736 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



rather early to speak; but we have never had 

 burr-combs built on them yet. 



.SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF AUSTRALIAN HONEY. 



I think our honey must be heavier than yours, 

 for I notice you always allow 12 lbs. to the gal- 

 lon, while ours weighs fi'om 15 to 16, and. in 

 very dry seasons, as much as 17. A four-gallon 

 kerosene-can weighs, net, fi'om ()3 to G6 lbs., 

 never less than 63 lbs., and seldom more than 

 66. Our average is 64 lbs. of extracted honey to 

 the can. We usually find that our narrow 

 frames hold about 10 lbs., and our section boxes 

 17 or 18 oz. when well filled. When using broad 

 frames for sections we draw the top and bottom 

 bar together with a piece of ordinary No. 30 

 wire. This prevents sagging, and most effectu- 

 ally prevents the introduction of proirolis. I 

 must say, I prefer the wide frames to supers, as 

 the sections look so much neater and cleaner 

 when taken out. 



THE IGNOTUSt IN AITSTRALIA. 



I must thank you very much for the Ignotum 

 tomato seeds you were so very generous as to 

 send me. I was able to disti'ibute them far and 

 wide. All are unanimous in declaring them to 

 be the most prolific and delicate-tasting of to- 

 matoes. At the beginning of the season we 

 were much disapiiointed, as they rotted in the 

 center before 1 hey iiad time to ripen: but they 

 soon grew out of that, and the vines bore for 

 months, right into the winter. Some six vines, 

 planted on drained and trenched land, produced 

 bushels of splendid fruit. 1 don't think one 

 seed failed to germinate. The curator of our 

 state nursery, to whom I sent some, said he had 

 never seen finer seed. He was sure that every 

 one he had planted had grown. 



S. A. Bradley. 



Denham Court Parsonage, N. S. W., Aug. 4. 



Friend B., when you speak of 15 or 16 lbs. of 

 honey per gallon, one is almost forced to believe 

 that your pounds are smaller than ours, or else 

 your gallons are larger. I judge It must be the 

 latter, for the kerosene-cans you speak of hold 

 the same number of pounds of honey with us; 

 viz., 60 lbs., or two or three pounds over; but 

 instead of calling tliem four-gallon, we call 

 them flve-gallon cans. Many thanks for your 

 good report of the Ignotum tomato. 



NECTAR FROM RED OAK. 



PROF. COOK TELLS US ABOUT WORMS, BUMBLE- 

 BEES, SNAKES, INJURIOUS INSECTS, ETC. 



I send you by to-day's mail a little box of oak 

 twigs on which the bees are working with 

 great diligence. Their whole business seems to 

 be with the little buds— those I have tied thread 

 around. I watched one bud five minutes, and 

 in that time seven bees visited it. The whole 

 seven seemed to be equally well satisfied with 

 the result of their visits. It mav be an old 

 thing to you. but I had never observed it before. 



Farm Ridge, 111., Sept. 37. E. B. Capen. 



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

 plies: 



The oak which Mr. Capen finds giving off 

 nectar is probably red oak. QuercMS rubra. I 

 find in the enlarged buds— which are secreting 

 the nectar, the larva of a gall. It takes the 

 fruit-buds of the oak two years to form acorns. 

 These buds would have fully developed next 

 year, and acoi-ns would have resulted, had they 

 not been unfortunate. A small four - winged 

 fly— smooth, and somewhat wasp-like in form. 



pierced the buds and laid an egg in each one. 

 This so irritated the tissue that it grew very 

 rapidly, and a gall, or enlarged growth, result- 

 ed. In these galls the larval gall-fly may now 

 be seen. The fact that these galls secrete nec- 

 tar is not new. I think we have had such re- 

 ports fi'om Minnesota or Nebraska, and from 

 Arkansas. Thf; cause and purjtose of this nec- 

 tar is not easy to divine. I should very much 

 like more of these galls, and a sample' of the 

 honey from the nectar. 



It is very interesting to know that each gall- 

 insect produces just the same kind of gall. Why 

 this is so. no one can tell. That all galls of the 

 same insect should be the same size, color, land 

 form, as juuch so as fruit of the same tree, 

 passes understanding. 



It is also interesting, that bees get nectar 

 from so many and such diverse sources: from 

 flower-glands, from extra floi'al jjlant-glands; 

 from sap, from plant-lice, bark-lice, from fungi, 

 and from galls. Surely the wind is not only 

 tempered to the shorn lamb, but equal love and 

 cai'e is shown in the feeding of insects and oth- 

 er animals. 



THE imperial MOTH. 



Mr. W'ni. S. Adams, Guys. Md.. asks about 

 an immense larva which feeds upon the apple. 

 This is our largest silk caterpillar. It is Eacles 

 imperialis. I did not know it worked on apple. 

 It usually works on sycamore. It has great 

 horn-like tubercles. Mr. Adams says the person 

 who caught it said it stretched out to a foot in 

 length. No doubt this was an unconscious 

 stretch of the truth. The caterpillar might 

 possibly stretch to six inches, but even that is 

 too large for the average. Yet, to see one of 

 these terrible-looking larvte. with its bristling 

 horns, might easily lead to exaggerated state- 

 ments. Yet this threatening insect is as harm- 

 less as a kitten. All its swing and waving of 

 horns is simply for effect. It is well worth 

 while to rear the moth, for it is one of the finest 

 and largest of our Amei'ican insects. It is a 

 lively, beautiful yellow, dotted with black. It 

 always attracts unusual attention, and causes 

 words of surprise and admiration as I show it 

 to visitors. When I show the larva, people 

 generally say. " Horrid! " They all pronounce 

 against the child, but praise the parent. 



BUMBLE-BEES — BOMBUS PRATACOLA. 



Mrs. S. C. Brooks, Spring Creek, Pa., sends for 

 name, through Gleanings, some very beauti- 

 ful bumble-bees {Boiabiis pntUicolii). They 

 are about the size of a drone-bee, and, like all 

 bumble-bees, very hairy. These special ones 

 are yellow, black, and orange; the head, a 

 transverse band on thorax, and the tip of the 

 abdomen, are black, and a c(Mitral broad band 

 across the abdomen, rich orange brown, while 

 the remainder is a bright yellow, the common 

 coloi' of bumble-bees. No wonder, so much are 

 they with the beautiful yellow flowers. We 

 know we grow to resemble in spirit and temper. 

 if not in looks, those very dear to us, especially 

 if much with them. Why may not the bumble- 

 bees, then, grow like the' bloom they visit, and 

 \\'hich is bread for them ? ^Nlrs. Brooks is quite 

 correct. These do not go into the hives. It 

 would be a sorry undertaking for them to at- 

 tempt it. 



the blow-snake. 



Mr. S. C. Corwin, Sara Sola, Fla., very kindly 

 sent me two snakes some time since for mocca- 

 sins. They proved to be the common blow- 

 snake, or blowing adder — not ])oisonous at all. 

 We handled them and stroked their heads as 

 freely as though they wei'e young puppies. 

 True, tliey flatten their heads and necks in an 

 alarming" manner, which so compresses their 



