1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



525 



wise, and we can not expect to have it so arranged 

 as not to be in their line of flight more or less at 

 times, as they sometimes come out and turn short 

 around the hive before rising higher than a man's 

 head. 



SHADE FOR HIVES. 



Allow me to say, that the longer T keep bees the 

 less use I have for shade over them. First we 

 planted grapevines, and they did not make a 

 growth to suit me, ard I concluded it would be al- 

 together too much labor to keep them nicely trel- 

 lised and tied up, so I cut them off, and now some of 

 them seem to want to make a nice growth. I next 

 planted seedling peach - trees, intending to bud 

 when they got larger, and these, too, seem to want 

 more fussing with than seedlings that volunteer to 

 come up among grass and weeds. However, there 

 is an elm, a honey-locust, and a cedar tree in the 

 apiary which we left when preparing the grounds. 

 Now, during the cool rainy spell we have been 

 having for some weeks up to within a few days ago, 

 the bees in the hives exposed to the sun would soon 

 come out and get to work when he deigned to shine 

 a few hours; while those in the shade would not 

 get warmed enough to bring them out of the 

 hives. I don't believe I cai-e much whether those 

 peach-trees grow or not. White clover is immense, 

 as well as alsike and common red, and the bees are 

 booming. S. E. Miller. 



Bluffton, Mo., May 24. 



I have been trying to find some fault with 

 your plan, but I give it up. The more I 

 examine into it, the more I am convinced 

 that it is a good one, where economy of 

 space and lawn-mower convenience is de- 

 sirable. Whether better than Mr. Hatch's, 

 I can not say. Instead of making each 

 group 8 feet or more apart, as you have 

 marked in your diagram, I would have 

 them about twice that. Then I would have 

 the hives 18 inches apart, so as to give 

 plenty of room for a lawn-mower. Where 

 hives are in groups 6 inches apart, long tim- 

 othy grass will grow up, as we find by ex- 

 perience, and interfere greatly with the op- 

 erations over the hives. Of course, you can 

 cut it out after a fashion ; but as neither 

 lawn-mower nor sickle would be available, 

 it will be necessary to hack it down with a 

 case-knife, cutting a few spears of grass at 

 a time. Well, then, if the groups are 1(5 

 feet apart, and each hive in the group is 

 about 18 inches apart, an apiary of 80 colo- 

 nies may cover about 70 feet square, if L. 

 hives are used. It could be very easily ac- 

 commodated in the back yard of an ordina- 

 ry half-acre town lot, with a frontage of, 

 say, 80 feet. With this arrangement of dis- 

 tances, a bee from tlie entrance at A, say, 

 would have to go 40 feet to the east to find 

 an entrance just like the one to which he 

 belonged ; and yet this entrance would be 

 considerably different, after all. The en- 

 trance of A is near the west corner of the 

 apiary ; and an entrance similarly situated, 

 and 40 feet east, is a little more remote from 

 the opposite corner. Taking it all in all it 

 is hardly possible that a bee could make a 

 mistake. Of course, an apiary on this plan 

 might not occupy more than 40 feet square, 

 if the colonies are crowded a little closer to- 

 gether. But space usually is not as valua- 

 ble as that. Aside from this, it is well ar- 



ranged for a lawn-mower. I hope that all 

 who can will give it a test at as early a date 

 as possible. In actual practice there may 

 be some serious objections to it. You will 

 observe that it is friend Hatch's plan, as de- 

 scribed on page 374, carried out a little more 

 elaborately. Ernest. 

 ^ I — 



THE BLUE AND GREEN APHIS. 



something about plant-mce in general; ker- 

 osene emulsion as a remedy. 



There is a little green louse, or parasite, destroy- 

 ing my apple and plum trees. I send you one dol- 

 lar to send me something to spray them with. 

 Please send me whatever you know will fix them. 

 What do you spray them with, and how prepared? 



Dell, Ore., June 13. G. .1. Gray. 



On receipt of the above we wrote our 

 friend that we did not know any thing that 

 would destroy the insects that were injuri- 

 ous to his trees. We wrote him that we 

 had tried in vain to destroy them on our 

 cabbages, but gave it up. Whenever the 

 emulsion was applied with sullicient thor- 

 oughness to destroy the insects it injured 

 the cabbages so much that they did not 

 amount to any thing. That has been my 

 experience for two or three years. Perhaps 

 I should remark that relief came to us in 

 our cabbage-raising, in the shape of a little 

 insect, or bug, looking something like the 

 larva of a potato-beetle. We forwarded 

 samples of these to Prof. Cook, asking him 

 to tell us about our unknown friends. Our 

 readers will notice that he replies to both 

 matters at once : 



Friend Root:— I am surprised that you say that 

 the kerosene emulsion will not kill the "blue plant 

 lice" of the cabbage. I have believed, as there- 

 suit of many trials, that it would, if used thoi-ough- 

 ly, kill any plant-lice. To even suggest that those 

 at the "Home of the Honey-bees "are not thorough, 

 would be unpardonable: so you see we are in a di- 

 lemma. But, did you apply it with a force-pump so 

 that you surely brought the liquid in contact with 

 every louse on the plants? If so, and the lice were 

 not killed, then you have tougher lice in Ohio than 

 we have in Michigan. Please make the emulsion 

 as I recommend in Bulletin 58, and apply with a 

 force-pump very thoroughly, and write me the re- 

 sults. 



Anent this subject of plant-lice, let me say that 

 if G. J. Gray, Dell, Oregon, will thoroughly spray 

 his trees with the kerosene emulsion, he will surely 

 destroy his enemies. I have often done this, and 

 have recommended it to others who have used it 

 with entire satisfaction, and have thanked me 

 heartily for the suggestion. It is specially desira- 

 ble in case of young trees or nursery stock, to de- 

 stroy the insects, unless, as is often the case, their 

 natural enemies do it for us. 



And this leads me to speak of the little helpers 

 that have come to your aid in rescuing your cab- 

 bages from destruction. Of course, friend Itool, 

 you know the little ladybird beetles "when to 

 manhood grown," though you do not know the 

 babies. The two insects you sent were the grubs 

 or larvie (Fig. 1) of one of our common lady-bird 

 beetles. The grub, or larva, is elongated, much 

 like the potato-beetle, only more so, is black, mark- 



