THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



553 



fennel, rag-weed, etc. ; but white clo- 

 ver ( TrifoHwn repens) lias many friends 

 and no enemies. It raises its modest 

 head wherever its roots liiid lodgment. 

 A heavy sod of this clover prevents 

 the highwavs from wasliiny; during 

 lieavy rains." and is especially useful, 

 in this way. in clayey soils, near 

 streams of water. Ilorse-niint ( Momtr- 

 da punctutii) is blooming in the hedges, 

 and from Texas comes the report of 

 prodigious yields of honey from it. I 

 have seen no bees working upon this 

 plant, although now blooming in pro- 

 fusion, but I have noticed tliem liter- 

 ally swarming over catnip [Xepeta 

 odaria). This is a very desirable 

 honey-plant, and should receive in- 

 creased attention from bee-keepers. 



Reports come from Ohio of a severe 

 drouth of six weeks" duration, and 

 that the sources of honey are all dried 

 up. From Arkansas we learn tliat 

 the reverse isthecase. In this locality, 

 rain and showers have been frequent, 

 so there is abundance of bloom, and 

 if the weather is hot during August 

 and September, the yield of autumn 

 honey will be large. On my trip, I 

 noticed that the ram areas were quite 

 small ; for two or three miles the oats 

 would be beaten down almost as flat 

 as if rolled, and a few miles further 

 on, they woidd be erect and waving 

 in vigor and beauty, unscathed by 

 winds and storms. This diversity in 

 the rain areas will make the honey 

 crop irregular. In some parts of the 

 State the autumn bloom will fail, 

 because of drouth. 



Peoria, 111. 



For the Amencan Bee JournaL 



Is it "Honey-Dew?" 



A. rJIBSON. 



In May I noticed that certain trees, 

 particularly box-elder, began to look 

 very peculiar; the leaves stopped 

 growing, turned a darker green, and 

 the new shoots ceased to grow. On 

 closer inspection I found insects, or 

 what seemed to be small white lice 

 on the leaves, and at the same time 

 drops of syrup covering the leaves to 

 such an extent as to make the 

 branches so heavy that thev would 

 droop by sheer weight of the" sticky, 

 sweetish syrup on the leaves. 



Under the box-elder trees, this 

 syrup could be found covering the 

 ground, and when it fell upon the 

 boards of the sidewalk, which it 

 often did, it left stains which looked 

 as though hot syrup had been thrown 

 upon them ; and it was not obliterated 

 till after several hard rains. For 

 about two weeks in .June, to walk 

 under these trees in the morning, was 

 dangerous to clothing. In looking at 

 the hat and coat after going, or just 

 passing under a tree. I found it cov- 

 ered with large drops of transparent 

 syrup as thick as very thick honev. 

 This stickv substance could be re- 

 moved only by applying very hot 

 water. 



It was also noticed that early in the 

 season the lilac bushes were covered 

 with it to a remarkable extent : but 

 these bushes did not suffer like the 



larger trees. The box elder trees, up 



! to .Tuly 10, looked very hopeless ; the 



! leaves only half -grown now began to 



j wither, and the tree bore every ap- 



i pearauce of early and speedy death ; 



but from some cause or other, about 



[the middle of .July, they began to 



J liven up. new twigs began to grow, 



[ and at the present writing, the trees 



are putting on a new growth Of very 



light green ; and those trees which 



were pronounced dead, have again put 



forth their leaves. 



The season during which this syrup- 

 tlow continued, was of 4 or .5 weeks' 

 duration. Early in the morning, bees 

 fed almost exclusively on this sub- 

 stance, and later in the day it would 

 get so stiff that thev could not work 

 it up. The honev gathered from this 

 dew (y) has a veiy dark, reddish ap- 

 pearance, and has' a sickish taste. I 

 consider it untit to eat. 



The bees stored honey from this 

 very fast. I have a row of hives set- 

 ting under a row-of box-elder trees, 

 and this dew fell from the trees upon 

 those hives, covering them with this 

 sticky substance which becomes 

 mixecl with the dust blown on them 

 by the winds, thus giving the hives 

 such a nasty, unsightly appearance 

 that I was obliged to wash them so 

 as to get rid of it. I consider this 

 substance injurious to my bees, and 

 at some future time I will explain 

 how. 



Ponca, Neb., Aug. 12, 188-1. 



What and gotu. 



ANSWERS BY 



James Heddon, Dowagiac, Mich. 



Rules for t\\\s Department, 



1. Give your name and post-otlice address. 



'2. Be brief, and to the point. 



'■i. Send no simple questions, such as are 

 answered in the bee-ttooks. 



4. Ask only such questions as are of 

 general interest. 



o. This department is not intended for 

 advertising any one's wares — therefore 

 questions concerning the manufactiu'e of 

 goods for sale are not appropriate. 



fj. Direct all questions to the editor — 

 THOS. G. NEWM.VN, 

 925 West Madison St., CHICAGO, ILL. 



How to Build a Bee-Honse. 



Will you please answer the follow- 

 ing questions through the Bee Jour- 

 nal : 



1. What would be the' best way to 

 build a bee-house for wintering bees 

 and for extracting honey and storing 

 general apiarian supplies during the 

 summer? I propose building a small 

 brick house on the east side of my 

 dwelling, fronting the south. 



•1. About 100 feet to the north there 

 is a small ravine about 12 feet deep 

 with a close grove of pine trees, mak- 

 ing an entire wind-break from the 

 north. As the ground is very dry, 

 would you recommend making a cel- 

 lar, say"4 or .5 feet under ground, and 

 build it up to 7 or .s feet, for wintering 

 bees in, and use the upper part as 

 aforesaid? or had I better build a 



little larger and take off a room at 

 the north end for wintering above 

 ground y I can build frost-proof 

 cheaper here with bricks than with 

 wood. 



3. Which is preferable, brick or 

 wood for a house for wintering bees ? 



Norwich. Out., G. W. Tidey. 



Answek.— I have, this season, built 

 a new honey-house in my home apiary. 

 I built it 18xS0 feet, with a cellar of 

 the same size under it, and 8 feet 

 deep. It is two stories high, the 

 lower one being sealed with w'ood 

 (painted white) all over inside. I 

 want a cellar as much all under- 

 ground as I can get it. I would ad- 

 vise you to build your cellar as deep, 

 or as much in the ground iis you can 

 handily, and build your house and 

 cellar about twice as large as you 

 now think you need it, and you will 

 likely be very glad that you did so, if 

 you do not remain in the business. 



Killing Young Bees, 



In the forepart of last .June, I 

 bought a colony of hybrid bees with 

 an Italian queen. They were carried 

 a considerable distance and placed 

 upon the stand where they were to 

 remain. On the second day after, I 

 noticed a murderous work going on ; 

 every young bee that came out of the 

 hive was seized and killed. Not less 

 than a half pint of these dead bees 

 lay in front of the hive. This was a 

 mystery which I could not solve. The 

 top of the hive being nailed down for 

 purpose of safety during the removal, 

 I did not remove it until this time. I 

 found in the honey boxes large quan- 

 tities of dead bees, which, in their 

 fright, probably sought a place of 

 escape through the top of the hive, 

 add were shut in and suffocated by 

 the falling of the comb foundation 

 which covered the place of entrance. 

 Can you account for this cruel and 

 apparently wanton destruction of the 

 young bees y This ceased as soon as 

 the upper part of the hive was re- 

 lieved. L. Freeman. 



Barry. 111., Aug. 12, 1884. 



Answer. — To fully decide in my 

 own mind the cause of the trouble 

 you mention, I should need to know 

 more of the details than I gather 

 from your account, and perhaps more 

 than I could learn were I on the 

 ground; but if the young bees ap- 

 peared in a perishing condition (for 

 want Qf ventilation), I should think 

 that the old workers were carrying 

 out what they considered dama^d or 

 past the point of usefulness, and dan- 

 gerous to the health of the survivors. 



The Michigan Fruit-Belt. 



1. Is the fruit belt of the State of 

 Michigan as hopeful a locality as 

 otiier portions of the State for the pro- 

 duction of honey as a speciality V 



2. If so, what comparatively new 

 counties would you think most hope- 

 ful V S. S. Kanaga. 



Millersville, III. 



Answer.— Some locations in the 

 Michigan fruit-belt (of which I live 

 in the eastern edge of the southern 



