200 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Junk 



beard," belonging to the same suborder as the last. 



No. 8.— Scrophularia nodosa. L. Mr. McRayJsays 

 this is a rare plant in his section. It is quite com- 

 mon in Michigan. Its common name is "figwort." 

 [Simpson honey plant.— Ed. G.] 



No. 9.~Penstemon glaber, Pursh. I know of no 

 common name. It somewhat resembles the fox- 

 glove. 



No. 10. -Potent itta fruticosa, L., "shrubbery cinque- 

 foil," a plant of the Rose Family, classified with the 

 strawberry, etc. L. H. Bailey, Jr., 



for Prof. W. J. Beal. 



Agr'l College, Lansing, Mich., Apr. 6, 18S0. 



Prof. Cool;:— By to-day's mail I send you a speci- 

 men which I caught devouring a bee with great 

 gusto; it was chewing the after part of the bee 

 down with a right good will. The bee was still alive, 

 or what was left of him. If it is any thing of inter- 

 est, you might give it notice in Gleanings. 



V. W. Keeney. 



Shirland, 111., April 23, 1880. 



The insect sent by V. W. Keeney is a very large 

 dragon fly. It is called bee hawk and mosquito 

 hawk South, where it often does quite serious dam- 

 age. It is referred to in "Manual of Apiary," p. 269, 

 and in A B C, p. 71, where it receives the wrong sci- 

 enti.ic name. Asilus flies are possessed of two 

 Wings only, while these "darning needles," as they 

 are often called, always possess four. 



All of the neuroptera, or lace-wings, are preda- 

 ceous, and so there are doubtless more than one 

 species that feed on bees. Will all bee-keepers send 

 me these enemies that we may have a full list, all 

 correctly determined? 



The insect sent by Mr. Keeney is a fine, large 

 specimen. It is 71 melimeters (nearly three inches) 

 in length, and expands 100 milimeters. The head 

 and thorax are green, the body olive brown ap- 

 proaching to black. 



These insects are easily frightened away from the 

 apiary, as they are very shy, so they are less to be 

 dreaded than the lurking bee-killers of the Asilidas 

 Family. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., Apr. 30, '80. 



Pertaining to Bee Ou.ltu.re. 



[We respectfully solicit the aid of our friends in 

 conducting this department, and would consider it a 

 favor to have them send us all circulars that have a 

 deceptive appearance. The greatest care will be at 

 all times maintained to prevent injustice being done 

 any one.] 



MITCHELL. 



MY brother and myself have been taking your 

 paper for 3 years past, and we have gained 

 " a great deal of information from it. My ob- 

 ject in writing to-day is to inform you that we have 

 some of N. C. Mitchell's agents near here, and they 

 are going to demand payment for the right to use 

 their division boards in our bee-hives. April No. of 

 Gleanings requests all who wish a copy of Mitch- 

 ell's pretended patent to write to you for it. Please 

 send it immediately. Send documents and all that 

 is necessary. We want to write to the patent office 

 as soon as we get the return from you. Ten or 



twelve bee-keepers are using the frame hive with 

 the division boards around here, so you see what a 

 haul they would get, if we saw proper to fork over 

 without a murmer. 



Bees in this section are doing finely this spring; 

 are all in good condition. I have hives which have 

 drones large enough to fly. Joe R. Ellis. 



New Martinsburg, O., April :>9, 1880. 



It will probably be of no vise to write to 

 the patent office, my friends. They can 

 only give yon the same copy of a patent 

 which I send; Mitchell's selling a hive that 

 has nothing in it covered by his patent is 

 something they know nothing about. The 

 mixed up condition of affairs at the patent 

 office is well illustrated by the Lewis & 

 Park's one-piece section-box,— see page 285. 



One of N. C. Mitchell's agents called on me April 

 6th, and threatened to prosecute me for using divis- 

 ion boards, unless I would buy a right of him, which 

 he only asked $3.00 for. Please send me a copy of 

 Mitchell's pretended patent, and instructions for 

 prosecuting Mitchell's agent for trying to obtain 

 money under false pretenses; and if he bothers me 

 any more, 1 will follow your instructions. 



Viola, Wis., May ], 1880. G. W. Wilson. 



It seems from the following extract from 

 the Indiana Farmer for May 8th, that Mitch- 

 ell has really been driven into a corner, and, 

 as a last resort, makes a pretense of com- 

 mencing suit : 



A SUIT ON HAND. 



One N. C. Mitchell, this city, has entered suit 

 against us for libel, claiming damage in the sum of 

 $5,000 for asserting that he Is humbugging the peo- 

 ple by selling as his patent bee hive an article which 

 is public property. As we made this assertion sole- 

 ly for the benefit of our readers, and to protect them 

 from fraud, we call upon all who have had dealings 

 with Mitchell, or his agents, to write us briefly in re- 

 gard to the claims they have made, the kind of hive 

 they offer to sell, whether or not it is the same as 

 that described on the second column of page 2, in 

 this number, any information they may possess re- 

 garding the character of Mitchell and his manner of 

 doing business. Please send in these statements at 

 once. Our contemporaries, especially those publish- 

 ing Bee Journals, will confer a favor upon us by 

 sending us promptly any information in their pos- 

 session having a bearing upon the case. 



His record in the back volumes of Glean- 

 ings will furnish all the proof that can be 

 called for, in regard to his swindles. His 

 absurd claim to having a patent on all divis- 

 ion boards is upset easily by Mr. Lang- 

 s troth's book, which describes division 

 boards ; see page 97, of the edition published 

 in 1853. If he drops that part of it, and 

 tries to hold to the woolen strips, Mr. L. can 

 also show that he used cloth lined division 

 boards long before Mitchell thought of a 

 patent ; in fact, the whole matter was dis- 

 cussed almost as freely in the bee journals 

 as movable frames, and cloth lined division 

 boards were a thing in common use before 

 his patent was granted. His patent was 

 granted on the iron lugs, as specified in the 

 patent office reports, and no such lugs are or 

 ever have been found in any of his hives. 



We notice by the Cedar Rapids Daily Republican 

 the marriage of Mr. Al. H. Newman, business man- 

 ager of the American Bee Journal, and son of the 

 editor. May God bless the young people, and may 

 their ways through life be pleasantness and all their 

 paths be peace. 



