THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



219 



The honey from it is of superior quality, and 

 an acre would support a large number of 

 stocks. 



Dwellers in the country cannot fail to 

 have observed occasionally, that the leaves 

 of the trees and shrubs have a gummy ap- 



{)earance and are sticky to the touch. If a 

 eaf so covered be put to the tongue it will 

 taste sweet. This is honey-dew, and is a 

 secretion of some spieces ot aphides, eject- 

 ed from their abdomen in little squirting 

 streams. 



This substance the bees readily gather, 

 and when it is abundant make large addi- 

 tions to their store«. It is generally most 

 plentiful in June or July, and is chiefly 

 lound on forest and fruit trees, although 

 often on low-growing bushes. At the sea- 

 son of its greatest abundance, the pleasant 

 hum of the bees engaged on it is very audi- 

 ble. John Hunter. 



From N. Y. Grocery and Provieion Review. 



National Bee and Pish Culture. 



Bee culture— hitherto one of our most 

 neglected yet most profitable industries— is 

 gradually attracting increased attention and 

 slowly assuming its proper importance 

 among our sources of national wealth, 

 while our exports of its product— honey — 

 are already reaching considerable propor- 

 tions since the production has begun to ex- 

 ceed the Remand for home consumption. 

 As we consider the neglect of our people to 

 develop this industry, and the unlimited 

 capacity of the country to produce this 

 wholesome and nutritious article of food, 

 and the annual enormous waste of the pro- 

 duct of one vast department of Nature— the 

 floral kingdom— we are tempted to moralize 

 upon the proverbial waste and extravagance 

 01 the American people. So many have 

 been our sources of vast and almost inex- 

 haustible wealth, already employed and de- 

 veloped, that we had neglected to look 

 about for wholly unemployed sources, and 

 in the eager pursuit of old, we saw no new 

 ones. This state of primeval extravagance 

 and waste is slowly giving way, however, 

 before harder times, denser population, 

 higher values, and the causes whicn always 

 operate as a community grows older, to 

 utilize more and more its resources. This 

 tendency has been seen for some years past, 

 in the experiments of our State Govern- 

 ments in the direction of fish culture, until 

 many of them have now a fish commission- 

 er, whose duties are chiefly to stock their 

 rivers which have been deprived of native 

 fish, and to restore this great and almost 

 lost natural source of cheap and free sup- 

 plies of animal food. 



Why should not our governments— na- 

 tional and state — stock our fields with the 

 "busy little bees," as well as our streams 

 with fish? 



The untold and unknown wealth of 

 flowers is now largely wasted. Like rivers 

 they are performing but half and less than 

 half their natural functions. It would, per- 

 haps, cause a smile of derision to suggest 

 the paying of the national debt by stocking 

 the country with bees. Yet the opinions of 

 authorities, and their estimates, state that 

 the unutilized honey of the flowers is wast- 

 ed annually in sufficient quantities, for 

 want of bees to gather it, to pay the interest, 

 if not the principal of the national debt. 



Mr. Harbison, the great apiarian of Califor- 

 nia, estimates that the evaporation ol honey 

 from the flowers of that State causes an 

 annual loss greater than its gold product. 

 Why then should not this industry receive 

 government recognition as well as fish cul- 

 ture? Here is one vast domain of nature, 

 created not only for the eye, but for the 

 taste and the stomach, left literally to 

 "waste its sweetness annually on the desert 

 air," while millions of our people are but 

 half fed, and all, simply for the want of the 

 "busy little bees" to gather it, whom our 

 ignorance, cruelty and neglect have left to 

 be destroyed, yearly, in order to get the 

 fruits of their labor, which, by a proper 

 system could be made to yield more than 

 four-fold greater returns, ahd at the same 

 time not rob these workers of their winter 

 stores. Certainly the government should 

 take steps to protect the most productive 

 and industrious of our "workers" from the 

 ruthless depredations of the human drone, 

 and at the same time repair the damages 

 done by their decimation, by importing 

 Italian queens for breeding rapidly, as is 

 now the custom among apiarists. This can 

 be done more rapidly than fish can be bred, 

 and there is no good reason, in fact none at 

 all, why this step should not be taken. 



Indeed, we are told, that those interested 

 in bee culture will endeavor to place the 

 matter before Congress at the next session, 

 with a view to this end, and we hope such 

 will be the case, and that it will succeed. 



From the Phrenological Journal. 



The Australian Bee-Hunter. 



Insect food is much esteemed by the Aus- 

 tralians, especially honey. In the procuring 

 of the latter they show great agility and no 

 little ingenuity; but it will be seen that the 

 intellectual skill of the American bee-hunt- 

 er has a great advantage over these untu- 

 tored savages. When a native sees a bee 

 about the flowers and wishes to find the 

 honey, he repairs to the nearest pool, and, 

 having filled his mouth with water, 

 stretches himself on the bank of the pool, 

 and patiently awaits the arrival of the bee. 

 After awhile one is sure to come and drink, 

 and the hunter, watching his opportunity, 

 blows the water from his mouth over it, 

 stunning it for a moment. Before it can 

 recover itself, he seizes it, and by means of 

 a little gum attaches to its body a tuft of 

 white down obtained from one of the trees. 

 As soon as it is released the insect of course 

 makes for its nest, but its flight is some- 

 what retarded by the down. Now ensues a 

 race. Away goes the hunter after the bee 

 at his fullest speed. Whatever obstacle he 

 meets with on his course he leaps over or 

 plunges through, if possible, making light 

 of the severe bruises from falls sustained in 

 his headlong career. Having thus tracked 

 the bee to its nest, the Australian looses no 

 time in ascending to the spot, if in a tree, 

 taking with him a hatchet, a basket and 

 some dry leaves of grass. He lights the 

 leaves, and uihIit cover of the smoke, chops 

 away the wood until the combs are exposed, 

 then putting these in his basket, he de- 

 scends and departs with his booty. Should 

 the nest be a very large one, he is supplied 

 by his friend, whom ne acquaints with his 

 discovery, with baskets or other vessels for 

 its transportation from the tree to his hut. 



