85-' 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



names of " mule-killer," " scroncher," and "gram- 

 pus," but is not mentioned in any book of natural 

 history which we have been able to examine. A 

 specimen, sent for name to the proper authorities 

 in Washington, only elicited the names above men- 

 tioned. It is an insect about two inches in length, 

 with huge mandibles, resembling those of a lobster, 

 and long-, pointed feelers, which might easily be 

 mistaken for a fourth pair of legs. But the busi- 

 ness end of the creature is represented by a slender 

 terminal appendage which is held, like that of the 

 scorpion, over the back. The sting from this is 

 most severe, but not, as there seems to be a general 

 impression, fatal. The insects burrow in the ground 

 under rotting logs, and one can not be too careful 

 when obliged to handle such things, lest they be- 

 come suddenly and most unpleasantly acquainted 

 with it. A specimen can he seen at Look's drug 

 store. 



1 will make a trip to the islands shortly, and will 

 endeavor to secure sprcimens of the "grampus" 

 to mail you and Prof. Cook. I will also mail you 

 specimens of the scorpions, a small stinging insect 

 which hurts about as bad as a bee sting. They are 

 found under the bark of d< ad trees, in lumber- 

 piles, and trash of any kind They are also very 

 fond of hiding between hive-covers and the enam- 

 el cloth. I have been stung by only one. It is 

 amusing to see how the mother carries her young. 

 They all cluster on top of her back, and she carries 

 them around until they are large enough to take 

 care of themselves. I should have said I have kill- 

 ed sevenil of those joint-snakes in Louisiana that 

 would break all to pieces when struck, but I don't 

 remember of ever seeing any blood. I have never 

 seen one here. As to the specimens of snakes, I 

 can not furnish any of them, as I don't like to han- 

 dle them. Young G. Lee. 



Charlotte Harbor, Pla., Sept. 6, 1889. 



Thank yon, friend L?e. Prof. Cook has 

 told ns a little about the grampus in this is- 

 sue—see pages 849 and 856. 



THE VAN„DEUSEN METAL CORNER, 

 AGAIN. 



DECIDEDLY IN FAVOR OF 1? 8 -INCH SPACING. 



0N page 513 I stated that T was not fully satis- 

 fied in regard to the l!4-inch spacing of the 

 Van Deusen reversible frame. Theoretically 

 it seemed to me that, when such frames were 

 full of brood, there would be a good deal of 

 spare room between the combs, and that, when the 

 bees should begin to use the brood-chamber for a 

 store house, as they are sure to do when honey is 

 coming just a little too fast for brood-rearing, and 

 not quite fast enough to start them in the sections, 

 there would be a broad area of elongated cells in 

 the upper part of the frames that would ultimately 

 cause me trouble. In this instance, practice has 

 fully confirmed the theory. At the first appear- 

 ance of honey in excess of the daily needs of the 

 bees they proceeded to draw out the upper mar- 

 gins of the combs unless I happened to be on hand 

 to reverse the frames often enough to keep brood 

 constantly near the top-bar. This kind of vigilance 

 may be all very well for the " fussy" bee-man, but 

 it doesn't do for me. If I have to reverse all my 

 frames every three weeks while honey-boards and 

 supers are on, I will either go out of the business or 

 adopt friend Shuck's hive, support it on two forked 

 stakes, and attach a crank to It so that I may turn 

 it over whenever I happen along. The honey-flow 

 in my locality was barely sufficient to send the 

 most energetic colonies Into the sections, while the 



laggards remained below and tilled the brood-cham- 

 bers to their utmost limit, crowding the queen un- 

 til there remained for her merely an elongated oval 

 in the center of each frame. In the course of time, 

 the honey that had been placed below the brood by 

 reversing was consumed; but the bees refused to 

 cut down the elongated cells to a proper depth for 

 brood-rearing, and they remained empty at a time 

 when I could ill afford to have them so. Combs at 

 the sides of the hive, full of honey from top-bar to 

 bottom, are quite a good deal too thick for brood- 

 combs Since I use a contracted brood-chamber 

 containing only 800 square inches of comb, I can 

 not afford to have many square inches of elongated 

 cells. It must all be brood-comb, and I see no way 

 to obtain it and keep it so except by crowding the 

 combs close together. One of my correspondents 

 says he works his combs spaced IJ4 from center to 

 center, and meets with no trouble except where 

 there is drone comb. That is a little too close to 

 suit me, but I want to be placed on record as being 

 decidedly opposed to wide spacing. I have in my 

 yard a dozen hives that are 14^ inches square, in- 

 side. They take a frame 13 ?g inches long and 10 inch- 

 es deep. Two years ago five or six of these hives 

 were left with nine frames— the rest with ten. This 

 season not one of those nine-frame colonies went 

 into the sections, while every one of the ten-frame 

 colonies made a record in the supers. They were 

 all populous colonies, and I could see no reason 

 why those with nine combs were not in the sections 

 unless it was because they had both store room and 

 loafing room in the brood-chamber. 



Aside from this one objection that I have treated 

 thus at length, I think the Van Deusen metal cor- 

 ner beyond criticism. It works as well with an 

 8 inch frame as with the 7-inch; and when one 

 learns how to handle it there is hardly as much 

 danger of killing bees as with the suspended frame. 

 I will not reiterate its good points, but simply state 

 that, after thorough test, its mechanical workings 

 have met my highest expectations. But its width 

 must be reduced to 1 3 8 inches, or I shall have to. 

 abandon it, much to my regret. 



THE IOWA HONEY CROP; THE NON-READING BEE- 

 KEEPERS CUTTING DOWN PRICES. 



So far as I have been able to learn, eastern and 

 southern Iowa has had an unusually heavy crop, 

 while the western part of the State has had a virtu- 

 al failure of honey, but plenty of increase. Now 

 comes the exasperating part of the story: Iowa 

 could easily have disposed of her entire crop at 

 home at prices ranging from 15 to 20 cents per lb. 

 for comb honey, and extracted at proportionate 

 prices, had not the producers in the eastern part of 

 the State gone daft at the sight of their own very 

 modest crop. They seemed to think that, because 

 they had obtained a little honey, the whole country 

 was deluged with it. We in the west, with our one- 

 fifth yield, were l'ecovering a little of our lost 

 ground by supplj ing a fair demand at 20 cts., when, 

 without warning, we were Hooded with honey that 

 the grocers bought at 8 and cts. per lb.— choice 

 white clover and basswood in 1-lb. sections, all in 

 splendid condition. Every one of these producers 

 might just as well have had 12V4 cts. as 9. All that 

 was required was gumption enough to read and di- 

 gest the reports in the bee-journals and the bulle- 

 tins of the honey-producers' exchange. I have no 

 sympathy to waste on them, but 1 greatly regret 

 the shock they have given our market. The Iowa 



