846 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



the waves lapping inonotonoiisly on the dock, a 

 bull-frog melodiously blowing on his mouth- 

 organ, and Brodie's nasal music, soon lulled the 

 Rambler- to a sweet repose. 



The next day we perfected our camp, and ap- 

 pointed ourselves a reception committee of the 

 whole, and received Mr. Barber, a l:)e(>- keeper 

 who owns 40 colonies — save one. At evening 

 we received our tishernuin Brodie, who had 

 industriously tried all of his fishing-tackle, and 

 reported one minnow and three pickerel — save 

 three pickerel. 



The heavy clouds that had been skirmishing 

 around all the afternoon finally got down to 

 business, and the floods came. We all felt that 

 something unusual was going to happen, and. 

 sure enough, several Vermont ladies poured in 

 upon us — Miss Douglass, Miss Wolcott, and 

 Miss Andrews. After the excitement had sub- 

 sided we all sought our respective lodgings. 



The next day all nature was smiling. We 

 donned our smiles also, and received Bro. E. R. 

 Root, Mr. and Mrs. Knickerbocker, Messrs. 

 John and Cyrus Andrews, and their natty little 

 steamer: Miss Van Orden, Mrs. Fisher and son. 

 Mr. Batclicloi' and friend. That evening was 

 beguiled witli song and story until the " wee 

 sma" liours." 



Quite a number of topics of national impor- 

 tance were discussed. Having an editor with 

 us, editorial chirogi'apiiy was freely criticised. 

 We were expressing oui' oijinion of an Eastern 

 editor's pen-tracks, wlien Brodie, who had been 

 taking a private nap in the corner, shifted his 

 position, and murmured, "Yes, it looks like 

 pickerel tracks." We all smiled more or less 

 audibly, and it was resolved that the Rambler 

 go fishing on the morrow and teach his com- 

 panion how to catch |)ickerel. It was also 

 unanimously resolved that the type-writer is 

 a blessing to bee-keepers. 



At this point Bro. Larrabee took the floor, and 

 declared war on England for opposing the 

 McKinley tarilf bill. He said Vermont could 

 easily wipe out England. He had invented a 

 bee bomb-shell that would scatter consterna- 

 tion wherever it fell. He had read about two 

 or three bees breaking up a camp-me<>ting. A 

 few Vermont swarms would rout a whol(> army: 

 or we could take Cuba, or any other land. We 

 were so impressed with the magnitude of this 



WE DINED ON I'ICKEKEL. 



theme that we again sought our couches. The 

 Rambh'i' had a fitful slumbor. Bro. Root was 

 so impressed he arose at 4 o'clock and went 

 out on the mountain-side and sat on a rock. 

 All the rest were very somnolent until a late 

 hour. The breakfast-call, however, brought 

 all hands around except Bro. Knickei'bocker. 

 As Bro. K. is always promirt in his queen busi- 



ness we had some little discussion over the 

 matter. Some one suggested that we allow time 

 for his name to get to him. and call him ten 

 minutes earliei-. Another wished to abbreviate 

 and call him Knick — no, that will degenerate 

 into Old Knick. Say, we'll call him George — 

 that's it! and it solved the difficulty — George 

 was always i)rompt. 



Bi'o. Root bade us farewell that morning, and 

 set face toward Vermont. After the farewells 

 had lieen spoken we turned our attention to 

 fishing for i)ickerel. and came in, after a suc- 

 cessful cruise in Dunham's ]5ay, with 19. the 

 Rambler, with the largest, and we thereafter 

 dined on pickerel. The Hawkeye in the hands 

 of W. Larrabee enutjht ks as \v<' landed. 



On Friday our Vermont friends all departed. 

 Farewells were spoken: regrets and locks of 

 hair exchanged: and, as a last kind act, we 

 waved our bandanas. Breaking camp is always 

 a pathetic scene to us. Somebody is sui'e to 

 forget something, and come tearing back after 

 it. One lady forgot her b — bu — button-hook, 

 and it became necessary to say good-by all over 

 again. A second good-by, said by one party on 

 the run, and out of breath, never has the eclat 

 of the first one. 



BRODIE GOES IN SWIMMINC 



After the final departure. Brodie and the 

 Rambler finished the day with a fishing-trip — 

 caught thi-ee piclcei'el: got stranded in a storm 

 on Jacob's Rock; and. to make the final episode 

 as interesting as possible. Bi'odie suddenly left 

 me and went ilown to visit McGinty. But he 

 \\'as remembered by the Hawkeye and the 



Rambi,ek. 



THE GREAT LOCUST OF FLORIDA. 



LOCUSTS IN GENEKAI,. 



The immense grasshopper, or locust, sent by 

 E. J. Baird. Orlando, Fla.. is a giant locust. It 

 is a female, and actually measures over two 

 inches in length. The wings are shorter than 

 the abdomen, while the antenme are very 

 l)lainly jointed, and taper to the end. IJeneath. 

 the pio-sternal spine is very lai'ge. The color 

 of this Jumbo locust is yellow. orange-yellow, 

 and black. The tegmina, as the upixM- wings of 

 gi'asshoppers are .called", are strijied with red. 

 The under wings, which in all grasshojjpers are 

 the im])ortant organs of flight, are maiked with 

 red and boi'dered with black. These wings 

 fold u]j as we fold up our i)aper fans. They are 

 powei-ful as organs of flight, and. in the migra- 

 tory locusts of the Orient and oiu' Western 

 States, often bear the insects hundi'eds of miles. 

 It is well known that locTists are great eaters, 

 and often desti-oy nearly all vegetation. The 

 locusts of which we read in Scripture were 

 longer than this one, but not so robrist. We 

 liave the Syrian locusts in our museum. They 

 are interesting, not only as the insects that 

 destroyed Pharaoh's crops and brought famine 

 in the olden times, and in later yeai's. but as 

 the diet which in part supported John the 

 Baptist. Our Katie is at present a Sabbath- 



