September. 1909. 



2qg 



American Vae Journal 



cially that portion concerning the ap- 

 pointment of an inspector. Getting 

 what he wanted he then proceeded to 

 Denny McNuggett's shebean to formu- 

 late a line of action on the dignified 

 and honorable position of County Foul 

 Brood Inspector. Denny, as the local 

 dispenser of potheen, beer and politics 

 was usually called, soon had the whole 

 thing fixed, for didn't he know the ma- 

 jority of the members of the Board of 

 Supervisors? 



.And so at the next meeting of the 

 Board boistrous Bill Bilkins was made 

 bee-inspector ; he qualified that day and 

 at once set out to drive the dread dis- 

 ease from his county. He proceeded 

 over the mountains on his strenuous old 

 horse "' Teddy " to Mother O'Rankin's. 

 This old lady and her husband went to 

 the mines close to the days of Forty- 

 nine, and as the golden metal did not 

 come their way through the pan and 

 cradle, they started a small roadside 

 house or inn. .As the mining industry 

 waned, they added farming to their line 

 of occupation, and in time they secured 

 a few colonies of bees. Inspector Bil- 

 kins knew this, and he planned to in- 

 spect the widow's bees, for the lord of 

 the establishment had long since ceased 

 to be a dweller of the mountains, for 

 he left for that Land beyond the 

 clouds. .And Bill knew that he would 

 take advantage of the opportunity and 

 secure a night's lodging and two square 

 meals at the poor lady's expense, for it 

 was now a part of Bill's religion that 

 he, the honorable bee-doctor of his 

 county, would not pay for anything 

 during his inspection trips. 



" Dr." Bilkin's first official act after 

 leaving Teddy's back, was to invade the 

 small apiary in the rear of the inn. .As 

 he came near the bees Mrs. O'Rankin 

 approached him and said: "Phat is it 

 that you wonld be afther having, Bill?" 



"Having.' nothin' mum ; I'm the Foul 

 Brood Doctor, and I come to look 

 after the health of your bees. mum. 

 They have the disease, and I shall have 

 to report your bees infected; don't 

 you smell the dreadful stench that 

 comes from your bees?'' he went on to 

 say before he as much as had an op- 

 portunity to open a colony. 



" My bays have the malajy, eh ; and 

 you will rayport me, too. Phat's that 

 you say, you a doctor? Bah ! .Away 

 wid ye, or I'll drive you out, you mis- 

 erable crayture, to be coming over here 

 and saying a poor widdy's bays are 

 rotten. 'Tis yer miserable self that's 

 corrupted, and ye had better heal yer- 

 self," the Lady of the mountains went 

 on to say very indignantly. 



'■ But I say your bees have the dis- 

 ease, and they shall have to be de- 

 stroyed. Where are your senses if you 

 can't smell the frightful odor ema- 

 nates from those hives?" 



By this time the widow had come up 

 to him, and as she was carrying a pail 

 of swill to her pigs, she could not re- 

 sist the temptation to throw the pail's 

 contents on the "doctor," and she did, 

 saying, "Take that ye miserable polt- 

 roon, for insulting me and my bays." 



The woman's onslought was so sud- 

 <len and severe that it sent the " doc- 

 tor " over sidewise, so that he fell into 

 the midst of a brood of young pigs, to 

 say nothing of the nastiness he l)ecame 

 mixed up in. 



" Be off wid ye at once or I shall turn 

 the dog loose on ye, and never let me 

 see ye come a loafing here again." 



.And the "doctor" went, and he and 

 his Teddv traveled all that night and 



Poison Oak— Blooms in .April and May. 



without supper until they came to the 

 home of the next keeper of bees, 

 some 2.J miles away. What his next 

 reception was may be told in a subse- 

 quent issue of the Old Reliable. 



Valuable Honey from a Noxious Source 



What marvelous things happen in this 

 world ! Alan often prepares foods of 

 the most appetizing and- wholesome na- 

 ture from plants and fruits that ordin- 

 arily are absolutely injurious to human 

 life; for instance, tapioca. And the 

 bee is not much behind man in the same 

 regard, too. To be sure, it is not a 

 knowledge of chemical science that 

 prompts this insect to make honey out 

 of poison. In the case of the nectar 

 the bees collect from one of the most 

 dreaded plants to most persons on this 

 coast, I will not venture to say that the 

 bees convert the poisonous fluid into 

 honey, but rather, that it is one of the 

 changes of natural alchemy. 



I have yet failed to find a place in 

 California that is free from poison oak, 

 (Rhus diversiloba) ; and it is also hard 

 to find few people who are immune to 

 its ill efifects during the spring of the 

 year, especially (T pride myself on be- 

 ing one of the e.xempt ones, thank good- 

 ness. ) But what a world of merriment 

 the blooming plant affords the bees! 

 .And many believe that the finest honey 

 we obtain is from the nectar of RJuts 

 tii-i'tv-siloba. the much dreaded and de- 

 spised poison oak — the bane of the aver- 

 age picnicker and summer-resorter. The 

 honey is clear, almost white, of heavy 

 body and delicious flavor. It commences 

 to bloom in the last week of April, and 

 continues several weeks in Mav. 



}mmn 



fribufed 

 rficle 



i^^gi^m^^^ 



Honey-Dew for Wintering Bees 



m r. r. I).\I).\nt. 



.VIk. Uauant: -.My bees liave liarvested 

 a lot of lione\ wliicli is as dark as molasses, 

 and I am told it is honey-dew. and tliat this 

 is unfit for winlerinK bees. What would you 

 advise me to do .ibout it?" — Iowa. 



You are in the same position as 

 thousands of others, for the crop of 

 honey-dew seems to have been quite 

 universal within several hundred miles, 

 wherever there is timber, and even in 

 some places where there is very little 

 timber. The honey-dew is now posi- 

 tively known to be produced by fhe 

 plant-lice or aphides. Much specula- 

 tion was caused by the fact that the 

 "dew" is found as well on leaves that 

 are at the tf)p of the tree or shrubbery, 

 and on which no lice can be found, the 

 lice being most usually on the under- 

 side of the leaf. But it was ascertained 

 that the winged aphides are capable of 

 producing this liquid substance, as well 

 as the wingless aphides. 



In the neighborhood of trees in- 

 fected with the aphides, the spray of 

 honey-dew may easily be detected by 

 placing yourself in the shade with your 



o\os turned towards the light produced 

 by the sun. You can then see the 

 smallest bodies in the air, just as you 

 can see the dust through a ray of sun- 

 light gleaming in a crack of the shut- 

 ters in a dark room. Honey-dew is 

 often found on dried leaves or on the 

 trunks of trees — a very plain evidence 

 that it is not an exudation from the 

 sap. But there are some sorts of honey- 

 dew produced from sap. These are ex- 

 ceptional. 



The honey-ilew with which we have 

 to deal is a very dark snl)stance, which 

 often has more or less of the flavor of 

 the trees on which it is gathered. Thus 

 1 have often tasted a nutty flavor in 

 that gathered on the hickory leaves, 

 which seem to be here the greatest 

 harbor of the plant-lice. 



Although 1 have not seen any tests 

 of the <|uantity of saccharine iiiatter 

 contained in this product, I consider it 

 as quite sweet, but off flavor. It may 

 be used for pastry, for sweetening 

 wines, and is often purchased by tobac- 

 conists. I have a recollection of at 

 least 3 large crops of this substance in 

 the past3."i years. Although it brought 

 a low priced we had but very little diffi- 



