THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 



273 



party. Our own views do not materially 

 differ from those of Mr. Green. — Ed. A. B. ./. 



It seems as thongh no more discussions 

 wore needed in regard to golden Carniolans. 

 In developing the golden Carniolans Mr. 

 Alley depended upon having Carniolan 

 queens mated with (Carniolan drones by 

 isolating them only odc mUc from Italians. 

 Because all of the young Carniolan <iueens 

 produced yellow bees, he argues that they 

 must have all mated with Carniolan drones. 

 He takes this position because he thinks it 

 impossible that all of tlie young queens 

 should have mated with drones a mile away 

 when there were an abundance of Carniolan 

 drones right in the apiary where they were. 

 He thinks that some of them must have 

 mated with the drones of the yard where 

 the queens were, and because all of the 

 young (lueens produced yellow bees he argues 

 that they all met the same kind of drones 

 and they must of neces ily have been Car- 

 niolan drones. As I understand the matter, 

 this is the foundation upon which is built 

 the "golden Carniolan" l)oom. It is sur- 

 prising that a man with Mr. Alley's experi- 

 ence should adopt or express such views. 

 The first year I kept bees I raised eight 

 young queens. My bees were blacks. A 

 mile and a half away there were a few col- 

 onies of Italian bees. Six of the young 

 queens produced quite yellow hybrids. 

 When I began queen rearing I could have 

 no success in getting (jueens purely mated 

 until 1 Italianized an apiary of blacks and 

 hybrids that had been recently located about 

 a mile away. It does seem as though queens 

 are more likely to mate with drones from an 

 apiary a mile away than with ilrones in the 

 home apiary. That all of Mr. Alley's Car- 

 niolan queens should have mated with Ital- 

 ian drones from an apiary a mile away is a 

 little remarkable, but not impossible. If 

 the Italian apiary were a large one, and the 

 Carniolans that were carried away few in 

 numbers, which I presume was the case, it is 

 not even remarkable. 



Why Spleen Against Honey Dew ? 



Mrs. L. C. Axtell in Cleanings is rather 

 inclined to defend honey dew. Among 

 other things she says: — 



" In this locality there was honey dew only 

 upon hickory trees, which for a few days 

 nearly dripped with it. I notice that nearly 

 every writer in the jcmrnals who speaks of 

 the dew honey, speaks disparagingly of it; 

 but we are very thankful for it. If it does 



not kill our bees this winter, it has saved ur 

 from feeding largely this summer, as our 

 bees seemed to get scarcely any other honey. 

 'I'lie liickory trees could be seen glistening 

 in the sun for a long distance with it on the 

 leaves; and all shrubs that were underneath 

 were covered with the same sweet substance, 

 and swarming with bees. The very topmost 

 leaves were just as wet with it as the lower 

 ones, and no leaves were dry on vigorous 

 young trees. The smaller and younger the 

 tree, the more honey dew. Old and large 

 trees had not nearly so much upon them. 

 If that all came from aphides, I should 

 think the trees would have had to be swarm- 

 ing with them, but they were not. There 

 were a good many, or several, under each 

 leaf, Ijut more upon the top of the leaf. 

 Why do we so spleen to eat such honey V Is 

 is not just as clean as the milk of a cow or 

 goat, and much cleaner than to eat oysters? 

 In this case we eat only the product of the 

 insect; but in the other case we eat the whole 

 animal. If we could get only honey dew in 

 the future, I believe nearly every one would 

 use it. and like it too. At first I could 

 scarcely bear the taste of it; but now I 

 rather like it. We have sold it only in our 

 home market, and people call for it nearly 

 as much as for good honey. We tell them it 

 is honey dew, and to return it if they don't 

 want it. If they wish to buy it we can see 

 no harm in selling it; and as to its being 

 poisonous, as some have asserted, I am sure 

 they are mistaken." 



In another place I speak about honey dew 

 being the result of a diseased condition of 

 the leaves, or suggest that such may be the 

 case, as I don't know that it is, and what 

 Mrs. Axtell has to say in regard to their 

 being very few aphides present, yet the 

 leaves of the hickories were dripping with 

 sweetness, would seem to support this idea. 

 The sap of hickory is very sweet. 



Honey Dew or Bug Juice. 



In the last few years, in some localities, 

 large quantities of so-called "honey dew" 

 have been gathered by the bees. Probably 

 in a fit of disgust somebody dubbed it " bug 

 juice," because it is the secretion of bark 

 lice or the aphis. Some of this honey dew 

 is dark, rank and unwholesome, fit only for 

 manufacturing purposes, while at other 

 times, depending u{)on the source, it is of 

 fair quality, and is relished by some palates. 

 The name " bug juice " is against it. Call it 

 such a name and no one would eat it. The 

 very name is sickening, disgusting, and is 

 not much nearer the truth than is honey 

 dew. If bugs were treated like cider apples 

 the result would be " bug juice," but before 

 saying more allow me to quote an article 

 contributed by Oliver Foster to the .4. B. J.; 



