THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



13 



[For the American Bee Jouraai. ] 



Honey Dew. 



Mr. Editor : — I ^vill give the readers of the 

 Journal my knowledge of honey dew, as it 

 was requested in number 10, for April, 1869. I 

 have been acquainted witii this species of dew, 

 in the State of Maryland, for twenty-five years. 

 I have never known it to miss tor six years, at 

 any time. It has no regular period, but appears to 

 fall for two or three years, and at times will miss 

 a year, and so on. Men who have noticed it in 

 Ohio, tell me the same. 



I never knew it to fall later than July. In 

 July, 1868, 1 was in Maryland, and it was a 

 very dry time. We had three dews, which 

 was all the bees could get at then, and they 

 went for it strong. The woods were iilive with 

 bees ; and they tilled their hives below, and 

 started in the boxes. 



This dew, so called, stands the sun very well. 

 I was often told that if the sun shone hot on it, 

 it would waste away. To convince some how 

 it was affected, I gathered some leaves with the 

 dew drops on, and hiid them on a rock, where 

 the sun could strike it ah day, and it was as hot 

 as I ever felt it. In the evening the leaves were 

 dry. They lay there all night, and in the morn- 

 ing the dew was as good as on the first day. I 

 am sure that if the bees do not get it all the 

 first day, they can get it from day to day, until 

 a rain comes and washes it off. 



Bees like this dew. It makes a very nice 

 honey, and bees live on it as well as on any 

 honey that they gather. Its color is somewhat 

 like our best syrup molasses, but it makes a 

 very nice and good honey. Its effect on bees, 

 I must say, is perfectly harmless. I am satis- 

 fied of tills, by experience. In the State of 

 Ohio, I never saw manj' honey dews: but, I 

 think, from some cause or other, five swarms 

 die here for one in the Eastern States. 



About tlie sugar this dew may contain, I am 

 not prepared to say. I have no doubt it will 

 make sugar, as all other honey does. Bees 

 gather other substances that would not make 

 sugar before they make honey of it. If bees 

 will not live on anything but sugar, then it cer- 

 tainly contains sugar, fur I know they live on 

 the honey made from this dew. 



Where this dew originates I do not know ; 

 but I am sure it is no insect honey. The-wri- 

 ter spoke of salt dew. I suppose that about the 

 salt lakes we might find salt dew ; and so tbis 

 may come from a honey lake source, though 

 the climate might change the dew. 



This is my experience of honey dew. as a 

 response to the request of a writer in the Jour- 

 nal. 



M. D. FOGEL. 



Alpha, Greene Co., Ohio, May 21, 1869. 



Antonine, the martyr, in the seventh cen- 

 tury, speaks of the honey of Nazareth being 

 most excellent, and in the present day bees are 

 e.xteusively cultivated at Bethlehem, for the 

 sake of the profit derived from the wax tapers 

 supplied to the pilgrims. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Inside and Out. 



On examination in the fall of 1868, I found 

 four stocks, so very deficient iu both honey and 

 bees, that I concluded to plare them in a cellar, 

 where the temperature Avas uniform at about 45°. 

 It was perfectly dry and the hives were on a 

 bench, three feet from the floor. One stock, the 

 weakest of all, was in a common box hive, with 

 a two inch hole iu the top. I left the bottom 

 entrance open, but closed the hole in the top, 

 by placing over it a glass jar filled with candy, 

 of wiiich they consumed tbree pounds. When 

 placed out, March 14t!i, they worked eagerly at 

 meal, and to-day (June 1st), this stock is "one 

 of my strongest. I continued the candy feed 

 until the apple trees were in blossom, using al- 

 together less than five pounds. The three other 

 stocks were in movable frame hives. I closed 

 the entrances, and placed candy over the holes 

 in the honey boards, so that they could come up 

 when they chose. They were very uneasy. At 

 first I thought they required more ventilatiou, 

 and I raised the honey boards ; but they were 

 still more restless. I snon found Ihem dying 

 with dysentery— covering combs, frames, and 

 hive, with the black excrement so well known 

 to most beekeepers. This was a clear indica- 

 tion that my treatment was not adapted to their 

 case. So placing tbe candy on the frames, ever 

 the bees, I made all tight and warm overhead, 

 opening the bottom ventilators. They revived, 

 and I tound no more dead bees on the bottom 

 board?. Though very much reduced in num- 

 bers, they were active in carrying in the meal, 

 as soon as placed on their summer stands. I 

 have satisfied myself that upicard ventilation is 

 not adapted to icealc stocks placed in a cedar. 



I wintered si.xteen stocks on their summer 

 stands; with all upward ventilation closed, and 

 bottom ventilators left open. They were in 

 single board hives. I turned the entrances to- 

 wards the north, which sav s many bees— for as 

 the sun does not strike the lighting board, they 

 do not venture out, except inveiy mild weatlipr. 

 Tbe hives had no shelter, but remained exactly 

 as in summer. All but one wintered si>endidly, 

 and that one was a common box hive which 

 had evidently lost its qtieeu, for there was plen- 

 ty of honej-, but very few bees. I believe this 

 turning the hive will be found very valuable by 

 all who winter out of doors ; but I do not re- 

 member to have seen it recommended or sug- 

 gested in the Journal. 



Apiarians should remember that their location 

 must determine the best method of wintering 

 their bees. In this neighborhood, where we are 

 almost sure to have one or two warm days in 

 every week, I believe it is much the best to 

 leave all the (stocks which are in good condi- 

 tion, on their summer stands ; but I have equal 

 confidence that very weak stocks can be win- 

 tered safely and cheaply in dry cellars, by feed- 

 ing caudy, without upward ventilation. 



Is THE Loss OF THE StING FaTAL ? 



One cold morning in April, I visited 'my 

 hives before breakfast, and found a large mouse 



