88 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



March 



is of interest that the manna men- 

 tioned in the book of Exodus is the 

 honeydew of a coccid, Gossyparia 

 mannifera, which occurs in many 

 parts of Asia Minor. This substance 

 is called "man" by the Arabs. In its 

 natural state it is like honey and is 

 still used for food. 



6. The family Aphidae, the Plant 

 lice or Aphids, occur abundantly in 

 tropical and temperate regions and 

 many of its species produce large 

 quantities of honeydew. A very large 

 portion of honeydew produced in 

 temperate climates is the product of 

 Plant lice. 



The amount of honeydew produced 

 by different species varies greatly. 

 Some of the subterranean species 

 produce only small quantities, while 

 many of the arboreal species produce 

 a considerable volume. The females 

 of the latter bear on the upper side, 

 near the caudal end of the abdomen, 

 a pair of tubes, the nectaries, from 

 which the early entomologists be- 

 lieved the honeydew was produced. It 

 is only the fem.ales in the Coccids and 

 plant lice that produce honeydew — 

 females as adults and as young, but in 

 the other families named, its produc- 

 tion is limited to the young. 



The insect, after it has attached 

 itself to the host plant, is probably 

 busy a great part of its time in suck- 

 ing the sap of the plant. This sap 

 passes into the insect's alimentary 

 canal, where it is modified by the se- 

 cretions with which it is mixed from 

 the salivary glands and the digestive 

 glands of the alimentary canal. In 

 those plant lice excreting a consid- 

 erable abundance of honeydew, the 

 posterior portion of the rectum is 

 greatly enlarged and swollen. This 

 swollen portion is lined with large 

 active cells. It is quite likely that 

 the honeydew is an excretion elab- 

 orated and poured out by these en- 

 larged cells, and not simply the ex- 

 creta of the insect, as it is generally 

 stated. 



(To be continued). 



The Large Hive Idea 



By A. F. Bonney 



BEEKEEPING is in a state of 

 transition. It has not been 

 many years since every effort 

 was being bent to the production of 

 comb honey, in sections, and, in some 

 States, chunk. Owing to the difficulty 

 of getting bees to go into sections in 

 seasons of light honey flow, and the 

 vast amount of swarming incident to 

 the eight-frame hive, beekeepers be- 

 gan producing more extracted honey, 

 and the war coming on and the de- 

 mand for honey increasing tremen- 

 dously, the ten-frame hive, and in 

 many cases two of them, were substi- 

 tuted for the eight-frame, until now 

 the big hive idea is gaining ground 

 very rapidly, the Jumbo and, with 

 others, the long hive. 



Owing to the fact that thousands 

 of beekeepers are fully provided with 

 the ten-frame Langstroth hives, they 

 are going to be slow about buying 

 others, either the Jumbo or the Long, 

 and, as I am in that position, I began 



studying how to bridge the gap, with 

 the following result: 



I am now preparing some ten-frame 

 hives by adding a couple of inches to 

 the depth of them. This is a very 

 simple matter, as all one has to do is 

 make a frame of stuff the thickness of 

 the walls of the hive, bore holes about 

 one-eighth of an inch through them 

 edgewise, and fasten them onto the 

 bottom of the hive with long wire 

 nails. The bees will do the rest. If, 

 now. Jumbo frames are put into them 

 I shall gain more than 300 square 

 inches of frame room, 36 inches to 

 each frame, and nine frames, as I 

 long since abandoned the narrow (1^ 

 inch) spacing. This is the equivalent 

 of two full Langstroth frames. How- 

 ever, there is more advantage than 

 the mere gain in space, for while I 

 have made an eleven-frame hive of a 

 ten-frame, I have not spread side- 

 ways, but down, which is what the 

 bees want, for they will work up and 

 downvifard indefinitely, while loth to 

 go sideways. 



This, however, is but a step towards 

 the large hive which, I firmly believe, 

 is destined to predominate in a very 

 few years, and a great incentive to 

 the change is that we do not have to 

 discard our ten-frame hives, or, for 

 that matter, the eight-frame equip- 

 ment, for they may all be used as 

 extracting supers. 



I have tried thoroughly the use of 

 two ten-frame hives for a brood- 

 chamber. In some cases it worked 

 out all right, but in others the bees 

 would get into the upper hive and re- 

 fuse to go down. This called for a 

 change, which I generally made by 

 Demareeing, putting one frame of 

 brood below with the queen, which 

 called for work which, in many cases, 

 I hope to avoid by the change in the 

 ten-frame hive. 



In this connection, the metal hcney 

 comb is, I believe, going to solve the 

 problem of distorted foundation. This, 

 the metal comb, is to be another fac- 

 tor in our transition, even if it reduces 

 the demand for wax and sets the 

 makers of foundation to scratching 

 their heads. 



The object of all laws is the great- 

 est good to the greatest number, and 

 all our efforts in beekeeping should 

 have the same idea. 



Buck Grove, Iowa. 



Full Sheets of Foundation to 

 Swarms 



On page 344, at the bottom of the 

 center column, I wrote: "Never give 

 full sheets of foundation to a swarm." 

 This brings a lot of enquiries. The 

 statement is too sweeping. What I 

 meant to say was: "Never give a 

 swarm all full sheets of foundation." 

 If you do, the bees are likely to break 

 it down with their weight before they 

 work upon it, even if wired. It is ad- 

 visable to give the swarm a comb or 

 two already built, upon which most 

 of the bees will hang, while the foun- 

 dation sheets are being worked out. 

 If you have no empty combs, just ex- 

 change two sheets of foundation for 



full combs from the hive that has 

 swarmed, or from some other hive. 



In writing this, I am speaking for 

 warm_ summer climates like that of 

 Illinois. In cool climates it may be 

 all right to hive a swarm on all full 

 sheets. M. G. DADANT. 



Protecting Bees in Winter 



A good way to protect bees in win- 

 ter is to cover the hives with large 

 pasteboard boxes. Fill an empty 

 super about half full of chaff, and 

 place on top of the hive, then put on 

 the regular metal hive cover. Get 

 the boxes about 3 inches larger than 

 the hive. (Those in which bakeries 

 ship bread are just right). Cut out a 

 place in the bo.x to correspond with 

 the entrance to the hive, then fill in 

 all around the hive with straw, not 

 pressed in but loose, letting it settle 

 of itself, and filling again when neces- 

 sary. No matter how cold it gets, this 

 will protect the hives well, and is 

 very little trouble. The boxes can 

 usually be found at any bakery to 

 which bread is shipped, and cost little 

 if any money. Of course, the bottom 

 must be cut from the box, and just 

 the sides used. 



LILLIAN DAVIDSON, 

 Blue Springs, Neb. 



Beestings and Horses 



In the November number of your 

 Journal, on page 384, "New Jersey" 

 enquires what to do if a horse gets 

 badly stung. 



Fill up the copper, or whatever ves- 

 sel the wife uses for boiling the 

 clothes in, and get the water hot as 

 quickly as possible. Then get some 

 blankets, rugs, or anything of a like 

 nature and soak in the water, wring- 

 ing out the water, and cover the 

 horse with them as hot as the animal 

 can bear them. As fast as they cool 

 keep renewing them with hot ones, 

 and the animal will get instant relief 

 and probably recover. 



B. BLACKBOURN, 

 Sub-Editor Australasian Beekeeper. 



The Bee as a Reformer 



By K. G. Devine 



M^^ 



AC" was a Boston boj', a neg- 

 :cted orphan, who from lack 

 of decent environment and 

 proper training became shiftless and 

 incorrigible. The Children's Court, 

 where he finally landed, decided that 

 he should go to the "Farm," a State 

 institution. 



For three years he was the despair 

 of the farm authorities, who labeled 

 him "hopeless." One day he was sent 

 to the State line to bring home some 

 colonics of bees for the new apiary. 

 He brought them home and was badly 

 stung in so doing. The sting of the 

 bees wounded his pride more than it 

 did his flesh, and he determined to 

 subdue the insects. 



From that time on he had sole 

 charge of the hives and became so 

 infatuated with his work that he be- 

 grudged the time spent in eating and 

 sleeping. "Mac" had never heard of 



