and tts Economic Management. 281 
bright and sparkling, notwithstanding its color or flavor, 
unless perchance the season or locality may be favorable 
for the collection of honey dew, which impairs the quality. 
Honey Dew 
is usually abundant after a fine dry Spring, when the aphis 
is encouraged to propagate rapidly, and cluster about the 
young shoots of trees, which become dwarfed and distorted 
in consequence of the young leaves being injured. 
The aphis, usually referred to as “blight,” appears to 
convert the starchy properties of the delicate leaves into 
saccharine matter,* which they exude and drop upon the 
leaves that may be below them, and from which the bees 
collect this unsuitable food when other supplies are deficient. 
A wet Spring prevents the unusual propagation of these 
pests, and a fair Summer usually follows an unsettled 
Spring, thus the bee-keeper is favored. On the other hand, 
in this temperate climate I have noticed a particularly fine | 
early season is almost invariably followed by an unsettled 
Summer, thus compelling the bees to collect the honey dew. 
COMB-HONEY 
was formerly produced in straw caps, in shallow boxes 
without frames, and the far-famed shallow Stewarton 
supers, from which also the combs had to be cut out. 
The nearest approach to small combs was found in the 
beautiful bell-glass supers of various sizes, and the glass 
and wood boxes holding two or three small combs, as 
seen in the charming illustration taken from the Rev. 
Langstroth’s work. 
* In this connection it is well to remark that buds develop sugar 
from starch while expanding, and the dwarfed condition of the leaves 
struggling to expand may be attributed to the result of this extrac. 
tion. of nourishment by the aphis. 
