1876. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



23 



lliere any way to fret a swarm if I buy onr" of tli?, advorlis- 

 ed queens; that is, if I jnit her in the, liive and feed her, 

 would she fill it 'r 1'. C. Staxsuugy. 



Elizabeth, N. J., Doc.i;;, "75. 



If yoit uiulert.ike to buikl u]) a swarm from 

 a queen alone, we fear you will always remain 

 in "blasted hopes" fneud S. Get. another colo- 

 ny, and make yourself so well acquainted with 

 them that you would no more let them starve 

 than you would your pony, before you think 

 of handling queens. 



»*0*4 



[F'or Gleaning^.] 



H03iEY ©fiiW. 



EY A. W. LUECK. MAYVILLH, WIS. 



'■'■ Scribe ncli rectc saperc est ct privcipiuin et fans." 

 AVe were forcibly reminded of this nia,\ium, that "tlie 

 jji-inciple and souiee of (good) writins is to think ri,;;ht," 

 when readinic in Dcc<'mlier Gleanings an article vnidcr 

 Iho above hertdinsr. and si;;iie'l D. N. Smitli, Sec.'y of the 

 Arrowhead Bee ('o. Tliis article illustrates very aptly the 

 negative of the above old adafre, and on tliat account we 

 hojje it will be to the improvement of the rea<Iers of 

 Gleanings, and even to that of the author himself, to 

 criticise said coiiiijosition a little, before allowing it to be 

 lianded down to ixisterity. 



The name "'hciney dew' would indicate that oiu" father's 

 believed this su]>staiice to be of the same origin as com- 

 mon dew ; /(/ c.sf : ciiiidcnsed vapors. However, the mere 

 words do not always indicate the existence of the fact, ac- 

 cordiiii,- to their literal meaning; thus we .sa.y : the suu 

 is risiti;/, though at tlie same time wo kuov/ that this is 

 not tlii> case. Just so it is with "honey dew." The fact 

 that this substance is called '"ilew," does not infer that it 

 is condensed "saccharine matter." However, usage and 

 lirevity jiisiiiy the employment of these e.xpressions. 



Mr. JSmith must have felt something of this kind, per- 

 haps unconsciously, for he lays no stress on the literal 

 meaning of "honey dew" in his couuTiunicatioii, be.t liases 

 his argument on si'jiijositions. wliich only exist in liis im- 

 .i^ination. Thus, he tells us, that "saccharine matter is 

 v'!"idually passing olT into the atmosphere in a gaseous 

 state- and gradually l;ccomes attracted towards certain 

 plants and ' lucaliiii's — that have negative attraciion." 

 I lore he supposes two or three conditions to exist, ujion 

 v,!u(h he bases his cxpbnalion of the i.lienomeiion under 

 consideration. 



First, lie supposes lliat "saccharine matter" does exist in 

 a gaseous state. 



f-'.r<'ondly, that it becomes "attracted to certain plants." 



l{ccau.>-o, thirdly, these plants have "negative attrac- 

 tion." 



The fii-st assertion does not rest upon fr.cts. Racchai ine 

 n;attcr does not exist in a volatile state. If it did, wc 

 coidd never olitain one pound of sugar by the present pio 

 cess of j)reparaiiou. l"or in making sugar the juice cf 

 plaids contaitiing saccharine matter is boiled down to a 

 >!ifljcivut point for c;'yst-ili:iat!cn. I^'ovr, if sacclnr;:ie 



Wo have read Gleanings for the jiast .^ear, and can 

 sa.v that we like it Victter 1 ban any book or paper on liee 

 culture, we ha^e seen. We have kept bees for the jiast 

 four years, but with very ]K)or success ; has cost us much 

 time' and money, with very little prolit. In the com- 

 mencement we liought a township right of H. A. King & 

 (,'o., whicli cost us ,*"2-J,.'',0 and has been no real advantage 

 to us whate\er. We also bouglit a swarm Italian bees for 

 which we paid 520,00, increased them to three, and in the 

 spring lost them all. So we have been losing in one way 

 and another until wo liave become well nigh discouraged. 

 But we still have a love for the bees, therefore we have at 

 the present time seven swa.nus stored away in the cellar. 

 We trust our past experience will be of some advantage 

 to us. 



We like Gleanings because it does not countenance 

 swindling and hunibugcry. 



Alonzo Wyetii. 



Townsend, Mass., Dec. 18th, 187.1. 



After once getting a start, make your bees 

 self-sustaining instead of being a bill of ex- 

 pense. Multitudes of people arc still buying 

 rights to make hives in spite of the tact that 

 no one ever makes any use of them afterward. 

 Look about you tincl see how many of the 

 rights purchased have ever possessed any in- 

 trinsic value 



matter could pass off in a g iscous state, it would certainly 

 not remain in the boiler, but would vanish with the watei'j 

 That it never does, :dl of us know from practical expcri- 

 enco, who ever made maiil,> sugar. Kven Mr. Smith iiim- 

 self bears witness to the truth of this statement. I'or he 

 tells us, tliat they V. ashed oil (dilidcd) the "honey dew" 

 from surrounding C)bjei;ts, and boiled it down to a* proper 

 consi.nency. Now what do you think, reader, would the 

 Sec'y of the Arrowhead Hop. Co., by this process ever have 

 obtained "two gallons of thick syrup," if saccharine mat- 

 ter could exist in a "gaseous state ?" 



So we have just seen, that saccharine S'Ubstanccs cannot 

 exist in a, volatile condition; hence tliey cannot be found in 

 the atmosphere, and therefore can never be drawn down 

 from this body by certain plants. And this answers the 

 second assertion. But how about llie third, the "negative 

 attraction of certain plants V" The word negative means 

 ttiat something is denied. Thus, in our debating: societies 

 we often have aquestion decided in the negative ; meaning 

 that we deny that which the (|ucslion allirms. Or, it may 

 ;dso mean an opposite quality from positive. Thus we 

 have positive and negative magnetism ; iiKMning thereby, 

 that one magnetic force is recognized liy an o])posite man- 

 ifestation of the other. But how c:in we apply this term 

 to plants V Or, wliere is the Avork on botany' that sanc- 

 tions such employment? Will the Sec'y (,f the Arrow- 

 head Bee Co. please explain ":' "We shall pause for a re- 

 I'l.v ! 



We see, therefore, that "honey dew" is not, like common 

 dew, con/lensed moisture of the atmosphere. Nc\'erthe- 

 less, we find it often ; its existence is not denied. But hov.' 

 is it produced '? Let us first see wliat good authorities say 

 in answer of this question. 



'Honey dew," says Webster, "is a sweet, saceharinc 

 substance, found on leaves of trees and other plants in 

 small drops like dew. Two sul)stances have been called 

 -by this name ; one secreted from the plants, and the other 

 deposited by a small insect, called the aphis, or vino fret- 

 tcr." 



From the Deutsch-American Conversation's Lexicon we 

 learn still more : "Honey dew," (meUigoJ we read, "is a. 

 sweet, yellowish-white, pasty and bad smelling sulistance, 

 which is found on leaves and twigs of trees and plants. 

 Sometimes it is the jiroihict of the wood-louse, which 

 sucks the sap from ilie .■^oung twigs jind leaves, elaborates 

 it in its boily, and af cerwa-rds ejects it through two tuber- 

 cles near the anus, and also through this latter opening. 

 At other times honey-dew is the product of a diseased 

 condition of the plant, prevailing during dry seasons, and 

 originating in a disturbance of the balance lictween the 

 production of the nitrogenous and non-nitrogciious sidi- 

 stanccsinthe vegetable tissue. It consists, chemically, 

 mostly of manite and grape-sugar. It forms an important 

 nourishment for bees and other insects, but kills veget- 

 ables by sealing up their pores and favoririg the growth 

 of parasitic fungi." 



Now let US look at the insect itself, that produces this 

 honey-dew. It belongs to a very numerous species — over 

 12.001) are known. Rebou, in his ^'a^jcr/ycvsc/f/c/i^e, arranges 

 it in his 7th class, the Ilemipterii, and among these in the 

 2nd order, the i/oiHO/ii^cri-f, and here we find it in the 

 family of Apliidi.i, or as Webster gives it, aphides. Tliis 

 f.amily is subdivided into the lc::f louse, the spring louse, 

 and the ground louse (Blattlaus, f^pringlaus, ni Enl- 

 lans.) The leaf lice have antentKe longer than their chest 

 and made up of seven joints. Their proboscis is bent un- 

 der their abdomen. At the end of their inidy are found 

 two tahcrclcs (honey tubes) secreting a sweet substance 

 of the consistency of honey, which is eagerly sought by 

 the ants." 



This is the so-called "honey-dew," which was 

 formerly belie\cd to descend from the clouds during a 

 thunder-storm. 



Now our own observation about honey-dew fully coin- 

 cides with the foregoing citations. Wc keeji in our win- 

 dow-garden evergreen plants the year 'round. These arc 

 muc'n infested with a species of wood-lice, and ver.v nat- 

 urally, honey-dew can bo found upon and around the 

 ))lants. We' have often observed these insects in the very 

 act of ejecting this substance. In summer our plants are 

 not so liuich (Mxeicd wiih it as in winter. This is owinif 

 to the fact that duiing tlu> former si-ison the ants are al- 

 ways ready to sip every drop as soon as excreted. Nay, 

 they often may be seen to squeeze and coax the atihis with 

 their bare feet in order to indi.ce it to give off this sweci 

 morsel. We may therefore expect to find more of this 

 substance in places whore ants ha\'e no access, or where 

 they are scarce ; provided ;!ic conditions forilsiu-tjductioii 

 exist. 



Thu.s, during the last summor wc visited our Insane 

 Asylum at Madison, and in this liuilding v.-e also found a 

 great variety fif exotic ]ila!ifs. and around them the floor 

 varnished with "honey-dew." luspet'tioa of these plints 

 levealed Aaiious kinds of aphii'li as b.i.ig the cause 

 thereof. 



