266 



THE BER-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



and see if more of it would come out of 

 the leaf. 



To me, the above considerations are 

 almost an absolute proof that the honey 

 dew is not a secretion from the plants. 



But there are other considerations If 

 we break off or cut off a grapevine twig 

 in the spring of the year, the sap will ex- 

 ude; but it will be sap, not honey dew, 

 the very same identical sap that is run- 

 ning throughout ' the plant. The same 

 occurs with the sugar maple bored for 

 sugar; and under favorable circumstances 

 the cut stalks of wheat or corn will ex- 

 ude sap also, but nothing but sap. 



To produce something else than sap, 

 it is necessary for the plant to have some 

 glands or cells made especially for chang- 

 ing sap into something else — honey dew 

 or nectar, or whatever the case may be. 

 This is the case with the flowers. We 

 find there the nectaries, which are glands, 

 the function of which is to change the 

 sap into nectar, and secrete that nectar. 

 vSimilar conditions exist in the animal 

 kingdom. For instance, a cow has blood 

 throughout her body, but milk is secret- 

 ed only in the udder. If we cut a cow 

 with a knife anywhere on the skin, blood 

 will come out, but it will be blood; not 

 milk. And if we cut or bruise a plant, 

 we will find sap, and not honey dew. It 

 is as impo.ssibh.' for a plant to secrete hon- 

 ey dew as it is for the skin of a cow to 

 secrete milk. 



The manner in which honey dew is 

 found does not speak in favor of a secre- 

 tion. There may be a big drop at the 

 end of a leaf, and nothing on the three or 

 four following leaves. The next one 

 may be bespattered all over. .Another 

 may have a drop in the middle, etc. 

 Now, if all these leaves are made alike, 

 and if honey dew is a secretion, it .seems 

 to me that it would be spread on all the 

 leaves uniformly — on all of them and 

 over the whole surface. 



The production of honey dew by aph- 

 ides and other insects is a fact; a fact 

 fully established; one which cannot be 

 denied, unless the one denying it wi.shes 



to make an ass of him.self. Descriptions 

 of the aphides, enlarged pictures of them 

 showing the tubes through which the 

 honey dew is ejected, can be found in all 

 the text books; and, with a good magni- 

 fying glass, and some hard common sense, 

 any one can see these things for himself 

 if he wishes. 



Somebody may ask where were the in- 

 sects he did not see. Well, perhaps at the 

 top of some near by tree that you did not 

 investigate. Perhaps at the top of the 

 tree which you climbed and tore your 

 breeches; but you could not reach the 

 end of the branches, as the ends are not 

 stiong enough to support the weight of a 

 man. . The aphides are of necessity al- 

 ways at the top of the trees or of the 

 plants. If they were scattered all over, 

 the excretion of the ones above would 

 daub and smother the others. 



Knoxville, Tenn., Aug. 2, 1899. 



PLANTING TREES FOR HONEY. 



Our old Friend "Rambler" ihinks it not 



.\hofielher an Entirely Hopeless 



Enterprise. 



J. H. M.\RTIN. 



[71)1T()R Hut- 

 ^^ chin son: The 

 fine illustration 

 in the July Re- 

 view, .showing a 

 ■-])rig of Ijasswood 

 l)U)om, and your 

 iirticle in relaticni 

 thereto, almost 

 makes me home- 

 sick to take a 

 stroll in a bass- 

 wood forest, or where basswoods abound, 

 and as I cannot take the stroll I am in- 

 clined to write you something in rela- 

 tion to tree planting and the increasing 

 of our honey pasturage. 



