208 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



body the same color, with five straw-colored lines, 

 The tail is deep blue. The throat and abdomen are 

 white. It belongs to the "skink" family of liz- 

 ards. 



Lizards— from their quick lively movements oft- 

 en called swifts— do live on insects. I have never 

 known or heard of their eating bees; but the toads 

 do, and why may not the lizards as well, as they too 

 are insectivorous? I do not think, however, that 

 they will do any very considerable harm. None of 

 the lizards are in the least poisonous, or harmful to 

 handle. Even the horned toads of Colorado, Kan- 

 sas, and Texas— these are also lizards and not 

 toads at all— which, from their horns, or spines, 

 look quite formidable, are quite safe to handle. 



Very likely the lizard may visit the cellar. They 

 have been found in cellars often. 



Mr. Woodhouse also asks if there is any positive 

 evidence that bees mean to kill a queen when they 

 ball her. I think there is the best of evidence. I 

 have seen several queens balled, and soon after- 

 ward found them dead in front of the hive. That 

 the bees sometimes relent, and do not execute 

 their intentions, is equally obvious, for I have 

 known more than one case where a balled queen 

 left alone was permitted to escape, and did excel- 

 lent work as the mother of the hive for months 

 afterward. I think the bees intend execution 

 when they surround a queen. Why they change 

 their minds in some cases, I can not say. 



Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



I saw a great many beautiful lizards in 

 California. They would glide along the 

 rocks on which we were sitting, and peek 

 at us curiously out of the cracks and crev- 

 ices. I think it quite likely they might 

 learn to eat bees to some extent. — In regard 

 to bees killing a queen when they ball her. 

 the most of us have had ample proof, by sad 

 experience, that they do usually kill them 

 unless driven away by smoke, or made to 

 let them alone by recaging or something of 

 the sort. 



SPECIAL DEPARTMENT FOR A. I. ROOT, AND HIS 

 FRIENDS WHO LOVE TO RAISE CROPS. 



SETTING OUT TREES; HOW TO DO IT BY MEANS OF 

 HEXAGONS. 



tN page 980 of Gleanings, Dec. 15, you ask if 

 any of your readers can tell you how the or- 

 ange groves are planted so as to line at so 

 many different angles. Yes, I think I (tan. 

 The properties of the hexagon will explain it- 

 You go to the honey-bee again for wisdom. Take a 



FITZGERALD'S METHOD OF MARKING THE SITE 

 (IF TREES. 



hexagonal piece of card and lay it on a piece of 

 card-board, at the upper left-hand corner, to cor- 

 respond with the dots of pencil. Move it to the 

 right one-half of its diameter, and mark its angles 

 and center. Keep on at this across the card, then 

 place the hexagon just below the first diagrams 

 made, and go across the same way. Continue this 

 process ad libitum ; then you can draw lines to rep- 

 resent the rows, as I have done, showing six angles 

 at which they will row, or "line." 



More trees can be set at a given distance apart on 

 the same land, this way than in any other I know of. 

 I have been in the fruit-business quite extensively, 

 and have given the subject much thought. The 

 properties of the hexagon are very useful in the so- 

 lution of problems in geometry and trigonometry, 

 as no doubt Ernest can testify. If any one gives a 

 plan that is ahead of this, let us have it in Glean- 

 ings. I hope you will keep on traveling, aud writ- 

 ing notes. I think your Notes and "Our Homes" 

 the most valuable part of the book. 



Brookston, Tex. .1. G. Fitzgerald. 



We are all very well aware that the figure 

 you give is the way trees should be set ; but 

 I can imagine that the greater part of us 

 will have great difficulty in setting them as 

 accurately as you have drawn your lines. 

 Perhaps by the aid of the appliances given 

 in our former numbers we may be able to 

 do it. The orange-groves— in fact, orchards 

 of almost all kinds in California— are set out 

 in just this way. Each tree is the center of 

 six other trees, all at equal distances from 

 it and from each other. Some may say 

 that it is too much fuss and bother ; but, 

 my friends, it pays to spend some time in 

 fuss and bother when you realize that an 

 orchard may stand not only during your life, 

 but for the benefit of your children also. 

 In cultivating, our California friends just 

 pull their harrows through between the 

 trees, in three different directions ; and aft- 

 er they get done, the ground looked " hand- 

 some," 1 tell you. 



THE IGNOTUM TOMATO. REPORT FROM PROF. 

 BAILEY. 



At least two or three thousand of our 

 readers will be interested in the following, 

 which we take from the American Garden of 

 March 1 : 



This variety has been mentioned of late in several 

 journals, and it therefore seems proper to say 

 something concerning its origin and merits. Dur- 

 ing three years the Michigan Agricultural College 

 has undertaken extensive tests with tomatoes, and 

 for two years all varieties that could be secured 

 from all sources were grown. In the spring of 1887 

 a complete set of German varieties was obtained 

 from Robert Neumann, of Erfurt. Among them 

 was the Eiformige Dauer. This proved to be a 

 small and angular variety of no promise; but one 

 plant bore fruits of remarkable beauty, solidity, 

 size, and uniformity. Among about 170sorts shown 

 that year at the State fair at Jackson this tomato 

 stood up far the best of any. I supposed this plant 

 to be an accidental mixture in the seed of Eifor- 

 mise Dauer; but being unable to determine it I 

 called it Ignotum, or " unknown." In the spring of 

 1888 a few seeds were sent to several friends for 

 test imr, and some 500 plants were set in our own 

 garden. Everywhere the variety appears to have 

 exceeded expectations. I left the Michigan College 

 in August, and therefore did not see the full fruit- 

 age of the plants; but my former" foreman, Charles 

 S. Crandall, a thoroughly competent observer, in- 

 forms me that it maintained its excellence, but 

 that a few plants reverted to the Eiformige Dauer, 

 a fact which indicates that the Ignotum is a sport 



