1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



135 



may usually be made to do so without 

 trouble. As it is difficult to throw water 

 with a clipper as high as swarms often fly, 

 and in the line spray that seems most ef- 

 fective, a small, hand, force pump, or fire 

 engine, has been used, ami seems to answer 

 the purpose most effectively. With a pail 

 of water on your left arm, and the fountain 

 pump, as it is called, in your right hand, you 

 can chase after a swarm if need be, and 

 with the attachment for giving a tine spray, 

 you can wet their wings, if they threaten to 

 be stubborn, so that they must come down. 



As this fountain pump is a most valuable 

 implement to have around for a great varie- 

 ty of other purposes, to say nothing of fires, 

 I think the investment a very judicious one 

 for the bee-keeper. In one case, our honey 

 house took fire from the stove pipe, after 

 we had been making candy, and a fountain 

 pump saved the building after the fire had 

 burst through the roof. The whole apiary 

 would have suffered much, and much of it 

 been entirely destroyed, had not the fire 

 been extinguished in the building. 



Many claim that absconding swarms can 

 be stopped by Hashing across them the re- 

 flection from a looking glass. This has 

 been explained by saying they take it for 

 lightning, and stop, thinking that a storm 

 is coming. I am inclined to think the true 

 solution of this and other moans used to 

 bring down swarms is that it disturbs and 

 disorganizes the body, tints causing them to 

 alight. 



In concluding the subject of swarming, I 

 would ask the reader's attention to some ex- 

 cellent articles on the subject, written by 

 G.B.Peters, of Council Bend, Ark., and 

 found on pages 241 and 266, of Vol. IV. 



TEASEL {Dvpsacu.8). TheGreeknaine 

 of this plant signifies to thirst; because the 

 beads, after flowering, are of a porous n ture. 



and "drink" large quantities of rain water. 

 On account of this property, the heads are 

 often used to sprinkle clothes, before iron- 

 ing. They take up the water, and, when 

 shaken, throw it out in a spray. 



teasel (Dipsaeus FuUonum). 



The variety that produces honey is the one 

 used by fullers in finishing cloth, and hence 

 its name, 1). FuUorum, or fullers' 1 teasel. 

 This plant, like the buckwheat and clover, 

 is raised for another crop besides the honey, 

 and therefore may be tested by the acre 

 without so much danger of pecuniary loss, 

 should the honey crop prove a failure. Our 

 friend, Doolittle, pronounces the honey re- 

 markably white and fine, but some others 

 have given a somewhat different opinion. 



From what I can learn, I am inclined to 

 think Teasel does not yield honey every 

 year; it grows in considerable quantities by 

 the road sides and in waste places in our lo- 

 cality, but I seldom see bees on it, at all. 

 Perhaps acres of it under high cultivation 

 might make a great difference, as it does 

 with any other plant. On page G, of last 

 year's Gleanings, will be found a very full 

 account of the method pursued in its culti- 

 vation. 



TOADS. These, without question, are 

 an enemy to the honey bee. They usually 

 plant themselves before the entrances of 

 the hives about night fall, and, as the heav- 

 ily laden bees come in, they are. snapped up 

 with a movement that astonishes one who 

 has never witnessed it. His toadship sits 

 near the alighting board, with an innocent, 

 unconcerned look, and, although you see a 

 bee suddenly disappear, it is only after you 

 have repeatedly witnessed the phenomenon, 

 that you can really believe the toad had any- 

 thing to do with it. By observing very 

 closely, however, you will see a sort of flash, 

 as the bee disappears, accompanied by a 

 lightning like opening and shutting of his 



