THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



.19 



of the ancient leeches, should resort to bee tea as 

 a specific, and hid apothecary prices for dead 

 workers — two peradventures not likely to hap- 

 pen. 



Yon not only have our full and cordial "con- 

 sent" to continue the bee-keeping business, but 

 -we should much regret to find so close and 

 careful an observer abandon it. Your observa- 

 tions on queen bees are not those of a man who 

 "seeing, sees not." They corroborate similar 

 observations made, both in this country and in 

 Europe, within the last eighteen months, which 

 will probably serve in the end to remove from 

 the category of mysteries certain puzzling phe- 

 nomena which phj^siologists have not yet been 

 able to explain satisfactorily even to them- 

 selves. — Ed. A. B. J. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Honey Dews. 



On the 31st of May, 18C8, there was a heavy 

 honey due in this vicinity, so that the bees 

 carried in large quantities of it until two 

 o'clock in the afternoon. That night there was 

 quite a heavy shower. On the morning of the 

 11th of June there was another very heavy clew. 

 Bees commenced gathering at break of day, 

 and gathered all day long and next morning till 

 ten o'clock, when we had a shower of rain 

 wmich washed it all away. This honey dew 

 was on the leaves of oak, poplar, elm, bass- 

 wood, hickory, walnut, grape vines, hazel, 

 grass, weeds, and leaves of all kinds. 



I called the attention of quite a number of 

 neighbors to the fact, because Mr. Quinby says 

 there is no such thing, or that it must be the ex- 

 udation of some insect. Now, I never saw a 

 honey dew before so early in the season. I 

 have repeatedly seen it in the month of August 

 in Canada, and once in Wisconsin in the same 

 month, but then only on the leaves of some 

 particular trees. 



In the two cases observed, the weather had 

 been quite warm, and we farmers sometimes call 

 it quite muggy — that is, a peculiar atmosphere, 

 for some ten or twelve days previous. If this 

 was the exudation of any insects they must have 

 been on the wing, for the very top leaves of the 

 trees were covered with it, as well as the grass 

 where there were no trees. I could discover 

 none on the open prairie on the 31st of May. 

 After two o'clock it dried up so much that the 

 bees ceased gathering, but yet it could be plain- 

 ly seen. E. Gallup. 



Osage, Iowa. 



"We have never seen honey dew earlier in 

 the year than about the beginning of July, and 

 then only on the leaves of chestnut trees. Ii 

 overspread the leaves evenly, and was glossy 

 and clammy, like a thin coat of varnish. The 

 bees continued at work as late as nine o'clock 

 in the morning. The weather was clear and 

 pleasant — temperature at about 85° F. We 

 never saw aphides, or other insects, on the up- 

 per or under surface of any of the leaves we ex- 

 amined. 



[For the American Bee Journal.] 



Common Failures. 



Mr. Editor:— On page 132, Vol. 3 of tho 

 Bee Jotjrral, O. C. W., quotes the conversa- 

 tion of some person with himself, pertaining 

 to the failures in beekeeping, as follows: — 

 "My father before me kept bees, and I have 

 kept them ever since ; and we know how to 

 keep them by this time, you see. But now the 

 patent hives, cold winters, millers, mould, and 

 robbers, have ruined my bees. So you see how 

 difficult it is to keep bees in our days " 



O. C. W. says— "Now there is no fiction about 

 this. It is a fair representation of the sentiments 

 of a majority of bee-keepers in the country, very 

 many of whom, though good citizens and intel- 

 ligent men in other respects, are tot, lly igno- 

 rant of first principles— a knowledge of which 

 is indispensable to profitable bee-keeping. What 

 we want then is to introduce the Bee Journal 

 into every beedieeper's family. This would 

 create an interest in the subject ; and then, with 

 the aid of movable frame hives, the business 

 can be reduced to a system, and made profitable, 

 instead of depending on luck, as many bee-keep- 

 ers imagine." 



I think, of course, O. C. W. did not intend to 

 imply that movable comb hives are necessarily 

 patent hives. Neither do I suppose that he in- 

 tended, on the other hand, to admit that patent 

 hives, as above set forth, are the cause of the 

 common failures in bee-keeping. But should 

 this should be true, the sooner patent hives are 

 dispensed with the better. That the other causes 

 enumerated are often the source of failures, sec- 

 ondarily, I am ready to admit. Yet I do not 

 admit that the hive, be it a patent one or other- 

 wise, is the sole or primary cause of failure. 

 There must be other causes combined with the 

 hive, to make it prove a failure in bee-keeping. 



I think I am right in the opinion if we "intro- 

 duce the Bee Journal in every bee keepers' 

 family," that it will ever show that the failures 

 in bee-culture are mainly to be found in some 

 other original sources, not enumerated in the 

 above quotations Why do the "cold winters" 

 kill our bees ? Is it because we do not suffi- 

 ciently protect them from the cold ? 



Why do the "millers" destroy our bees? Is 

 it because we do not keep the stock populous 

 enough to cover and protect the comb from the 

 depredations of moth ? 



Why does the "mould" prevent bees from do- 

 ing well? Is itbecauseAve do not properly venti- 

 late our hives, and thus let them become too 

 damp ? 



Why do "robbers" interfere with our success 

 in bee-keeping ? Is it because we Jet our stocks 

 become so weak that they cannot defend them- 

 selves, and because we do not protect them as 

 much as we should in all cases ? 



From these questions I feel satisfied that the 

 readers will conclude with me that the common 

 failures are from causes bark of the ones indi- 

 cated in the quotations. Permit me to suggest 

 that one of the chief sources of common failure 

 is to be found in the want of sufficient pasturage 

 from which bees can secure ample stores for the 



