189U 



GLExVNINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



417 



out cutting down the surface of the comb ; 

 and sometimes after having done this there 

 was not room for the larvae on both sides 

 to be capped over, when they became large 

 enough. Then our little friends had a seri- 

 ous problem on their hands. Mow, I do not 

 believe in putting combs too close, neither 

 do I believe in turning them around and 

 mixing them up promiscuously. Of course, 

 the bees can adjust themselves to such 

 bungling operations on the part of their 

 keeper, but 1 am sure that it results ia a 

 loss of brood more or less, and consequently 

 a loss of honey-gatherers when the season 

 opens. 



that we Gleanin(;s people are now al- 

 most 10,000 strong. 



REMOVING a HE QUEEN. 



STIMUIiATIVE rEEDINO, ETC. 



I WAS surprised to read the answers in Gleanings 

 regarding this question, as I often am in reference 

 to stimulative feeding. I have tried both of these 

 very cai-efuUy under the most painstaking caution 

 to avoid any error— no guesswork at all. I am sure 

 that our bees— and they arc very much like other 

 bees— do breed more rapidly when fed, in case no 

 storing is in progress; and I am as fully convinced 

 that removing the queen at the proper time, if 

 done so as not to disturb the peace of the colony, 

 will give more honey. It may not always be well to 

 do this, but it does add to the harvest. 



THE JOINT-SNAKE, AGAIN. 



Willie Atchley has sent me another of these liz- 

 ards. This one had never lost its tail, and was a 

 beauty. In coming from Texas it took occasion to 

 shed its scales, or skin. This was done in shreds, 

 not entire, as seen in snakes. The f pecimen came 

 in nice trim by mail, and delighted me. Judge of 

 my regret, then, when a student, in studying its 

 habits of motion, preparatory to giving a paper on 

 this lizard before our Natural-History Society, let 

 the latter crawl through a hole in the laboratory 

 floor, and escape. The student felt even worse 

 than I did. 



SCALE LICE. 



The scale lice, which secretes such an abundance 

 of honey-dew, and which Mr. Jos. Barrengton, of 

 St. Mary's, O., reports as infesting his lemon-ti-ees, 

 are closely allied if not identical with the one sent 

 by Dr. Miller, which infested the English ivy. The 

 genus ii Mytilarvis. It is near, if not nerii. The 

 l>lants should be treated with the kerosene emul- 

 sion, as I describe in Bulletin 58. This bulletin will 

 be sent free to all who desire it, upon application. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



Friend C, if you have tested these two 

 subjects, stimulative feeding and removing 

 the queen, at the college apiary, as you peo- 

 ple usually test disputed questions, I think 

 we shall nave to give up on both points I 

 am surprised to learn that your laboratory 

 floor is so poor as to have a hole large 

 enough for even a glass snake to creep 

 through. My observation was to the effect 

 that your buildings and rooms were models 

 of perfection. I earnestly advise all our 

 readers who are interested in this matter of 

 lighting insect-enemies to send for Bulletin 

 oS. But, dear friend Cook, you had better 

 hire an extra clerk in anticipation of the 

 calls that will be made for it. Remember 



SWARM-CATCHEHS. 



A NEW USE FOR THE DRONE-ANU-yUEEN THAI' 



" We don't want swarms," says our friend Shuck. 

 Well, we do not; that is, some bee-keepers do not. 

 The bees do not seem to know this fact; or if they 

 do, they care nothing about the wants of man. 

 When the bees get ready to swarm, out they come, 

 and so they M'ill continue to do, no matter what uc 

 want, or what the breed, strain, or race of bees 

 happens to be. We have all found this out, haven't 

 we, Bro. Shuck? 'Tis well enough to talk about a 

 non-swarming race or strain of bees; but it is quite 

 another thing to produce them by any means yet 

 devised. 



Well, now, recognizing these facts, why not be 

 ready for the bees when they get ready to swarm? 

 Let us provide the easiest, cheapest, and most 

 practicable means for catching swarms when they 

 Issue. When we first introduced the drone-and- 

 queen trap, friend Root said a good word for it, and 

 at the same time remarked, "Now if some one will 

 devise some way for hiving bees when they swarm, 

 etc." {I can not recall just the words, as I have not 

 the copy of Gleanings at hand that contained the 

 article), "it will be a good thing," or words to that 

 effect. Well, what we are getting at now is friend 

 Root's comments in a foot-note attached to the de- 

 scription of an article describing the self-hiver we 

 were invited to send Gleanings about a month 

 ago. What puzzles mo is this: Why it was that, 

 when Bro. Root indicated that a self-hiver would be 

 a good thing when speaking of the trap, some six 

 years since, is the fact that he did not know at that 

 time all about self-hivers, as mentioned in the foot- 

 note spoken of above. The idea of inviting some 

 one to attempt to invent a self-hiver, and then com- 

 paring it, when invented and described, to Mr. 

 Quinby's "queen-yard" arrangement: Goodness, 

 friend R., it makes me nervous to think about it. 

 Quinby's device was about as much like our auto- 

 matic swarmer as cheese is like chalk. 



no. 1. TRAl' ATTACHED TO A HIVE. 



Excuse us for getting off the track. We will now 



