BEE MANUAL. 87 



at others resembling syrup. It is generally most abundant from the 

 middle of June to the middle of July — sometimes as late as September. 

 It is found chiefly upon the oak, the elm, the maple, the plane, 

 the sycamore, the lime, the hazel, and the blackberry ; occasionally alao 

 on the cherry, currant, and other fruit trees. Sometimes only one 

 species of trees is affected at a time. The oak generally affords the 

 largest quantity. At the season of its greatest abundance the happy 

 humming noise of the bees may be heard at a considerable distance, 

 sometimes nearly equalling in loudness the united hum of swarming. " 

 Langstroth adds, " that in some seasons the bees gather large supplies 

 from these honey-dews, but it is usually abundant only once in three 

 or four years. The honey obtained from it, though seldom light 

 coloured, is generally of a good quality." 



Some writers in the American Bee Journals at present, 

 however, speak of the honey gathered from honey-dew in some 

 of the States as being wretched stuff, neither fit to be sent to 

 market, nor to be fed to the bees in winter. No doubt there 

 are many different qualities of honey-dew, as well as of blossom 

 honey, and bee-keepers in New Zealand and Australia should 

 be on their guard to ascertain all the sources from which their 

 bees gather their stores, and to test the qualities of the different 

 products. 



WAX. 



Previous to Huber's time it was generally believed, and 

 asserted by writers upon apiculture, that wax was collected by 

 the bees, or formed by them from bee-bread, either in its crude 

 state or after undergoing a process of digestion. The accurate 

 observations of Huber, however, led him to doubt the correct- 

 ness of that theory, and he ultimately proved its utter fallacy 

 by careful experiments made in the following manner. He 

 confined bees to their hives, without a particle of pollen, and 

 fed them with sugar syrup, and at the end of a few days they 

 had built several beautifully white combs. They were then 

 deprived of these, and supplied with honey and water, when 

 combs were again constructed. This was repeated seven times ; 

 all the time the bees were prevented from flying, thereby prov- 

 ing that wax is secreted, and not gathered, by them. 



Langstroth remarks, with his usual sagacity and caution, 

 that although Huber has clearly proved 



" that bees can construct comb from honey or sugar, without the aid 

 of bee-bread, and that they cannot make it from bee-bread, without 

 honey or sugar, he did not prove that they can continue to work in 



