BEE MANUAL. 87 
at others resembling syrup. Itis 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 also 
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 furmed 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 
