1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



of bee-keepers for perforated metal. Where, 

 a few years ago, we sold our tens of square 

 feet, we now sell our thousands. The 

 question is often asked, " Is the zinc prac- 

 ticable, and is it going to be of value to 

 bee-keepers in working for comb or extract- 

 ed honey?" If its large sales mean any 

 thing, it would seem that there are some 

 bee-keepers at least who regard it as of 

 great practical utility. 



But, what are these other implements 

 which we see ? Those are tinners' tools 

 and machines, such as you will find in a 

 first-class well-equipped tinning establish- 

 ment. Indeed, in order to turn out and 

 supply the demands of bee-keepers for the 

 various articles made of tin, it is necessary 

 to have such an equipment. We find in 

 looking over our books that we sell from 800 

 to 900 extractors, from 12,000 to 18,000 smok- 

 ers, from 1200 to 1500 square (30-lb. cans, and 

 every thing else in proportion, such as tin 

 receptacles for holding honey, besides a 

 great variety of other implements of use in 

 apiculture, which can not here be described. 

 Without tinners and tin-shops, bee-keepers 

 would have to dispense with a great many 

 useful appliances connected with the pur- 

 suit. 



THE COMMON HOUSE-FLY. 



PROF. COOK TELLS US OF THI8 FAMILIAR AC- 

 QUAINTANCE OF OURS. 



R. CHARLES SITTS, Brosie Corners, New 

 York, requests that I write up the history 

 of the common house-tiy, for Gleanings. 

 I do not wonder that any one should feel 

 an interest in an insect that forms such an 

 important factor in our domestic affairs as does 

 this insect. It eats our pudding with us, and even 

 out of the same dish. It daintily sips not only of 

 our tea, but of the cream and the sugar that sea- 

 son it. No wonder the great Swede, Linnaeus, 

 named it Musca domestica. It rooms with us, eats 

 with us, drinks with us, and any one accustomed 

 to take afternoon naps would be glad if it would 

 only sleep with us. 



This fly is too well known to need description. It 

 belongs to the order Diptera, as it has two wings, 

 suctorial mouth-parts— flies and mosquitoes stab 

 and suck but do not bite— and passes through com- 

 plete transformations. By this last we mean that 

 the first stage— maggot— is not at all like the suc- 

 ceeding stages of the insect. It belongs to the 

 family Muscidw. Such insects have short antennae, 

 with a full plume on the last joint, and heavy 

 short bodies. This fly hibernates in winter as a fly. 

 Fortunately, most of them never wake to life in 

 the spring; but enough of them survive to make 

 things lively about August and September. The 

 house-fly lays more than 100 whitish elongated 

 eggs. These are laid in horse manure, on which 

 the maggots feed. The eggs hatch in about twenty- 

 four hours. The larva, or maggot, looks very much 

 and is very much like that of the meat-fly, or blow- 

 fly, with which all are doubtless familiar. When 

 fully grown it is from one-fourth to four-tenths of 

 an inch long, and is about one week in getting its 

 full growth. 



This fly, like many others, pupates in its last lar- 

 val skin. It is rounded and seed-like, as a pupa. 



Such pupae, are called puporiums. The pupa state 

 lasts about a week. We now see why these flies 

 become pretty numerous along in dog-days. Bach 

 female lays more than one hundred eggs; and the 

 time from egg-laying to maturity is only about two 

 weeks. Most of us have studied geometrical pro- 

 gression. Here we see it illustrated. Suppose one 

 fly commenced " to multiply and replenish the 

 earth" about June 1st. June 15th, if all lived, 

 would give 150. Suppose 75 of these are misses. 

 July 1st would give us, supposing no cruel wasp or 

 other untoward circumstance to interfere, 11,250 

 flies. Suppose 5625 of these are females. We might 

 have, July 15, 843,750 flies. For fear of bad dreams, 

 I will not calculate what might be by September 

 15th. Some of us who have some time stopped at 

 third-rate hotels quite understand it. From what 1 

 have said, it is easy to see how that a horse-stable 

 near the house is favorable to the fly nuisance. 

 Slops about the wood-shed, of course, attract flies. 

 So the neat tidy housewife is less tormented than 

 one not so blessed with this kinship to godliness. 



We provide in three ways against these pestifer- 

 ous house-flies. First, we have screens to all our 

 windows, and to such doors as are much used, es- 

 pecially the outside doors to kitchen and dining- 

 room. The screens to the kitchen windows are full 

 length, so the windows can be opened either from 

 above or below. We believe in fresh air; and with 

 this arrangement we get it. Secondly, the screen 

 to the pantry window, to each of the dining-room 

 windows, and to one window of each of the other 

 rooms, is hinged at the top to the upper sash. 

 Thus by darkening all the other windows, the flies 

 alight on this hinged screen. We now push the 

 screen quickly out at the bottom, brush rapidly 

 with a palm-leaf fan, and, lo! the flies are all out- 

 side the window. 



Thirdly, in case the flies get too thick we use 

 pyrethrum, or, better, California pyrethrum, or 

 buhacu. Toward night we try to attract all the 

 flies into the kitchen by darkening the other 

 rooms, and placing odorous sweets, exposed in 

 that room. At ten o'clock— bed time— we scatter, 

 by means of a ten-cent bellows, a little of the pow- 

 der into the room. The next morning the flies are 

 dead, or partially paralyzed, on the kitchen floor, 

 and are swept up and cremated in the kitchen 

 stove before any revive. Mrs. Cook prefers the 

 hinged screens, in the main, as too free use of the 

 pyrethrum does spread a fine dust on the furni- 

 ture, which is not desirable. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Friend Cook, I am exceedingly obliged to 

 Mr. Sitts and yourself. One needs, howev- 

 er, to go to California to find house-flies in 

 perfection. There is not any winter there 

 to kill them, and so they just keep on in 

 that geometrical rate of progression of 

 which you have been speaking— that is, un- 

 less the careful housewife makes too vehe- 

 ment a protest, or unless somebody decides 

 that prevention is better than cure, and 

 stops the progression. Now, I want per- 

 mission to introduce a very disagreeable 

 subject, and I do not know any way to tell 

 it without having some of the friends feel 

 like holding their noses, even if they decide 

 not to do it. I am sure you are right in say- 

 ing that flies are bred around stables, for at 

 one time our printers used to set type close 



