HONEY. 121 



In some seasons, bees gather large supplies from these 

 honey-dews, but it is abundant only once in three or four 

 years. The honey obtained from this source is usually of a 

 dark color, and never of a good quality. 



359. It is very difficult to ascertain, at all times, the 

 special source of honey-dew, whether from the trees or from 

 the aphides. In order to give all sides a hearing, we will 

 cite a letter from Mr. Bonnier on this subject, and leave the 

 reader to draw his own conclusions : 



"Plant lice are seen even on trees that have no extra floral 

 nectaries. They do not produce exudations (properly speaking), 

 but bore the tissues to eat the contents. Their presence on 

 the plant has no connection with that of the nectar. The ex- 

 cremental liquid of aphides is not equally sweet in all the 

 species, and the bees harvest only that which is very sweet. 

 They generally prefer the true honey-dew (miellee), which 

 exudes from the leaves at. certain times, and contains mannite 

 and saccharine matter. 



"I have seen bees, however, harvesting the sweet liquid of 

 the aphides and the true miellee at the same time, on the 

 aspen, maple, and sycamore. 



"I have rarely seen the extra floral nectar of the special 

 nectaries overflow and run in drops, but the true miellee of trees 

 may fall in small drops, and some observers conclude, from 

 this fact, that it is produced by aphides. I have often seen 

 some trees, and even all the trees, of a timber, covered with an 

 abundant miellee, falling in small drops, although there was 

 not a single louse on the higher limbs. 



"To sum up, we must not confound the three kinds of sweet 

 liquid, which may be produced outside the flowers: 1st, The 

 extra-floral nectar proper, produced, like the nectar of flowers, 

 from special sugar tissues; 2d, The true miellee, produced on 

 the surface of the leaves of trees or shrubs, without the action 

 of aphides; 3rd, the excretion, more or less sweet, sometimes 

 containing very little sugar, abundantly produced by a great 

 number of aphides." 



260. In some blossoms, as in the red clover, the corolla 

 is so deep and narrow, that the nectar is out of reach of the 



