1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



737 



traclii'a. or Nviiidpiix-. tliat they fairly fja^j; 

 hut they can only frighten. Tiicy are utterly 

 powerless to do liarm. Hut friend Corwin was 

 no man to give up. and we have 7iow received 

 a genuine moccasin — uijland (not water) mocca- 

 sin — from him. Thougii not very long it is i)ro- 

 digious in size, as lai'gi' as my arm, and as vi- 

 cious as big. His great fangs would fairly tly 

 out as he would strike at us. As this is our first 

 moccasin, we i)rize him. I now luive line speci- 

 mens of all our venomous snakes. I tell you, 

 friend Root. I am going to give the readers of 

 Gleanings, when I have time, a snake-story 

 that will raise their hats. I have the data. 

 Just think I we have had live jnassasaugas, 

 rattlesnak(>s. copi)erheads. and moccasins. We 

 have visited with them for hours, and I guess I 

 have about all their secrets. It is a charming 

 story — just wait. 



WHEAT JOINT-AVORM. 



The insect that is desti'oying the wheat for J. 

 L. Bell of othei'S, of West Middletown. Pa., is 

 the joint -worm, Irdsoiivt h<irdci. Hai'r. A 

 small black four-winged fly lays its eggs, often 

 several, just above the joints of the straw. 

 These absorb the juic(\ and cause the straw to 

 harden and become deformed, sometimes a little 

 enlarged. These so injure the stem that little 

 or no grain is jn'oduced. Barley suffers, as well 

 as wheat. In the fall, examination will reveal 

 the larvaj in the straw. They pupate in the 

 cells in the hard straw, and come out early the 

 next summer. If Mr. Bell will put some of 

 th(>se straws in a bottle he will obtain some; of 

 the fli(>s in the winter or spring, if kept in a 

 warm room: later, if kept out in the cold. In 

 thrashing, the joints often break off, as they are 

 so hard, and come out with the grain. These 

 hard pieces of straw, of course, contain the ene- 

 my. A good reiuedy, as these woi'k in the lower 

 joints, is to cut the grain high and burn the 

 stubble ; also, to collect the straws from the 

 grain and bui-n them. Still better, we can usu- 

 ally rely on parasites to tlestroy these destroy- 

 ei'S. There are little holes in the straws sent. 

 These are openings whei'e little parasites, which 

 have destroyed the joint-worms, have come 

 out. These holes, as also the experience all 

 over the country, make it probable that the 

 worst of the ti'ouble is over. Very likely no 

 signs of the enemy will appear next year; or, if 

 so. the damage will be far less. 



DISEASED GRAPEVINES. 



Mr. C. Gere, East Springfield, Pa., sends me 

 two pieces of grapevine which are very much 

 deformed by a gall-like excrescence. It often 

 kills the vines the tii'st year, though some vines 

 si)rout below the disease and live. I do not 

 know this disease. I do not find insects, and 

 surmis(> that they have had nothing to do with 

 it. It appears like the fimgoid malady of the 

 plum — black-knot — thougli this is green or gray. 

 I ])resume it is fungoid in nature. If so. the 

 renu'dy is. I |)i'esume. the same as for black- 

 knot in plum — cut and burn the stems as soon 

 as the diseas(> appears. I have handed the 

 specimens to Pi'of. L. R. Taft. our horticultu- 

 rist: and if h(>. gives me any additional light I 

 will rei>()rt. I should like live or six more of the 

 stems. The knot is two or three incii(>s long, 

 and doubles thi' size of the stem, so it is very 

 noticeable. One can readily beli('\e that it 

 would kill the vine. 



COLOK.VDO DATAMES. 



Miss Ellen Stewart, AHona, Colorado, writes: 

 " I send yo\i a- new and strange insect, the sec- 

 ond of the kind 1 ever saw. Will you kindly 

 descrilx' it in (;i>kanixgs ?" 



This is another species of datames. I have 

 described and illustrated one in my Bee-Keep- 



er's CJuide; Ifyth ](X)0. p. 433, Fig. 221. This one 

 is brown, and smaller than the ones from Cali- 

 fornia. The lirst one from California, the late 

 Mr. Enos, of Napa, found killing his bees. This 

 summer auottuM' was sent me fi-om Soutliern 

 Califoi'nia, and the same complaint — killing 

 bees — was preferred. Has Miss vStewart noticed 

 a like habit of this Colorado species? As will 

 be seen by referring to the tigure in my bee- 

 book, these animals are most peculiar in their 

 jaws, which can work laterally, while each 

 jaw has vertical jaws which remind us much 

 of the pincers on the first legs of a lol)ster. 



This animal belongs to the spid(>r sub-class — 

 Aniclnioidat; to tlie scorpion order, which in- 

 cludes the true, false, and whip scorpions, and 

 our grandfather gray-beards. 



The family is Sdlj)ul(ji(la\ which is repre- 

 sented in the United States by only a few spe- 

 cies. The most common one is Dr/tKOics palli- 

 pes, Say. This is said to be common in Colora- 

 do, under " buffalo chips," and also to live in 

 houses, where it feeds on bed-bugs. If this one 

 had any show of a black dorsal line, I should 

 think this Say's species. This one is brown, 

 just the color of a bed-bug. The legs are light- 

 er, quite yellowish. The tips of th(^ falces, or 

 jaws, are black. It is about one inch long. I 

 am glad of this specimen, as it give us two spe- 

 cies of these remarkable animals in our collec- 

 tions. Who will send the next one ? 



SWALLOW-TAILED BUTTERFLIES. 



The caterpillar sent by Luke Snow, of Lamar, 

 Barton Co.. ]Mo.. and which feeds on prickly 

 ash, is common all thiough the United States. 

 It changes into a swallow- tailed buttei'lly, 

 Pnplllo chresphontes, one of our largest species. 

 Itis black and yellow, the yellow in the form of a 

 triangle. All of the papilio larv?e have forked 

 scent-organs near the head, on the back. 

 When disturbed they throw these ont. which 

 produces a I'ank odor. This must be offensive 

 to both man and bird. The butterfly is one of 

 the most showy of our American species, of 

 which we have several. All are black and yel- 

 low, or black and blue. All have tail-like pro- 

 jections to the hind wings. A good time to 

 catch the buttei'flies is in the early spring, 

 on the lilacs. A better way is to feed the larvaj 

 and i-ear the batterflies; then they will surely 

 be bright and perfect. 



GOLDENRODS. 



The two species of goldenrod sent by Mr. C. 

 Gere are SnVKhKio laiiceolntii and Soliddyo C(tn- 

 adeiiHls. These are common species through 

 the Northern States. I am not surpi'ised to 

 hear from Mr. Gei-e to the effect that both are 

 excellent honey-plants. This fall all golden- 

 rods have se(>med to yield honey. I hav(> found 

 the goldenrotls merry with bees upon every 

 visit made to the plants this antumn. I should 

 say that goldenrods are among oni' very ijest 

 autumn honey- ])lants. 



Hon. D. C. Leach. Walton, Mich., on the i)ine 

 plains, says the bees ai'e getting mnch honey 

 from goldenrod. He finds they work steadily 

 on Suiidaijo hicolar iind Soliddtja iieiii(>r(tli>!. but 

 hardly at all on N. C(()i<idciisi>i. This is ratiier 

 strange. Last week a gentlenum wrote from 

 Penu'^ylvania, and said they were working fine- 

 ly on N. CdiKidcnsifi. The same is true here. 

 They aic still working on all our species here. 

 The hixi'S are well filled. ;ind wf shall gel sev- 

 ei'al liundrcd pounds of surphis. The honey is 

 very fin«'. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultui-ai College, .Mich., Sept. 25. 



Friend Cook, it does me lots of good to hear 

 you tell abont handling these great horrid- 

 looking worms and fearful -looking snakes as if 

 they were kittens and puppies. In view of the 



