at pleasure, and in which it lies con- 

 cealed during the day, coming partially 

 out at night to devour such wax as it 

 can reach. Beeswax is their only food, 

 and they prefer the old to the new comb. 

 As they increase in size they enlarge 

 their tubes, and coat them exteriorly 

 with grains of wax mixed with their 

 own castings, which resemble gun- 

 powder. 



Thus shielded from the stings of the 

 bees, they work their way through the 

 combs, gnawing them to pieces and fill- 

 ing the hive with their webs, till the 

 discouraged bees abandon their perish- 

 ing brood and wasted stores, and leave 

 the worms entire possession of the hive. 

 The bee-moth was probably brought to 

 this country, with the common hive- 

 bee from Europe, where it is very abun- 

 dant and does much mischief. There 

 are many contrivances, patented or not, 

 for protecting the hive from the inva- 

 sion of the moth ; but there is no better 

 way of preventing its injuries than by 

 keeping the colonies strong, and by 

 visiting the hives regularly in the early 

 morning hours. The moths may then 

 be found hiding under the ledges and 

 about the hives, and, being at this time 

 sluggish and disinclined to fly, they may 

 be readily crushed. 



For the American Bee Juurnal. 



The Sourwood Honey, Etc. 



J. F. MONTGOMERY. 



Last winter was the most disastrous 

 one on bees within my knowledge. In 

 the fall of 1878, I had about 100 colo- 

 nies, but the extreme cold weather re- 

 duced them so much, that in the follow- 

 ing spring I had only 28. Some of my 

 neighbors suffered even worse than I 

 did. I did very well with the 28, for 

 with three that I bought in the summer, 

 I have now in winter quarters 98 colo- 

 nics, and up to this time they all appear 

 to be doing well, carrying in rye flour 

 every warm day ; nearly all the days for 

 a month past having been warm. Two 

 days since, I examined some of them 

 and found sealed brood in several. I 

 do not recollect of ever seeing queens 

 lay thus early. If they keep on, I will 

 certainly have strong colonies in the 

 spring. 



I got a little over 2,000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted honey from my bees last year ; 

 have sold nearly all that I have to spare 

 at 10c. per pound. I obtained about 800 

 lbs. from the poplar, the rest from the 

 sourwood . 



I send you a sample of the sourwood 

 honey to-day, and I want you to tell 

 what you think of it. I see that some 



writers assert that all pure honey will 

 candy. I wish to inform them that they 

 are mistaken. The coldest weather I 

 ever experienced , the thermometer stood 

 at 20° below zero, and the sourwood 

 honey did not candy then, and you may 

 put this in your Museum and let it stay 

 for years and I have no doubt but it 

 will remain liquid. 



I wish you and your readers much 

 success for 1880. 



Lincoln, Tenn., Jan. 5, 1880. 



[We cannot say that we prefer the 

 taste of sourwood honey, nor do we like 

 it as well as we do that of some other 

 kinds ; still it is very good, and will be 

 very valuable for table use as well as 

 many kinds of manufactures. We 

 place this in our Museum and shall 

 await with patience the test as to can- 

 dying. We have some here now, and 

 though it is not candied solid, still it is 

 quite thick. That from different sec- 

 tions may vary in this particular. — Ed.] 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Honey Production in the South. 



W. C. HOWES. 



By the report of the National Con- 

 vention, held at Chicago last fall, I see 

 that C. O. Perrine stated that during 

 the summer months no honey was to be 

 stored in the South. However true this 

 may be of Louisiana, where Mr. Perrine 

 operated, here in Florida it is different. 

 Our honey season commences in Feb- 

 ruary, with the yellow jasmine. In 

 March we have orange flowers and a 

 species of myrrh ; these yields are used 

 almost entirely for brood. In April, 

 usually about the 16th, comes a drouth. 

 which usually lasts about two weeks, 

 when the saw palmetto ( Chammrops 

 palmetto) comes into bloom and furnishes 

 the first considerable crop. It is a 

 member of the innumerable family of 

 palms ; the root, or more properly the 

 trunk, grows on the top of the ground 

 about 6 feet, and then turns up from <; 

 inches to as many feet, bearing a bunch 

 of broad serrated leaves, and two or 

 three sprigs of white flowers, each sprig 

 about 18 inches long. A little later the 

 black mangrove [Rhigophora), a bush 

 which lines all the salt lagoons of the 

 south Florida coast, begins to bloom, 

 furnishing a very clear and palatable 

 honey, and stays in bloom for weeks 

 or more. In July, the best and largest 

 crop of the year, the cabbage palmetto 

 (Aveca) opens its flowers and the bees 



