1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



573 



about the other side, so I will try to write 

 up the disagreeable things. When the rain- 

 fall comes in the summer at the rate of six 

 inches in four hours, as it did once last July 

 in many places, there will be disagreeable 

 floods of water. Of course, proper ditching 

 and drainage would in most cases obviate 

 this. While on the cars we stopped in one 

 town where every street was full of water, 

 and most of the people were wading. A 

 good many times the sandy roads are cut 

 down by heavy traffic so the road is lower 

 than the ground on each side of it. During 

 the wet season these low-down roads are 

 often full of standing water. In this town 

 I have mentioned we passed an automobile 

 where water stood clear up to the axletree. 

 A boy with his trousers rolled up was bring- 

 ing a horse from the livery-stable. The 

 horse tramped along through the water, 

 knee-keep, until he could be hitched to a 

 rope to pull the auto up on to dry ground. 

 The occupants of the machine looked as if 

 they were very much annoyed. Well, the 

 water did not trouble us very much around 

 our own home, because we have open ditches 

 provided for all such emergencies. The 

 thing that did trouble me, and has always 

 given me more trouble in Florida than any 

 thing else, winter and summer, is the red 

 bugs — see p. 588. Mr^i. Root suggested that, 

 if I were to give the readers of Gleanings a 

 glimpse of my ankles when I first got home, 

 very few people would wflnt to go to Florida. 

 I presume we can, with very little trouble, 

 as suggested on other pages, get entirely 

 free from the stick-tight fleas; but the red 

 bugs are a different proposition. I have 

 asked one of the professors at the Florida 

 experiment station to give me what infor- 

 mation he could get hold of on the subject, 

 and I do think the whole State of Florida 

 (or, better still, the Department at Wash- 

 ington, D. C.) should set to work and give 

 the people a full history of the way this red 

 bug propagates, and the methods of preven- 

 tion and cure. 



UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA. 



Agricultural Experiment Station, 



Gainesville. 



Mr. A . I. Root: — Your letter of a recent date re- 

 garding red bugs has been received. I am not sure 

 that I can give you any better remedy for dispos- 

 ing of these pests than what you have already been 

 using. However, a good many find that lemon 

 juice is very efficacious in destroying them. The 

 lemon juice is applied to the affected parts the 

 same as you apply your sal soda and kerosene. 

 Others find that good tar soap is very effective. I 

 can not refer you to any published literature along 

 this line. John M. Scott, 



August 18. Assistant Director. 



Now let me add, in order to be truthful, 

 that old residents are troubled but very lit- 

 tle by these pests. Raymond Rood, a school- 

 boy of a dozen summers, goes all around 

 through the woods and everywhere else with 

 his trousers rolled up to his knees, barefoot, 

 of course, and the red bugs do not touch 

 him; while just as soon as I set foot in that 

 locality, especially if I go out through the 

 woods or even among the stuff in my gar- 

 den, it seems as if they would almost eat 

 me up. My impression is that one who stays 



on the pavement or even on the traveled 

 roads would have little or no trouble. These 

 insects seem to be on rotten logs and stumps, 

 and perhaps on the brush and growing stuff 

 in the woods. The elTect is just about like 

 that of poison ivy or other poisonous plants 

 here in the North; and several have sug- 

 gested that I was simply poisoned. But 

 those who ought to know say it was red bugs 

 and nothing else. The bite of the mosqui- 

 toes or even little gnats often affect me in 

 much the same manner. The little gnats 

 are sometiines troublesome in the morning 

 and evening in Florida. 



Perhaps I might tell you that, while the 

 temptation to scratch the affected spots is 

 almost overpowering, you will get along 

 very much better if you donot doany scratch- 

 ing at all. I think many of you have found 

 the same thing true in regard to mosquito 

 bites and even bee-stings. The directions I 

 gave years ago in the ABC book in regard 

 to bee-stings was, after you get the sting 

 out, let the wound alone, "get busy," and 

 think of something else. .Just one thing 

 more. The whole trouble is ended very 

 quickly when you get away from Florida. 

 By the time I reached my Ohio home the 

 burning and itching had ceased entirely, 

 and in two or three days my ankles were in 

 a normal condition. I forgot to say a cold- 

 water bath and brisk rubbing with a coarse 

 towel gives the best and most immediate 

 relief of any thing I know of. Northern 

 hunters, when going out through the woods, 

 surveyors, and many other people, wear 

 tight leather leggins from the shoe up to 

 the knee, and I have been told that this is 

 a positive remedy for these microscopic bugs 

 that exist in the woods. 



There, friends, I can not think of any 

 thing else by way of objection to living in 

 P^'lorida during the summer; in fact, I found 

 it a very much more comfortable place dur- 

 ing our hottest summer weather than it is 

 here in Ohio. 



HOW HOT IS IT IN FLORIDA IN SUMMER? 



On page 537 of our last issue I told you I 

 had once seen the thermometer up to 94. 

 My neighbor, Mr. Ten Broeck, however, 

 calls me to order. He said my thermome- 

 ter, even though it was a standard, and 

 practically correct, was hung in our wood- 

 shed; and in the forenoon especially the sun 

 came down very hot on the east wall and 

 roof of said shed. While we were talking 

 the mercury stood at 94. He asked me to 

 hang it by the side of a north window in 

 our sitting-room. In a few minutes I look- 

 ed again, and the temperature was exactly 

 90. This incident reminds us all that it 

 makes a difference where we place a ther- 

 mometer. "In the shade" is not always 

 very definite. If you wish to be correct, 

 place the instrument in some place in the 

 house where the sun does not strike, even 

 at noon, nor on the wall on the outside where 

 it hangs. The temperature during the three 

 weeks mentioned was never above 90, and 

 only a few times below 75. In the night it 



