Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1880-08-13
The Honey bees.

The winter of 1s79.sO was disastrous sea-
son for the honey bees. Many bee-keepers
lost their entire stock, and probably not
more than one.half of all the swarms in this
part of the State in the fall of 1879 survived
the winter. The preceding summer was the
poorest for making honey that had occurred
for many years, and large number of col
onies died from starvation. Others, with
sufficient stores to carry them through the
winter died from bee cholera, disease doubt
less caused by the character Of some part of
their food, supposed by some to be that
gathered from honey dew. There was an
abundance OF this deposit on the forest leaves
in the summer previous to the winter of 1872,
when il is estimated, three-fourths of all the
bees in the country were lost. More or less
of this substance is deposited on the leaves
aud gathered by the bees every year, but
perhaps, not usually in sufficient quantities
to supply more than their daily wants, little
or none of it being left in the hives for win
ter use. If it ever does them harm, it can
only be when they are confined to the hive
in the winter. Perhaps some readers may be
credulous about the existence of such a
lulub US hOutl htW. II IL 10 buppOotu W
be condensed from the atmosphere like or
binary dew it might well be doubted. 1t is a
secretion deposited by a species of aphis or
plant louise. We have seen acres of forest
with not only the foliage of tall trees but the
low plants and fallen leaves sprinkled with
honey dew, and thousands of bees gathering
it, making the woods musical with their busy
labors.
The winter of 1872, so fated to the bees,
was followed by a remarkably favorable SUM-
mer. Colonies increased rapidly through the
swarming season, and a large amount of hon
ey WAS made. So the present season, follow
ing hard winter for bees has, so far, been
more than usually favorable for making hon
ey. Swarms were generally too weak in the
spring to make large gains in the early part
of the season, but having become strong by
the first of July they were prepared to gath
er the abundant yield of honey during that
month. Last year, with the exception of a
few days in August, hives lost in weight after
the 10th Of July through the remainder Of the
season. This year they gained through the
whole month of July, and very full swarms
have stored large quantities of box honey.
Where buckwheat fields have not been &C
cossible it has been gathered mostly from
white clover, Eastwood, and, in the last of
July and first of August, probably, from hon.
ey dew.
The first part of this month bees in this To-
cality seldom add much to their stores. More
frequently the hives lose in weight from the
last week in July to the middle of Au-
gust when the best honey yielding species
OF goldenrod comes into blossom. This is
the SOLiddgO GltiSSimd of the botanists. 1t is
readily distinguished from the other kinds
by its coarse growth, its rough hairy stock
and its thicker and more conspicuously
dentate leaves. The earlier species have
been in full bloom for the past two weeks,
but these, though frequented by bees, sell
dom yield large quantities of honey. The
high goldenrod continues to blossom, if not
killed by severe frost, through the month OF
September and into October, but it common
ly yields honey only for two or three weeks.
From this time till the end of the first week
in September there is a chance that a large
quantity of honey may be gathered from this
plant, as it is now abundant within the reach
of most of the apiaries in this section. We
have known at least one season when boeE
have collected more honey from goldenrod
than from all other sources during the year
though in some years it has failed to supply
as much as the bees consumed while it was il
blossom.