1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



541 



I believe you seek to make up statistics for the ben- 

 efit of bee-keepers. My own showing is about thus: I 

 had to start with this year — spring count, 31 col- 

 onies; lost six swarms; sold two; have now 35. I 

 have sold 737 lbs. comb honey; 1550 lbs. extracted ; 

 in all, 2387, besides what we have consumed and giv- 

 en away. Sales have amounted to f395; expenses, 

 $65; profit, $330. The season is over here, unless we 

 should have some surplus fall honey, which would 

 be chiefly from smartweed, the main fall supply in 

 this section. Chas. W. Buck. 



Midway, Ky., July 37, 1883. 



CRYSTALIilKED HONEY-DEW. 



THE REAL GENUINE ARTICLE, AND NO MISTAKE 

 ABOUT IT THIS TIME. 



Jpl represented in the bee industry by its bee- 

 men, I will venture a few items; and if any 

 part is of interest to you, good; if not, why, it Will 

 be but little loss, any way. 



To begin with, I will send you a little package con- 

 taining cuttings from the fir tree, which is coated 

 over with honey-dew (so called here); it evidently 

 oozes out, and thickens from the stem and leaf, and 

 finally candies, as you see it now. Being white, it 

 can be seen quite a distance. It is not on all of the 

 branches, but in spots, or it appears in different 

 places on the trees; nor do all the trees secrete it, 

 for the majority of them show no traces of it. I 

 could not detect any apis at any time upon it. Hf^n- 

 ey-dew has been plentiful this season, but candies 

 on nothing but the fir. The flowers, too, have been 

 full of honey, and I am inclined to think that honey- 

 dew, and the nectar from flowers, is one and the 

 same thing. May it not be, at least partly so, that 

 the sweet passes off through the pores of the plant- 

 leaf and flowers into the air and is condensed by the 

 night air, or comes in' contact with the dampness, 

 arising from the earth, and settles in the form of 

 dew? for it appears on dry leaves sometimes, as 

 well as green. 



The bee business has not received much attention 

 in this State, for it has been considered a poor coun- 

 try for bees and honey; but now with the improved 

 hives and other appliances used in modern bee- 

 keeping before us, it dawns upon our minds that 

 bees and honey may be produced here too. 



THE HIVE I PREFER. 



I prefer the Sitnplicity hive to all others tried thus 

 far, for bees winter well in them for me. and I get 

 from one-third to one-half more honey from them; 

 besides, they are easily handled. I have some col- 

 onies tiered up four stories high, and nearly all three 

 deep, with bees enough to fill them. 1 use starters 

 full size in both one and two pound sections. 



THE WAY I PUT IT IN. 



I cut a block just the inside size of the section, out 

 of Ji stuff, square; then nail this to another larger 

 one, of convenient size to handle easily. Then drop 

 the section down over the small block, which comes 

 up about half way of the section, and press the 

 starter down on the block, and, with melted wax, 

 fasten it in about three places, and you have it 

 square, with starter in center of the section, and 

 straight. I suppose you will say, "Too slow." But 

 it is good and sure. I laid aside the Parker fastener. 

 I am satisfied that it pays to use full-size starters, 

 for the reason that the sections [are filled much 



quicker and more regularlj'. I use no separators; 

 the bulged ones I cut down to size, and extract. 

 The foundation used was maae on the rubber plates, 

 shipped to me from your house. 



A WAY TO USE THE UUBBER PLATES. 



I did not succeed well in running melted wax over 

 the plates, and have made dipping-plates, and dip 

 sheets of wax, and press while warm, or I warm 

 them afterward in the sun, or over hot water; in 

 this way it is a success. We have supplied fdn. for 

 100 colonies this summer — all that was needed. I 

 made fdn. about once a week. If a sheet is torn or 

 broken, it is easily mended by lapping the broken 

 edges and pressing it in the plates. The bees drew 

 out this foundation very readily. Our principal 

 honey-plant at this place is the fireweed {Epilohium 

 Anguslifolium)^ and the honey is considered No. 1. 



E. S. Bhooks. 



Silverton, Oregon, August 12, 1883. 



Sure enough, friends, we have it now. The 

 liranches and twigs sent by friend Brooks 

 are coated so thickly with a beautiful white 

 candy that the leaf can be slipped out, leav- 

 ing an oblong ball or roll, not unlike what 

 we sometimes find at the confectioner's. 

 The taste is slightly aromatic, from the fir- 

 tree ; but otherwise it is much like fine cream 

 candy. I should think the quality of the 

 honey would be excellent. This "is most 

 wonderful. The branches look as if they 

 had been dipped in hot syrup, and repeated- 

 ly coated until the covering is something 

 like the tallow which covers the wick in the 

 old way of making tallow candles. The 

 substance has a sort of cooling taste to the 

 tongue, something like the sugar in raisins, 

 from which I presume it is a sort of grape 

 sugar; but as honey is principally grape sugar, 

 this would be nothing strange. When this 

 accumulation is wetted by the dews of night, 

 it seems to me it would give an unlimited 

 number of bees work enough to keep them 

 busy. If such secretions are common, it 

 would seem that 1000 colonies, or even more, 

 might do well in a single spot. I declare, if 

 I could afford it, and Oregon were not so far 

 off, I would at once go up there and investi- 

 gate. Friend B., how many trees have you 

 that thus exude honey ? and over how large 

 a tract of land are they scattered ? Why do 

 you not locate bees enough right near these 

 trees, to utilize every bit of this wonderful 

 sweetness V As it is candied so white and 

 dry, I presume very likely it would candy 

 incells. But even if it did, it seems to me 

 it would be beautiful confectionery even 

 then. Do you see this state of affairs every 

 season, or is it only occasional ? and is it 

 confined to special months in the season ? is 

 it on only one kind of a tree? Excuse myin- 

 quisitiveness; but it seems to me this is a 

 matter of great moment. 1 would give one 

 hundred dollars for such a tree on our 

 grounds, without hesitation. I will carry 

 your box of samples to the Toronto Conven- 

 tion ; and if you can answer my inquiries in 

 time to have the paper present there, we 

 shall be very glad of it indeed . 



I believe, friend B., your suggestion, that 

 the honey from the plant might float in the 

 atmosphere, is not considered tenable. Wa- 

 ter evaporates ; but sugar, never, unless it is 

 burnt, and then it is sugar no longer, but 

 caromel. 



