s.,U 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



often stated in Gleanings, lew if any of our north- 

 ern spiders can injure man by their poisonous bite. 

 I do not know whether the same is true of this ani- 

 mal or not; but I suspect it may be. 



Like all of the arachnoids, or spider group, this 

 whip scorpion has only simple eyes. Of these there 

 are eight. Two of the eyes are close together, far 

 in front, while the other six are in groups of three 

 each, further back and close to the side of the ce- 

 'phalothorax, as the head-thorax is called. This head- 

 thorax, unlike the abdomen, is not divided into 

 rings, or segments. The barvestmen (grandfather 

 gr;iy-beards) are the only members of this order 

 that are common in our Northern States. These 

 are the little animals with very long legs that al- 

 ways point toward the cows with these legs. This 

 is a veritable truth, as the legs point all ways. 

 There is one family in this order— the SuUfugiB— 

 which is very predaceous. One species from Cali- 

 fornia, which I have illustrated in my Bee Keeper's 

 Guide, is known to kill bees. This is a species of 

 Datamt .<. So far as I know, this is the only species 

 of the order that is specially interesting to bee- 

 keepers, and I doubt if that one is ever numerous 

 enough to do much harm. A.J.Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Oct. 7, 1889. 



Old friend, it is exceedingly gratifying to 

 me to find that yon are read up and posted 

 on all these matters as fast ;ts they come up. 

 Even the glass-snakes, grampuses, and 

 scorpions, have already heen investigated by 

 careful, trained, and experienced intellects. 



AT THE VERMONT STATE FAIR. 



EDUCATING OLD FOGIES IN REGARD TO THE HON- 

 EY - BDSINKSS. 



fS^ HIS year the Vermont State Fair Association 

 5ft" gave a more liberal premium on apiarian 

 £ products than ever before. This is due to 

 ihe never-tiring energy of Mr. J. H. Larra- 

 bee, secretary of the Vermont Bee-keepers' 

 Association ; consequently a larger display of hon- 

 ey, wax, bees, and supplies, was exhibited than I had 

 ever seen at our State Fair; and I must say that the 

 display of honey was an honor to those who made 

 the exhibit. 



Mr. K. H. Holmes, president of the State Associa- 

 tion of bee-keepers, had a very tine display of both 

 comb and extracted honey. His comb honey in 

 1-lb. sections was arranged in the form of an 

 American Hag, representing Mr. Holmes' Red, 

 White, and Blue apiary. The emblem referred to 

 was some 8 feet long by i or 5 wide. The red 

 stripes were strips of wood painted red, placed at a 

 proper distance apart to admit 1-lb. sections, which 

 formed the white stripes; and in the upper corner, 

 sections of honey were inserted in place of stars to 

 represent the thirteen original States. This was 

 fastened to a beautiful white staff, and suspended 

 in the hall, over his large exhibit of comb honey in 

 shipping-crates, extracted honey in various styles 

 and sizes of glass jars and tumblers, beeswax, 

 foundation, bee-hive, etc. 



Mr. J. H. Larrabee's display of honey was not 

 surpassed by any, as he had a very large assort- 

 ment of beautiful comb honey in various sizes and 

 styles of shipping-cases, which were arranged in a 

 very tasty and attractive manner. I have seen a 

 great deal of houey in the past 20 years, but I must 



say that I had never seen a nicer lot of honey than 

 that which Mr. Larrabee had at our State Fair. He 

 also exhibited a fine lot of extracted honey, togeth- 

 er with a Stanley extractor; also smokers, uncap- 

 ping-knives, etc. Although the above-named arti- 

 cles attracted much attention, nothing seemed to 

 be more attractive, or call out more comments, 

 than did Mr. L.'s observatory hive of bees. I will 

 say nothing about them, further than that they 

 took the premium, although there were other bees 

 on exhibition. 



Messrs. Drake & Smith had on exhibition a full 

 line of apiarian supplies, together with a full line 

 of their beautiful mailing sample boxes, which can 

 not be surpassed in beauty or workmanship. 

 These also took the first premium. 



The show was a success in every respect, and I 

 am sure that every bee-keeper who visited the fair 

 must have felt proud of the display. 



Your correspondent was much amused at the 

 comments of the people as they approached the 

 apiarian department, having been left in charge of 

 Mr. Larrabee's exhibit while he took a stroll about 

 the grounds; and to show you, Mr. Editor, how ig- 

 norant some of our Vermont people are (only Ver- 

 monters are so, I suppose) about bees and the bee- 

 business I will mention a few comments as 1 now 

 remember them. 



First person : 



" What is that in those tumblers, Mr. M.? " 



" It is extracted honey." 



"Is it pure honey, are yon aure'l" at the fame 

 time giving me a peculiar smile, signifying a 

 doubt. 



" Yes, I'm sure that "it is." 



" What is it made of? " 



" The bees gathered it from basswood blossoms." 



" Did the bees put it in those tumblers? " 



" No, they store it in the hive, and we then ex- 

 tract it." 



Whereupon the method of extracting was ex- 

 plained to a large crowd that had gathered about 

 us, to the entire satisfaction of the lady, who pur- 

 chased some of the honey— at a good price. 



Second person : 



" Is that real bee's honey in those jars and boxes, 

 sir?" 



"Yes, it is." 



" Well, a friend back here told me to come this 

 way and I would see some of the new style of hon- 

 ey, such as they make of sugar and starch, and I 

 suppose this is it. My husband keeps bees. He 

 has six stands; but I know that real honey is not as 

 white as this is; and, besides, I don't see anyplace 

 where the bees can get in those boxes. We get our 

 honey in the fall, when John kills the bees. We 

 live over in the east part of the State. My husband 

 says there is a man over here in this part some- 

 where that feeds his bees sugar, and makes lots of 

 honey." 



" Do you know the man's name? " 



"No, sir, I do not remember." 



" Is his name Manum? " 



" Oh, yes ! that is the name." 



" Well, madam, that is my name, and I think I 

 am the man you refer to." 



"Well"— with a slight blush on her face — "do 

 you feed sugar?" 



" STes, most certainly I do, in the fall, when the 

 bees are short of honey for winter stores; but nev- 

 er for the purpose of having it 6tored in boxes, as 



