480 



(;LkA.\iN(jls i^t JiHK OuLI'uUk. 



JViA' 



THE GALL-MITES THAT INFEST PLUM- 

 TREES. 



AI,SO ShMETniXG ABOUT :MITI:s I.\ GF.XEK.Ar,. 



«FEW ilays since I i-cceivcd some plmii leaves 

 eo\eretl with galls on the under surface. 

 They came from F. A. Snell.of Milledg-eville, 

 111., wlio writes that they arc very abundant 

 on some wild plum-trees in his yard. He 

 asks whether there is any danser of their attacking- 

 the leaves of his tame plum-trees. I at once i-ecog- 

 iiized these galls as the excrescences formed by the 

 gall-mite, a species of P)iyt(iptnx. These are injuri- 

 ous to the trees which they infest; and as the wild 

 and cultivated plum are so closely related there 

 must be danger that any insect which attacks one 

 will also attack the other if in the vicinity. 



The galls are on the upper side of the leaves, and 

 are hairy, teat-like processes, often so crowded as 

 to be in clusters of five or si.x in a place. They arc 

 yellowish or brown in color, tliough the color may 

 have changed somewhat, as the leaves were con- 

 siderably dried up. The leaves appear as seen in 



^^>->- ^-^ 





■^ 



Fig. 1. These galls arc often on thiMinder side of 

 the leaves, so that the mites can leave the galls and 

 pass out to a new place on the leaf, where l)y iri'ita- 

 tionanew gall is formed. The mites which, for 

 these galls, are so minute that they arc hardly visi- 

 ble to the unaided vision (they are oblong. Fig. :i), 

 have four feet and four pairs of hairs on the body. 

 These mites lay eggs in the galls, wliieli produce 

 other mites, and thus the galls become very nu- 

 merous during the season. 



It is of more interest to bee-keepers to know that 

 our maples and basswoods suffer from species of 

 Phiitoptus. Pln/topius alDiinmis, Garman, attacks 

 the basswood. /'. (luntlriprs. Shinier, the soft maple, 

 and P. acericola, (iarman, the sugar maple. A soft 

 maple in our college ai)iary is badly attacked by 

 those mites. 



The red spider is a species of mite, which is often 

 very injurious to house-plants when kept in vcr]i 

 drxj rooms, and to evergreens, and other plants and 

 trees in very dry seasons. Frequent and copious 

 drenchings with pure water will usually destroj- 

 these red spiders. 



The i-emedics for the PInitopti ai-e sprinkling with 

 sulphur, and picking and burning affected leaves, 

 or burning the entire plants and tree. Picking the 

 leaves is the best plan, il coninicnccd as soon as the 

 galls are seen. A.J.Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., June ]:>, 188.'). 



FALSE STATEMENTS IN HEGARD TO THE HON- 

 EY BUSINESS OF OUR COUNTRY. 



Wlien 



!■■ iipol- 



u ill be 



Fin. »'. 

 These mites, as will be seen above, have only four 

 legs, wliile all other mites (mites are the lowest 

 order of .the sub-class .Ijdc/nioi'i/.s'i liave eight legs. 

 There arc many mites^of interest to us. The sugar 

 and cheese mites work on the articles of food 

 which gave the names. The itch mite causes the 

 pustules on the hands, usually iKtween the fingers 

 of persons sutlering from that disgusting dcsease. j 



e, il tiK- mattiT is not 

 ■, to warn the people 

 le to (jive publlcit.Vito 



TN Jill article published in the liepiihlicdn, 

 m of Westiiekl, Chautaiiqini Co., N. Y., 

 |i we liiul the I'ollovving-. The article is on 

 "^ bce-keei>iii,u'. It is signed A. M. Wil- 

 liams, and is credited to the JiJjdminer, 

 of New York. After telling how to keep 

 bees, Mr. Williams winds np as follows: 



IJccs will eai 



ito tin 



3 the hive aliiin.'it any kind of 



11(1 sold as cap honey. This is 

 one kind of fraud not easy to detect. The greatest 

 anioiiiit of this adulteration is in the honej' that is 

 sold in li()iiid form, and probably the largest part of 

 such hoiicj- the bee has never seen. 



Now. then. I should like to ask .Mr. Wil- 

 liams, why that last clause':' 15y his using 

 the word' '• probably,"" we should infer he 

 really does not know much about it. The 

 article he writes shows he does not know 

 much aliout bees. Well, if he does not know 

 much about the honey in the markets, why 

 should he (jues.'i that "the largest part of it 

 was never "seen by houey-beesV Does he 

 judge by the way he manages his own busi- 

 ness, or by the" way the peo])le usually do 

 with whom he is personally aciiuain'ted"^ 

 lias it got to be so that a reporter can not 

 expect to have his articles read unless lie 

 puts in a strong sprinkling every now and 

 then to the effect that all men are frauds, 

 cheats, and liarsV I have i»ersonally exam- 

 ined the honey ottered for sale in our cities, 

 towns, and villages; and as a rule I have 

 found it honest, and of fair (luality. The 

 only adulterated stuff I ever got hold of was 

 in some tumblers from ('. O. Perrine, and 

 that was a good many years ago. Of course, 

 there were all grades of honey shabbily put 

 u]) ; but even this has always been, so far as 

 I could lind. the luoduct of the bees, and 

 nothing else. Tliurber"s comb honey in 

 glass jars, of course, has been put upon the 

 market to some extent, with corn syrup sur- 

 rounding the comb, to prevent granulation; 

 but I believe this has had small sale, com- 

 paratively, and the price charged for it has 

 always been more than is usually asked for 

 pure'honey. 



