SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
173 
danger of starving, and next, that the combs would have 
been filled had the honey-dew never appeared. I have 
frequently had the identical thing to happen with me. 
When I said that bees gather nothing but honey and 
pollen, I thought that it would be understood that I meant 
from flowers ; and if the Doctor desires to ascertain 
whether I am correct or not, I respectfully refer him to 
Reamur, Hunter, Huber and Miner, either of whom 
will not only sustain me, but satisfy him that 
pollen does noi go into the composition of wax. I 
shall have to pass over several portions of the Doctor’s 
article, not because they are unworthy of attention, or un- 
answerable, but for the want of space, and come down to 
his demand on me for an indisputable fact to prove that 
honey-dew is an exudation. I presume the Doctor is 
aware of the existence of two sorts of honey-dew, one of 
which is nothing more nor less than the excrement of the 
aphis, and the other is the one now under discussion, and 
which I call an exudation from the leaves of certain trees. 
I say it is an exudation, because I am very certain that it 
does not fallj then I have no other way for accounting for 
its appearance, then to suppose it must be forced out by 
some means or other. Such is my belief, but if the Doc- 
tor, or any one else, will give me a better theory, why I 
will adopt it. The Doctor says it occurs only at night. I 
cannot say whether it does or not — I have seen and tasted 
it, but cannot say at what time it appeared, but of one 
thing I am certain, and that is, that its appearance is a 
thing of comparatively rare occurrence. 
In closing this imperfect commuriication I would call 
Dr. Baker’s attention to the following note from Dr. 
Bachman, with the simple remark, that the Doctor’s repu- 
tation is a sufficient guarantee that his opinions will com- 
mand great respect: 
Charleston, 20ih April, 1859. 
V. LaTaste — Dear Sir : — In answer to your note of 
yesterday, in reference to the honey bee, I have to inform 
you that, although it feeds freely on honey-dew when that, 
at long and uncertain intervals, can be obtained, yet it de- 
rives its principal supply of honey from flowers, as may 
easily be perceived in dissecting it, and in the rapid increase 
of honey in the season v/hen particular flowere are in 
bloom — such as the White Clover, Buckwheat, &c. You 
have asked so simple a question, that I am induced to be- 
lieve that you have written with some other object than 
that of inquiring about a fact well known to all. 
Respectfully yours, 
J. Bachman. 
I also present the following from Dr. Lee, another 
well known votary of science : 
University of Georgia, April 25, 1859. 
V. LaTaste, Esq. — Dear Sir : — In answer to your 
question whether “bees gather honey exclusively from 
honey-dew or not,” I would say that there can hardly be 
a reasonable doubt of their obtaining most of their honey 
from the nectaries of well-known melliferous blossoms. 
In his Mysteries of Bee-Keeping, page 91, Quinby says: 
“In good weather, sometimes a gain of20 lbs. is added to 
their stores during this period of apple tree blossom.” 
All large apiarists known to me are as careful to provide 
bee pastures for their numerous swarms, such as white 
clover and buckwheat, &c., as most farmers are to provide 
forage for their horses, mules and working oxen. Most 
honey-dew is known to be the so-called milk of the 
aphis — an insect said to be kept by ants as slaves for the 
saccharine fluid which they suck from the leaves and 
other parts of plants, and eject from organs analogous to 
teats adapted to the purpose. The slavery part of the ar- 
rangement is perhaps open to doubt ; but many natural- 
ists have seen the aphis, discharge the sweet, limpid and 
viscid substance called honey-dew, and ants, wasps and 
honey bees collect the same. Neither dew nor the at- 
mosphere has any agency in yielding honey, however, 
or wherever obtained. Sugar often changes in honey into 
the cells of plants ; and aphides and other insects may oc- 
casion similar results, as when bees fill a hive with honey 
from loaf sugar dissolved in a saturated solution of water. 
Fruit, sugar and honey are modified cane, beet and maple 
sugar, having aromatic and flavoring substances added 
thereto. Hence, honey differs much in taste and quality, 
as does the sugar obtained from figs, pears and sweet ap- 
ples. If one had bees that were able to transform fruit 
sugar into cane sugar for sweetening coffee, they would 
be worth a fortune. But no such bees exist. 
Very respectfully, 
Daniel Lee. 
I have no desire to treat the old hunters’ opinions with 
any disrespect, certain that he is as sincere in their ex- 
pression as Dr. Baker is in his, or I in mine; but I can 
scarcely allow myself to entertain the thought that any one 
will be found bold enough to contend that they ought to 
weigh against the opinions of men who have devoted 
their lives to scientific pursuits. 
Very respectfully, V. LaTaste. 
Augusta Ga.f May^ 1859. 
BURNING FORESTS. 
Editor Southern Cultivator — Although I have been 
a subscriber to the Cultivator from its earliest existence, 
yet, like some others, I have generally left the writing for 
its columns to wiser heads and abler pens. Indeed, if it 
were not for the supineness of the human mind so that we 
need “line upon line and precept upon precept,” it might 
seem as if every subject which relates to human economy 
has been already exhausted ; yet there remains a small 
subject which I do not recollect ever to have seen written 
upon, and I would like to see it discussed. It is the burn- 
ing of rough woods. Does it injure the land 1 or if it 
does, is this injury sufficient to balance the danger of let- 
ting it remain so foul I Perhaps I remain almost alone 
on the side of burning rough woods. My opinion is that 
the action of fire upon land does not injure it, but that it 
exerts a salutary influence in the strengthening of land. 
If we notice, for instance, where a pile of trash or litter 
has been burnt and after which grain has been sown, it 
always marks the spot as being more luxuriant than the 
surrounding growth. Besides, the burning of woods de- 
stroys ticks, flies, and many other insects that so much 
annoy both man and beast. It also consumes the mush- 
room that proves so fatal to our hogs in many instances ; 
and, to a great extent, destroys the cause or dries up the 
source of the exhalations and malarias that produce sick- 
ness, If the woods are left in_^ a rough state the range 
would be materially impaired in a few years; so much so 
that our stock would not pick up sufficient during the 
summer season to be able to stand the winter. 
It is a grand scene to see an unbroken sheet of fire across 
a forest of rough woods or bay swamp of brushwood 
growth ; but to see a city on fire of a dark, windy night, 
or a whole country, thickly settled, and houses and plan- 
tations with many other combustibles, with rough woods 
between, on fire on a dry stormy day, is terrific, indeed, 
and is sufficient to cause Belshazzar’s knees to smite to- 
gether. L 
Pope Hill, Ga., 1859. 
|^°lf a man, as the Scriptures say, “cannot live by 
bread alone,” is it not wise in him to take a help-wica^. 
§^“A man who undertakes to reach a high position 
by making speeches, is like a parrot that climbs with his 
beak. 
