210 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



AlAU. 



COVERS, FLAT OR DEEP. 



I should just like to have a few words upon Ques- 

 tion 153. 1 can not see how, all in all, any one can 

 prefer a flat cover with only a bee-fpace above the 

 bars. Some of the arguments in favor of a large 

 cover are, that they act as a break against the sun 

 in summer, and assist to keep the bees cool. I 

 would even use a chaff cushion all summer for this 

 purpose, and I know of some very successful bee- 

 keepers who are doing this. 



Again, in spring, with a flat cover you have no 

 chance to protect the bees from cold above unless 

 you put supers on— a thing not desirable. In the 

 fall, the same holds good. The only argument T 

 can see in favor of a small lid is the cost, and the 

 bulk in handling and storing away. The lids I value 

 most are large sloping-roofed covers on eight-frame 

 Langstroth hives; the covers are about 2 x 3 f t., 

 made by nailing shingles on a framework, and with 

 a piece of tin along the ridge at top. They cost lit- 

 tle; they shade the hives very much, and press well 

 down on a chaff cushion between them and the 

 hive. The cushion is left on all summer. 



R. P. HOLTERMANN. 



Romney, Ont, Can., Feb. 24, 1890. 



It may be true, that the smell of melted 

 wax and warm honey would cause the bees 

 to fly earlier than they ought ; but with us 

 we do not care much when the bees fly out, 

 providing the weather is warm enough so 

 they can. But in your locality the case 

 would doubtless be different. 'I'hose bees 

 that fly out during cold days are probably 

 diseased, and their presence in the colony 

 is not very desirable any way. — In regard to 

 flat covers, we prefer them because they are 

 cheaper, because they can be fitted on to 

 the hive without killing the bees, no matter 

 how much the hive edges are covered, by a 

 sliding motion, and because a majority of our 

 customers call for them, and because many 

 of our very best and most extensive bee- 

 keepers will use nothing else. Yes, there is 

 something in having a chaff cushion over 

 the brood nest for a protection ; but in your 

 locality there will be greater need of it than 

 in ours, probably. Another thing, if you 

 have a cover that leaves more than a bee- 

 space over the frames, burr-combs will be 

 built up sometimes two inches above the 

 brood-frames if thin top-bars are used. 

 With flat covers they can not be built in 

 more than I of an inch ; still, if the bee- 

 keeper prefers to have the cushions he can 

 nail the flat cover to his half-story body or 

 section-super, and then he will have a 

 '' deep cap," as some call them. E. R. 



PINE-TREE HONEY A SECRETION OF 

 APHIDES. 



PROF. COOK GIVES US SOME LIGHT ON THE 8UB- 

 ,JECT. 



Mr. A. I. Boot.— I have read several items in 

 your journal about pine-tree honey. The time of 

 year for this honey is the first of June, or there- 

 about. But this has been an unusually warm fall 

 and winter, so the insects that produce this honey 

 have hatched out of season; so I think, and I be- 

 lieve you and Prof. A. J. Cook will agree with me. 

 If you were here and would go with me out to the 

 pine woods you would soon be convinced of the 



fact as to where honey-dew comes from. These in- 

 sects are so thick on the pine-trees that they resem- 

 ble the shingles on a house; and if you will get 

 them between you and the light, you can see the 

 spray of nectar, just like small drops of rain; and 

 the way bees gather it is not "just a little and 

 quit." I will send you a box of the aphides, so I 

 take them to be; and if they get to you all right, 

 just warm them up to about 70' above zero, and see 

 for yourself. Will these insects mature and come 

 again in the spring, or at the usual time? Let us 

 hear from Prof. Cook on this subject. 

 Soddy, Tenn., Feb. 8. N. R. Hair. 



We sent the above to Prof. Cook, who re- 

 plies : 



The aphides, or plant-lice sent by N. R. Hair, Sod- 

 dy, Tenn., were a sorry sight when they arrived. 

 Two or three syrphus-fly maggots, which were in- 

 closed with them, had eaten them nearly all up. A 

 few shrunken lice remained— enough for me to de- 

 termine that they belonged to the genus Lachnus, 

 the same that are figured in my last edition of Bee- 

 Keeper's Guide, but not the same species. I am 

 not surprised to know that these pine-lice secrete 

 much nectar, and I should not be surprised if the 

 honey from this were excellent. I have secured 

 honey from a species of lachnus, on the larch, and 

 from another on the spruce, which was really voy 

 pleasant. You will remember, Mr. Editor, that 

 some pine-lice from Oregon secreted enough nec- 

 tar so that the leaves were fairly coated with su- 

 gar. I wrote for the press an account of these Or- 

 egon lice, specimens of which were on the sugar- 

 coated twigs, whereupon Mr. Thomas Meehan called 

 my statement in question. He said the pine it- 

 self secreted sugar in Oregon. Tn the special case, 

 I was sure of my ground. I infer that Mr. Meehan 

 was in error, and that in every case it was the in- 

 sects and not the tree that formed the sugar. It is 

 not strange that the mistake — if mistake it be— 

 was made. I have noticed the lower twigs and 

 leaves of the larch to be fairly sprinkled with nec- 

 tar from the larch-lice when no lice could be found 

 except high up in the tree; and even there the lice 

 were on the under side of the twigs, and would 

 easily escape notice, especially as they mimicked 

 in color the twigs on which they rested, almost per- 

 fectly. Yet I have seen the drops of nectar falling 

 like a shower from these lice, and lodging on the 

 lower leaves. I have frequently set students to 

 looking for the source of the nectar, and rarely 

 would they discover it till told to look sharper and 

 higher up. 



Mr. Hair is correct regarding the reason for the 

 early appearance of these lice this year. The warm 

 weather in Kentucky and Tennessee has hatched 

 the eggs prematurely, and hence the early appear- 

 ance of the lice. Only the other day I received 

 specimens of the grain aphis from Tennessee. Very 

 likely cold weather may yet check and even de- 

 stroy outright these unseasonable lice. For by the 

 aid of their insect-enemies— three were inclosed in 

 the box— they may be wiped out as were the grain 

 lice the past summer, even though cold does not 

 use them up. The case is too complex to warrant 

 prediction. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Feb. 11, 1889. 



I am inclined to think that friend Cook is 

 right in the matter, and that, even though 

 many have been unable to discover aphides, 

 they are still there somewhere ; and the 



