630 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Seit. 



If yon still think there is a chance of its being 

 foul brood, leave the hive closed again for two 

 or three weeks, providing it has i)lenty of bees 

 to resist robbers, when you are to examine it 

 again. 



Now bear in mind that genuine foul brood is 

 agyressive. and never retrixjradlncj. so that, if 

 you find more of it than you did at first and 

 second, together with the symptoms the hooks 

 describe, that colony should be burned up at 

 once, and gotten out of the way. before any of 

 the rest have a chance to carry off any of the 

 honey. If. on the contrary, it does not percep- 

 tibly progress, or there is not as much as Ix't'ore. 

 keep watch of it till you are assui'ed thei'e is no 

 harm in it. In no case change combs with any 

 other hive, or exjwjse any of this honey till you 

 are sure it is not foul brood. Unless at least 

 one-fourth of the apiary had foul brood. I 

 should not attempt to cure it save by burning 

 all \\\). fur I do not think it would ijay any one 

 to run the risk he would have to in trying to 

 cure the disease for less than that number. 



G. M. DOOI.ITTLE. 



Borodino, N. Y.. Aug. 18, 1890. 



In Ernest's absence I should say that we 

 heartily concur witli all that has been said in 

 the above. The principal ditticulty in curing 

 the disease is that the average bee-keeper has 

 no comprehension of the care and nicety re- 

 quired to avoid spreading the contagion. 



ftUEEN-EXCLUDING ZINC. 



ITS USE IN FINDIXU (^I'KKXS AND PKEVENTING 



SWAKMS. 



Since the in\'ention of the queen-excluding 

 board, many new and useful ideas have pre- 

 sented themselves, and many more will in time 

 come into use. I conceived th(M)ther day that 

 it might be made useful in finding the queen, 

 and made a box the size of the hive, \}4 inches 

 deep, with bottom, but one end out. I nailed 

 on top a piece of zinc. We now have a box \% 

 inches decjj, of the size of the hive, with one 

 end out. To use, set it in front of a hive witli 

 the open end near the entrance of the hive in 

 which we are to find the queen: lift the combs 

 carefully, and shake into an empty hive without 

 top or bottom, \\hich is placed on the excluder- 

 box, and you will smile to see the workers slip 

 through, and, attracted by the noise in the hive, 

 march in: and you will smile again to see the 

 queen examining the different holes to see 

 which is the largest. Why, all you need to do 

 is to shake down the bees and help yourself to 

 the queen. Another plan works equally well: 

 that is, to place between two hives a piece of 

 zinc board, and shake the bees in the upper hive 

 as before. 



For non-swarming extracting, when the hive 

 is full of brood, and honey begins to come, place 

 a set of empty combs or foundation below with 

 the queen, thi? brood above, and the zinc board 

 between, and they will roll in the honey if it is 

 to be had, and will till the upper story as the 

 brood hatches, and the outside coml)s below. 

 By extracting and changing ev(>ry two or three 

 weeks as above, we need not fear swarming, 

 and we can rear queens above very nicely with- 

 out cost. I have a numbei' hatched out in the 

 ixpper story, with their entrance in the opposite 

 direction to the hive below. With this plan I 

 believe we can requeen and increase or not, as 

 we desire, and have no swarming. 



Oswego, N. Y.. June 13. F. H. Cykenifs. 



Both of the uses of zinc (viz., in finding queens 

 and preventing swarms) have been before sug- 



gested, but that does not alter their usefulness. 

 With black colonies the zinc method can be 

 used to pretty good advantage at times. In 

 Italian or Carniolan stocks it would not par to 

 bother with the zinc, as the queens can usually 

 be found on the second or third frames i-emoved. 



WALKING-STICKS, ETC. 



PROF. COOK TELI-S t'S MOUE AF.Ol'T BUGS ANI> 

 INSEf'TS. 



The insect sent by James Crafton. Canada, is 

 the common walking - stick. Diaphcroinent 

 Fcinonttd. At Mr. C."s request I send a de- 

 scription for (Ji,eanin(tS. This insect is well 

 named, as it looks like an animated stick, with 

 stick-like legs attached. It never has wings. 

 When young it is green, and rests upon the 

 green leaves on which it feeds. When older it 

 assumes a more sober, gray, or bark-colored 

 hue. Now it rests on the twigs which it st> 

 strongly mimics both in form and color that it 

 is very difficult of discovery. This specter-like 

 insect feeds on vegetation, but is rarely com- 

 mon enough to do any appreciable mischief. 

 Sometimes they are so common in forests that 

 the falling of tlieir eggs, which are let drop, are 

 said to resemble, as they strike upon the leaves, 

 the falling of raindrops. These insects, like; 

 the crickets and locusts, to which they are 

 related, are possessed of jaws. They are entire- 

 ly harmless, and may be handled with no fear 

 of harm. 



THE LUNA MOTH. 



S. C. Gordon, Georgetown. Ohio, writes: " I 

 have no'snaix'to send you, but I send by to- 

 day's mail a couple of moths and some of their 

 eggs. Please, if your busy life will permit, give 

 histoi'y and description in Geeanixcjs." 



These beautiful, green, long - tailed moths 

 are the luna moths. Acthts hiva. They are- 

 our handsomest silk-moths. The larva is a tine 

 green caterpillar, \\ith hairy tubercles, and ob- 

 lique yellow bands. It feeds on walnut, hickoi'y, 

 maple, etc. Although each moth lays scores of 

 eggs, yet so few escape their bird and insect 

 enemies that they do no perceptiljle hai'm to 

 our finest shade-trees. The cocoon is rounded, 

 and much like the cocoon of oui' oak silk-moth. 

 The moths are of a very delicate gi-een hu(>. 

 and each hind wing has a long tail-like pro- 

 jection. I think these are by all odds our finest 

 .silk-moths. It is difticult to conceive of an in- 

 sect more beautiful, either in color or form. 



THE COJIMON CICADA. AGAIN. 



Mr. M. J. Langord. Highland. Minn., and 

 H. C. Grover, Loyd. Wis., each sends the com- 

 mon cicada (V. Tihicoi), the same that I de- 

 scribed for Geeanin(;s yesterday. These cica- 

 dte are very common this year. I took my class a 

 few days since to Grand Ledge, a dee^j cut 

 through the rocks on Grand River. We found 

 these cicada very noisy and cemmoii at that 

 place. 



BITMBEE-UEES IN DISGRACE. 



The black nude insects received, one from 

 R. E. Ashci'oft. Brookside. ]\Iich., and the other 

 from M. J. Langord. Highland. Minn., are 

 bumble-bees that have got into the bee-hives, 

 pi'obably while the hives were open: and the 

 bees, in di'agging them from the hives, have 

 pulled all the hairs out of them. I have often 

 seen just such cases in our own apiary. Ofteit 

 the bees in their rage will not only strip the 

 poor bombns of its hair, but of its, legs and 

 wings as well. '\ 



The long black handsome beetle, with paral- 



