worth something. In my opinion, 

 planting for honey is the direction in 

 which the greatest promise of success 

 lies. 



Milan, ^ Ills. 



For the American Bee Joumak 



North Middlesex, Ont., Convention. 



The North Middlesex Bee-Keepers' 

 Association met in the Town Hall, at 

 Park Hill, Ont., on Friday, March 20, 

 1885. 



Messrs. D. A. and G. B. Jones were 

 present, and answered numerous 

 questions ; the former also spoke at 

 length on preparing honey tor mar- 

 ket. The discussions were both in- 

 teresting and exhaustive, and em- 

 braced the usual subjects brought 

 forward at conventions. 



The election of ofiicers resulted as 

 follows : President, Mr. Frank At- 

 kinson, of Ailsa Craig; Vice-Presi- 

 dent, Mr. D. P. Campbell, of Park 

 Hill; Secretary - Treasurer, Mr. A. 

 Humphries ; Vice-Presidents for Park 

 Hill, Messrs. Henry Phippen ani Jas. 

 Gray ; and for Ailsa Craig, Messrs D. 

 Norton and J. Allen. 



It was decided to hold the next 

 meeting at Ailsa Craig, Ont., about 

 the middle of May, 188r>. 



D. A. Stewart, Sec. 



1^" The second annual meeting of 

 the Western New York and Northern 

 Pennsylvania Bee-Keepers' Associa- 

 tion will be held at Cuba, N. i'., on 

 Tuesday, May 4, 1885. A very large 

 attendance is anticipated, as the ter- 

 ritory covered by this Association 

 embraces many prominent bee- 

 keepers. W. A. SnEWMAN, Sec, 



