276 



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Honey by Ihe Barrel, drawn from 

 trees like maple syrup.— Mr. E. K. Dean, of 

 Amenia Union, N. T., on April 11, 1888, 

 wrote us as follows : 



From time to time 1 read in the Bee 

 Journal tlie product of the pen of some 

 who are foolish enough to think that 

 whatever they may say about the " wonder- 

 ful and mysterious honey-bee " everybody 

 is bound to believe ; and strange to say, a 

 great many still continue to regard these 

 industrious insects with the old-time won- 

 der, and are perfectly ignorant of those 

 " mysteries of the hive " (now so wel I under- 

 stood by nearly or all subscribers of the 

 Bee Joubnal)— are ready to accept these 

 fallacies with wonder and open eyed amaze- 

 ment. I enclose a clipping from a Georgia 

 paper, sent me by a friend, who evidently 

 is astonished at its revelations. I also send 

 his comments on the article, and think you 

 will agree with me in thinking it strange 

 that any one can for one moment credit the 

 veracity of such preposterous statements. 

 Here is his letter : ,, „ .« ,^ > 



"This clipping from the Griffin, (Ga.) 

 News, is unique in the annals of bee culture. 

 Of course honey is a natural product. If 

 tills account is verifiable, how do you ac- 

 count for it ? Would it not be a good thing 

 if a few of these trees could be grafted up 

 here ? S. S. Lewis." 



This is the clipping : 



After dinner at Mr. Mitchell's we were 

 sitting on his front piazza, smoking, and I 

 discovered some bees going in and out of a 

 knot in one of the large oak trees in front of 

 his dwelling. This tree is known to be over 

 a hundred years old. I learned that several 

 years ago a swarm of bees assembled in 

 that tree as their new home, and they have 

 worked and lived there ever since. After 

 they had been there for three years, the 

 colony became very large and strong, and no 

 attempt had ever been made to rob them of 

 their honey. At last Mr. Mitchell came to 

 the conclusion that the tree must be full of 

 honey, from seeing large numbers of flies 

 and bees around the root of the tree ; so he 

 set to work to devise some means to get the 

 .honey without cutting the tree down. After 

 applying all the tests known to bee-men, he 

 satisfied himself that the tree was full, and 

 then decided to tap it like a fellow is tapped 

 for dropsv. So he got a faucet and an augur 

 and bored a hole in the tree near the root, 

 and then screwed in the faucet, and to his 

 surprise and great delight a solid stream of 

 pure and elegant honey as clear as crystal 

 gushed forth, and the supply seemed almost 

 inexhaustible. It continued to pour out 

 until lie had filled six barrels ; and he has 

 drawn each year since that time from three 

 to four barrels of pure strained honey from 

 that old oak tree, and up to this there seems 

 to be no signs of a failure of the supply, as 

 the bees are still a very strong and healthy 

 colony. 



The same year that Mr. Mitchell tapped 

 the old oak tree there was a new, thick 

 growth sprung up all around the old oak, of 

 an unusual appearance, having a smooth 

 bark and thick, waxy leaves. One day he 

 pulled off one of the leaves and put it in his 

 mouth, and found it to be very sweet, and 

 upon examining the place from which he 

 had plucked the leaf, he discovered that the 

 plant was bleeding or emitting from the 

 wound a clear, thick-looking juice, which, 

 upon tasting and examination, proved to be 

 honey. He then conimenoed to nurse the 

 new volunteer gmwlli with the teiiderest 

 care and attention, limking alter them daily; 

 and as the snniiiier advanced the plants cdii- 

 tinned to grow, and in the tall he selected 

 and transplanted 300 of them in very rich 



soil, 30 feet apart, and they grew very rap- 

 idly, making a beautiful display with their 

 straight, smooth trunks, and their thick and 

 glossy wax-like leaves. And the grove was 

 seen and admired by all tor miles and miles 

 around. Mr. Mitchell's idea was that as 

 large money was made from the sugar 

 maple, by boiling the iuice, he ought to 

 malie more from a tree that would run pure 

 honey, and he was right. When the trees 

 were four years old in the fall of the year, 

 they were large enough to insert faucets. 

 So he had 300 faucets made to order, and 

 screwed them into the young trees, and the 

 following spring the result was remarkable. 

 Each tree yielded an average of 10 gallons 

 of the richest golden honey ; the following 

 year each tree yielded an average of 20 gal- 

 lons, and now the average is about a barrel 

 to each tree during the year, and the grove 

 continues to grow and flourish, and shows 

 no signs of failing to supply a bountiful 

 yield in the years to come. The quality of 

 the honey is so fine, and the flavor is so 

 delicate, that it always commands the 

 highest prices, and the demand is greater 

 than the supply. 



This is only another proof that the 

 " flashy " reporters for the daily press of the 

 country draw heavily upon their imagina- 

 tion in order to cause a sensation, and get 

 up "spicy" articles for a credulous public. 



All of the above sensational article is 

 elaborated from the simple fact of some one 

 finding a bee-tree in the woods, and taking 

 from it some broken honey, unfit for the 

 market, and mostly unfit for table use. The 

 Idea of drawing honey through a faucet 

 from combs in a bee-tree ! ! The idea, 

 even, is supremely ridiculous ! 



Bee!^ and Grapes.— A correspondent 

 from Middle Falls, N. Y., has sent us the 

 following taken from the New York Sun of 

 April 4, 1888. It is a question, and reply by 

 the agricultural editor : 



Can you suggest any means, besides bags, to pro- 

 tect grapes from the attacks of bees ? The theory 

 that bees do not attack sound grapes Is a mistake. 

 Half my crop was destroyed by bees last year. 



William n. Nblson, Millwood, Va. 



Answer.— We do not know of any better 

 way of protecting grapes from the attacks 

 of honey-bees than by enclosing the bunches 

 in paper bags. However, you might try 

 spraying the vines with some liquid that 

 would be offensive to the bees. Try a very 

 weak solution of carbolic acid when you 

 find the bees attacking the fruit. You are 

 certainly right in your statements in regard 

 to bees destroying sound grapes, and while 

 entomologists know that bees will not only 

 attack and destroy sound grapes, but also 

 peaches, quinces, pears, apricots, and many 

 other kinds of fruit, apiarists deny it, and 

 endeavor to show that the bee caunoi; cut 

 through the skin of such fruits, and that it 

 is only after wasps and hornets have punc- 

 tured the fruit that the bees attack it and 

 suck out the juices. Langstroth, Quinby, 

 Root, and other noted apiarists scout the 

 idea of honey-bees cutting through the skin 

 of grapes, while entomologists and thou- 

 sands of practical fruit-growers know it to 

 be a fact. 



There is one side, however, of this ques- 

 tion which isfiir too often overlooked, and 

 that is the variableness of the appetite or 

 taste of the bees. One season the bees will 

 attack various kinds of fruits, and daily 

 gorge themselves with their juices as long 

 as any can be found, and the very next sea- 

 son they may not touch fruit of any kind. 

 Whether this vHiiahleness is due to some 

 peculiarity (if Die weather or season, we do 

 not profess to know, but that the bees do 

 take .such freaks we have learned from ex- 



perience. Next season you may not need 

 any paper bags to protect your grapes from 

 the attacks of bees. 



Such " wiseacres " as the above editor, 

 persist in asserting that bees attack sound 

 fruit, when repeated assurances from ento- 

 mologists and professors who have studied 

 tlie anatomy of bees, and are thoroughly 

 conversant with the subject, most positively 

 deny that they are physically capable of 

 doing so. 



Out in California — such ignoramuses 

 raised a howl about bees injuring grapes, 

 and as a result, they sued a bee-keeper for 

 damages, said to be done by his bees. This 

 suit was carried to the Supreme Court, and 

 the bees came out ahead. It was proven at 

 the trial that the bees could not bite into 

 the skin of a grape. A San Diego bee-keeper 

 settled the question in this way, says the 

 San Francisco Cfironicle : 



He took a perfect bunch of grapes, every 

 berry of which was sound and in good order, 

 and suspended it in the middle of a hive of 

 bees for an iudefinite time. It remained 

 there several weeks, or perhaps months, 

 and at the expiration of the period was re- 

 moved In as perfect a coundition as when 

 first put in the hive. Thousands of bees 

 had been crawling all over the fruit during 

 that time, only too eager to attack the tooth- 

 some juice thereof, but had been unable to 

 satisfy themselves. 



Fruit men found that they had been 

 fighting their best friends, and now have 

 given up the persecutions of the Innocent 

 bees. 



We might quote from scientists, profes- 

 sors, and others to prove that bees are in- 

 capable of damaging sound grapes— but of 

 what use is it, when such scribblers as the 

 Sun employs, make their bold assertions to 

 the contrary. Verily, " Wliere ignorance is 

 bliss, 'tis folly to be wise." 



City and Country l,ife.— A corres- 

 pondent in the British Bee Journal has this 

 to say about the difference between life in 

 a city and that in the country : 



After our experience of the dense London 

 fog up to noon on the 17th ult., the day after 

 our annual meeting, when gas and electric 

 lights failed to dispel the gloom, and choked 

 almost to suffocation, pitying the gasping 

 Londoners, while contrasting their state ot 

 existence with that of our own happy coun- 

 try fraternity, we exclaimed in fullness ot 

 heart,— 



" We possess the flowers and trees. 

 Modern hives and golden bees : 

 Fruit and nectar, both divine, _ 

 We sball reap at harvest time 



And, finding on reaching our quiet country 

 home, with its hive-scattered lawns and 

 shrubberies, that the day had been one ot 

 brilliant sunshine, we were more thin ever 

 impressed with the truth of the old saying, 

 "God made the country, mau made the 

 town." 



New CatalosHCs for 1888 are on our 

 desk, from the following persons: 



Charles H. Smith, Pittsfield, Mass.-48 

 pages— Apiarian Supplies. 



S. H. Stocknmn, East Auburn, Maine--34 

 pages— Bees,Queens,aiid Apiarian Supplies. 



M. W. S'lepherd, Rochester, 0.-4 pages 

 —Bees and Queens. 



