1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



43 



only. I have seen very few finer-looking Englishmen. 

 There is only one likeness that dwells in my mind, 

 and that is Dr. Livingstone. Doubtless you will say 

 Mr. Langstroth is too wise to be made vain. 



T. Bonnek Chambers, F. L. S. 



Tref Eglwys, Caersws, 



Montgomeryshire, England, Nov. 30, 1888. 



Friend B., we have noticed what you say 

 about the glass sections; but unless it is 

 for something fancy, or for a curiosity, we 

 should pronounce them altogether too frail ; 

 and glass cut out of bottles, as you men- 

 tion, is terribly dangerous stuff for almost 

 anybody to handle. The objection to circu- 

 lar sections is the amount of waste space 

 between the circles. If they are to be used, 

 I think I should much prefer stiff paper or 

 wood shavings. 



THE APPLE-TREE BARK-LOUSE. 



IT HAS MADE ITS WAY CLEAR TO TASMANIA. 



T LIKE Gleanings very much, especially the ar- 

 ijjf tides written by Prof. Cook. They are really 

 W instructive and interesting. I have his book, 

 ■*■ "Injurious Insects." We are sorely troubled 

 in this part by the apple-tree bark-louse, Myti- 

 laspis conchiformis. I have sprayed some of my 

 trees three times with strong soapsuds, also with 

 soft soap, and still I see some alive. It may be I 

 am too early, and they still keep hatching out. 

 Like yourself, I should like to know more than 

 Prof. Cook tells us about this insect. It seems to 

 be the female that becomes fixed to the bark. 

 Can he tell us any thing about the male, and what 

 is the latest and best method of destroying this 

 pest? W. P. Clennett. 



Port Esperance, Tasmania, Nov. 19, 1888. 



Prof. Cook replies to this as follows : 



As Mr. Clennett writes from Tasmania, it seems 

 that even scale insects which are poorly prepared 

 by nature to make journeys have circumnavigated 

 the earth. In this case, man has doubtless carried 

 this pest to the other side of the globe. How for- 

 tunate if we could kno;v of such terrible enemies, 

 and not, through our ignorance, scatter them to 

 blight the prospects of our antipodes! This louse 

 is now known to science as Mytilaspis pomorum. 

 When the female is fully mature— August in Michi- 

 gan—she looks any thing but animate. She is then 

 but a mere scale, somewhat the shape of an oyster- 

 shell, but slim, usually curved, and a little darker 

 than the bark of the tree or twig on which she 

 rests, and to which she is attached. This scale is 

 only about one-fifth of an inch long. Late in Au- 

 gust, if we carefully raise this scale with the point 

 of a knife-blade we shall see what appears to be a 

 white dust. When this is magnified we note scores 

 of white oblong eggs. These eggs hatch early the 

 following J une. The young newly hatched lice are 

 oblong, yellow, very small, and active. Soon these 

 insert their long slim beak, or sucking-tube, and 

 settle down on the tender bark, not on the leaves, 

 as does the young tulip and maple bark-louse. 

 These minute active lice may be blown from one 

 tree to another, or may crawl on to the feet of 

 some bird, and be carried to another tree. This is 

 the only time in the life of the insect when it can 

 be scattered from tree to tree. The louse, when 

 once fixed, grows rapidly, becomes scale-like by a 

 secretion, and by August is mature, and lays its 



eggs. When numerous they are very destructive. 

 I have seen many fine apple-trees ruined by them. 

 There are very few if any males. The males of 

 bark or scale lice that have been discovered are 

 two-winged. It seems likely that there are often 

 no males in this species, and reproduction is 

 agamic, as in case of drone-bees. We see now 

 how these pests may be carried frqm one country 

 to another. If we carry the trees containing the 

 lice at any season, we also must carry the lice. 



The best remedy is to rub the trunk and limbs 

 of affected trees with soft soap, or, better, a mix- 

 ture made as follows: Heat one quart of soft soap 

 or one-fourth pound hard soap, with two gallons of 

 water. When hot, thoroughly stir in one pint of 

 crude carbolic acid. By use of a cloth, with sleeves 

 rolled up, throughly rub the twigs and trunk. Do 

 not wet the foliage any more than is absolutely 

 necessary. This is to be done just as the lice hatch, 

 which, in Michigan, is early in June. In Tasmania 

 it would be at a very different season. By care- 

 fully raising the scales we may easily discover the 

 exact time. It is just when the white eggs begin 

 to go, and the minute yellow lice to come. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



APIARIAN EXHIBITS AT PAIRS. 



HOW THEY MAY BE MADE TO PAY. 



T WISH to add a few words to what has already 

 |jf been said in regard to making honey-exhibits 

 ^l at county fairs. In looking over the answers 

 ■*• to Question No. 79 as to whether it pays or not, 

 I find the greater part of them are in the nega- 

 tive. Now, I have been taking some stock in coun- 

 ty fairs this fall, more for the purpose of advertis- 

 ing than for securing premiums, as only one out of 

 four which I attended offered premiums in the apia- 

 rian line, except for the best 5. lbs. of honey in the 

 comb, which was not much of an inducement for 

 premiums. I am confident that it has ijaid well 

 for the time and money spent. While on the fair- 

 grounds I took orders enough for honey, at remu- 

 nerative prices, to amply pay me for my time and 

 expense, besides building up a home market for all 

 that I shall have to sell this season, and perhaps an- 

 other. I am confident that the demand will in- 

 crease. My display of honey was not large, but it 

 was very fine, and attracted more attention than 

 any exhibit in the halls, consequently the officers of 

 the association insisted that I should come back 

 again, and promised to add an apiarian department 

 to their premium lists if I would send them a form 

 of what was needed. This reminds me of friend 

 Poppleton's suggestion; i. e., that you publish in 

 Gleanings some of the best lists in the apiarian de- 

 partment, suitable for county fairs, for the benefit 

 of those interested. 



We did not get any surplus honey in this locality 

 until Spanish needle and heart's-ease, or, better 

 known here as smartweed (and perhaps both), began 

 to bloom, which was about the 20th of August. 

 Then as soon as the honey began to come in pretty 

 freely our bees took the swarming fever, and then 

 swarm they would, queen-cells or not, in spite of all 

 we could do, till about the 10th of September. The 

 consequence, as you may surmise, was a light crop 

 of honey, which was quite a disappointment, as it 

 was the first and only good honey-flow we have had 

 for two years, J had two swarms on the 8th of Sep- 



