1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



85 



One peculiarity of it is, that it will scarcely granu- 

 late. Having had it all winter in unsealed combs, 

 without any visible granulation, we also consider it 

 an excellent honey for winter stores. We also in- 

 close a sample of the plant itself from which the 

 honey was obtained. S. I. ]*reeborn. 



Ithaca, Wis.. Dec. 19, 1888. 



The honey sent us is so thick that it will 

 hardly run when the dish containing it is 

 turned over. As mentioned above, it shows 

 no sign of granulation whatever, although 

 it has been left out in the cold for a week or 

 two. The quality is excellent, with the ex- 

 ception of a little flavor of fall flowers. In 

 1878, Mr. II. Stewart, of Orion, Wis., from 

 the same county that Mr. Freeborn lives in, 

 sent us a sample of the mint. Prof. Beal 

 pronounced it Monarda Bradburiana. It is 

 nearly related to the horsemint of Texas. 

 The plant also grows in our own locality, 

 and it is called around here balm, or wild 

 bergamot. Perhaps it is better known un- 

 der the name of wild bergamot than any 

 other. Without question, it will pay bee- 

 keepers to look up patches of this wild ber- 

 gamot, and locate hives near them during 

 the proper season. I believe it is found 

 along the low grounds of the Mississippi 

 River, in many different places. 



PACKING COMB HONEY FOB SHIP- 

 MENT. 



SUGGESTIONS FROM WM. MUTH-RASMUSSEN. 



'HERE wood is employed, I suppose that 

 great accuracy can never be attained, on 

 account of the unavoidable shrinking and 

 swelling. Yet, the nearer we come to ac- 

 curacy in getting out material, the less 

 will the subsequent work be. This is particularly 

 noticeable in packing comb honey. A slight varia- 

 tion from a fixed measure may seem a trifling mat- 

 ter in the width of a single section; but when 6 

 sections are placed side by side il makes quite a 

 difference. 1 use packing-cases holding 48 sections, 

 and without glass. This style suits my trade. I 

 have had sections whijh were so wide that they 

 would not go down into their place in the packing- 

 case, and had to be whittled on the edge; yet their 

 extra width was not sufficient to attract my atten- 

 tion when they were folded, but was only too ap- 

 parent when it came to packing them for shipment. 

 As a rule, however, there is a little room to spare 

 in' the packing-case, varying all the way from a 

 hair's breadth to a quarter of an inch. To prevent 

 the sections from moving, I crowd them all up 

 against one side of the case, and then stuff a wad 

 down between the opposite side and the section . 

 This wad, a little shorter than the inside length of 

 the case, is made by loosely folding a newspaper 

 until it is thick enough to require considerable 

 crowding to get it down into its place, and, being 

 loosely folded, it will have elasticity sufficient to 

 keep the sections steady. The projecting end 

 folds over on top of the sections, and serves to 

 withdraw the wad before the sections are lifted 

 out of the case. I do not know of any other way of 

 keying up the sections; but if other comb-honey 

 producers have something different or superior for 

 this purpose, I should be pleased to have them de- 

 scribe and illustrate their methods in Gleanings. 



To get at something better, if possible, is my prin- 

 cipal ob. ect in writing this. 



Wm. Muth-Rasmussen. 

 Independence, Inyo Co., Cal., Jan. 7, 1889. 



Friend M., it is true that a slight varia- 

 tion in measurement sometimes makes a 

 great deal of trouble, and it behooves us all 

 to have our sections and every thing else 

 accurately made. Your wad made of folded 

 newspaper is a tiptop idea ; and until some- 

 body else suggests something better or neat- 

 er, I think we should do well to adopt it. 



PBEDACEOUS BUGS. 



PROF. COOK DESCRIBES THE BUGS THAT MUST NOT 

 BE STEPPED ON. 



TN Gleanings of Nov. 15th, I described the wheel- 

 ml DUg ' Pt'ionidus cristatus. I now send an excel- 

 W lent figure of this interesting insect, which is a 

 "*■ common one in our Southern States. The fe- 

 male of this wheel-bug (Fig. 1) lays in a group 

 about seventy eggs. These are bottle-shaped, and 



FIG. 1. PRION IDUS CRISTATUS. 



appear as would many bottles standing side by 

 side. The young only, resemble the mature insect 

 in form and habit. They are blood-red, and, like 

 the adult, pierce and suck the life from scores of 

 injurious species. 



I wish now to call attention to another bug, the 

 soldier-bug, Podisus (Arma) Spinosus, Fig. 2. This 

 has a short sunken head, and so reminds us of our 

 injurious species like the black squash-bug, the 

 terrible chinch bug, and the 

 destructive tarnished plant- 

 bug which is sometimes so 1 

 fatal to the strawberry and 

 almost every year to many 

 of our garden vegetables. 

 Thus this soldier-bug, one of 

 our valued friends, closely re- 

 sembles in form several of 

 our most dreaded pests. Yet 

 the beak is stronger, while in 

 the plant-destroyers the beak 

 is slim, as will be seen by the FIG - 3 - soldier-bug. 

 figure, where the beak of the squash-bug is shown 

 with that of the soldier-bug. 



The spined soldier-bug is a gray lavender or 

 brownish yellow in color. The specific name comes 

 from the sharp spines on the side of the thorax. 

 The figure is magnified twice, as is also the wheel- 

 bug in Fig. 1. 



In pinning all insects, except beetles and bugs, 

 the pin is passed centrally through the thorax. In 

 pinning bugs we always pin through the little tri- 

 angle (Fig. 2), technically known as the scutellum, 

 of the meso-thorax. In another article I will show 

 how to pin beetles. 



