274 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



May 4, 1899. 



the information of those wishing- to try this plant, that it 

 should be sown as early in the spring as possible, so that it 

 may receive the benefit of the spring rains. It is sometimes 

 sown alone here, and sometimes with grain crops ; in the 

 latter case t would sow about 23 or 24 pounds of seed to the 

 acre, but if sown alone about 18 or 20 pounds is enough. 

 Where it will produce honey, as a rule, it will be of a supe- 

 rior quality, and while as a rule we regard it as our best 

 honey-plant, in a rainy climate it cannot be relied upon as a 

 honey-plant at all, because, like sweet clover and some other 

 plants, the rain washes the nectar out of the blossoms. But 

 we believe that any place where it will grow it is one of 

 the best forage plants known, and it will produce the most 

 to the acre. 



Of all Utah crops, alfalfa (or lucern, as it is called here), 

 we think, is the "'boss." Good land will produce about 

 seven tons to the acre, and I know of land where over 200 

 tons from the acre have been cut since it was first planted, 

 about 30 years ago. Almost any animal that can be named 

 will live and thrive on it, either in its green or dry state, 

 and all stock will eat it in preference to any other hay. I 

 have just been buying a lot of honey-jars packt in clean 

 meadow hay from Illinois, which I tried to save by feeding, 

 but after starving- the horses for 36 hours they would not 

 touch it. I then mixt lucern with it, and they pickt out 

 every spear, but left the Illinois grass. 



WINTERING BEES IN UT.\H. 



As a rule, the principal cause of winter loss among the 

 bees in this part of the country is a lack of ventilation. Our 

 bee-keepers, in their anxiety to protect their bees from the 

 cold weather, cover them up and make them so nearly air- 

 tight that it causes the bees to sweat. Then the little air 

 they may have in the hive, when the temperature drops low. 

 becomes foul, which causes the bees to become so weak that 

 they cannot leave the cluster to seek their stores, and thus 

 they hang in the cluster until they starve : when the bee- 

 keeper opens his hives he finds the frames damp and moldy, 

 and his bees dead. I could give over a hundred illustrations 

 to prove this. 



Packing is all right if the bees are kept dry. Remem- 

 ber, they must be kept dry. Bees don't often freeze, but 

 they can be easily smothered, and starve. Thus it would 

 be preferable to prop up one end of the cover rather than 

 to seal them down air-tight. 



I believe there was four times the amount of snow in 

 Salt Lake county the past winter as in the previous one. 

 Many of the tall pines in the canyons of the Wasatch 

 Mountains were covered out of sight ; there were many 

 slides with some fatal results, and while a few of our stock- 

 men felt a little blue, the farmers and bee-keepers felt jubi- 

 lant, as it insured an abundance of water for irrigation, and 

 a good flow of honey. Salt Lake Co., Utah. 



Observations on the Subject of Honey-Dew. 



BY WM. M. WHITNEY. 



PROF. A. J. COOK, in his article on page 17, under the 

 head of "Honey-Dew — Its Origin and Uses," asks the 

 readers of the American Bee Journal to observe closely 

 this honey-dew, and report the result of their observations. 



It has been my habit to observe somewhat closely the 

 production of honey-dew for years, before becoming inter- 

 ested in bees. But I have never known an instance of its 

 production that has not been the result of insect life. I am 

 not sufficiently verst in entomology to be able to definitely 

 classifj' the different species which produce this kind of 

 honey ; but from my observation during last summer, I con- 

 cluded there were in this vicinity at least two classes or 

 species of aphides at work. To make myself understood 

 clearly, I will be compelled to give a history of my opera- 

 tions in this direction. 



The early spring bid fair for a successful season, and 

 on May 13 I put extracting-supers on several hives, and sec- 

 tion-cases on others, but soon the conditions changed to 

 such a degree that for some time little was done except to 

 build up strong colonies, which fact I discovered by fre- 

 quent examinations. This condition continued thru the 

 early white clover and the basswood season, and except for 

 the hope of a supply from sweet clover, our fond anticipa- 

 tions had vanisht ; but on July 27th, after a respite of ten 

 days, I made another examination, and, to my surprise, I 

 found several of the section-cases partly filled, and quite a 

 number of supers nearly full of honey. The most of it, 

 however, was the vilest looking stuff one ever saw. Lubri- 



cating oil used on shafting, until the iron has been ground 

 into it, so as to produce a muddy black, comes the nearest 

 to describing it of anything I can think of, but scarcely 

 any of it was in the brood-chambers, for the)' were almost 

 wholly occupied with brood. 



In searching for the cause, I went into the cherry or- 

 chard of 1.000 trees, or more — the nearest point being not 

 more than 20 rods from my bees — and found all thru the 

 orchard, on the under side of the leaves, a black insect, or 

 plant-louse, and the upper side of the leaves was covered 

 with a sticky subtance, which the bees were vigorously gath- 

 ering. This I thought would account for the very dark 

 honey, but there was yet an unsolved problem ; there was 

 more light-colored honey than could be accounted for from 

 basswood and clover, for these sources were nearly a total 

 failure. On looking over the lawn of some 30 or more acres, 

 a large number of box-elders were found, on the under side 

 of the leaves of which were found a light green aphid 

 almost transparent, and apparently much larger than those 

 on the cherry-trees, and the upper side seemed to be more 

 completely covered with honej'-dew than were the chern,-- 

 tree leaves, and the bees were working it as vigorouslj- as I 

 ever saw them on basswood when in full bloom. 



Since reading Prof. Cook's article I am more convinced 

 of the source of the light honey than before. The dark 

 honey was all extracted, but what to do with it was the puz- 

 zle. But late in the fall the idea of vinegar crost my dull 

 perceptions, and immediately a warm liquid, that was 

 strong enough to bear up an egg, was made bj' stirring into 

 warm water honey enough to produce the result. So now I 

 have about 80 gallons of very strong vinegar, which may be 

 increast to 100. 



One of the most striking objects to arrest my attention 

 on making- the examination for honey-dew was the differ- 

 ence that existed between the honey in two hives standing 

 near each other. Supers were put on both at the same time, 

 but one contained honey-dew almost as black as tar, while 

 the other contained not a cell of such honey, but the 

 contents was as clear and light-colored as anj- clover honej' 

 I ever saw. Query — Do individual colonies of an apiary 

 have fields to which all the bees of the hive direct their at- 

 tention, instead of scattering promiscuously over the whole 

 territory ? This discovery seemed to indicate such as a fact ; 

 at least it must have been so in this instance. 



Kankakee Co., 111. 



Planting' Fruit-Trees and Bushes for Honey. 



BY F. A. SXELI,. 



THE opening of plum-tree bloom follows closely upon 

 that of the cherry, and is rich in both honey and pollen. 

 During fine weather the honey-bees fairly swarm in the 

 trees, proving that a rich harvest is there in store. The air 

 is made fragrant for quite a distance by the sweet perfume 

 floating- in the atmosphere. During a profusion of plum 

 bloom no prettier scene can be witnest than to behold these 

 trees in their snowy whiteness. The bees secure a fine 

 harvest from this bloom to encourage and produce brood- 

 rearing which at this season is so desirable by all apiarists. 



Several plum-trees of the different hard)- varieties 

 should be grown by every bee-keeper even if the amount of 

 land at hand consists of only a few town lots. Fruit-trees 

 make a good and profitable shade. With the planting of 

 hardy varieties of plums to the number of 25 to 50 trees on 

 every farm, an increase of honey will be secured by our 

 bees, and a profitable crop of fruit secured for family use 

 and to sell. Good cherries as well as plums are in good 

 demand each season and at good prices. If one will give 

 the proper attention I doubt if any crop on the farm will 

 pay as good a return as will an acre or two devoted to cherrj' 

 and plum culture. The bee-keepers at least should do some- 

 thing in this direction, and may rest assured that a good 

 reward will follow the effort so wisely made. 



Apple-trees, peach and pear trees follow in opening of 

 early bloom, or that coming before the small fruits. The 

 apple is here grown to some extent, but not so much as it 

 should be. A good many farmers have bought of unre- 

 liable agents, and also trees grown in milder climates than 

 we have, and the trees have often proved not true to name, 

 or tender so they soon die in our colder climate. This has 

 discouraged a good many, and not near the planting has 

 been done that would have been had earlier purchases given 

 good results. 



I have great faith in our climate for apples and much 

 other fruit, if hardy, reliable trees are grown or planted. 



