_Rochelle, Ills._
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Honey Dew.
MR. EDITOR:--I have at last caught the chaps that rain down what is
called honey-dew. In localities where the common willow grows, I found
the most. On the Missouri river bottom, which is literally covered with
willows, I find in June and July they are covered with small insects,
which at a certain age get wings and fly off in large swarms, going for
miles. Sometimes they will stop in the air, over some trees, and fly
around in a circle for an hour. If you get them between your eye and the
sun, you will see them discharging the so-called honey-dew. They will
stop in one place, the same as gnats or mosquitoes, which you have often
seen about as high as a man’s head.
Now, if any person really wants to test the correctness of this, let him
go to a willow grove and he will find those insects (or willow lice)
just before sun-down; and getting the willows between him and the sun,
he will see them rising from every part of the tree, in small squads,
and collecting till they form a large swarm. Then they will be seen
discharging continually a fluid which resembles a fine sprinkle of rain.
I have often seen those same insects discharging a fluid on a limb,
where they were hatching; and then saw large ants, wasps, and yellow
jackets working on it. And I often wondered how it got on the very tops
of the trees, where no insects were to be found. I think this
observation will settle the matter about the origin of honey-dew.
Bees have done very poorly here until now. The golden rod is in full
bloom, and the bees are doing well.