1887 



I^J^EA^IJMGS l^i BEE (JUJiTUKE. 



261 



have doubtless observed the white mold, or fung-us, 

 on house-flies in autumn, and have seen the flies 

 succumb to its embrace. A close examination of 

 the carcass of the fly shows that the mycelium, 

 or threads, of the fungus, have passed all through 

 the victim's body. These aphides which you sent 

 seem to be attacked by a similar fungoid parasite. 

 It is a very interesting fact, and may be possessed 

 of no small practical importance. If a few of 

 these hairy lice could be carried in a letter, say to 

 some other greenhouse, and there set free, very 

 likely they would fasten their deadly grasp upon 

 other of these aphides, and thus one of the worst 

 pests of the greenhouse would be stamped out. 

 Entomologists have done many valuable services 

 by importing parasitic insects, and scattering 

 them, thHt they might perform their goodly mis- 

 sion in other and often widely distant districts, 

 and have thus fought insects which could be over- 

 come in no other way. It looks as if we might 

 have another equally potent weapon in these veg- 

 etable parasites. Those fungi on plaut-lice are 

 new to me. and I would take it as a favor if you 

 would send me some fresh ones, wlun I will see 

 what I can do by way of cultivating them here. 



It now looks as if these fungoid orsranisras, the 

 source of death in plants and animals alike, were 

 soon to be thoroughly understood through the re- 

 searches of scientists. Then we shall be able to 

 escape harm from disease which they engender, 

 and also to make them our servauts in slaying 

 our enemies. A. .1. Cook. 



Agricultural College. Mich., Feb. ZX. 1887. 

 In answer to the above, I would say that 

 we have, during- tlie hist part ol' the winter, 

 been watching curiously the green Hies iij 

 one of the upper beds in our greenhouse. 

 When half grown or fully grown, their 

 bright green changed to a rechlish pink, and 

 Hnally the insect gave place to a spot on the 

 leaf, something like a minute drop of red- 

 dish paint. The disease has now extended 

 to the green flies in other parts of tlie green- 

 house ; and the prospect is, that it will in- 

 crease so as to destroy the whole of them, 

 without the aid of tobacco-stems, small 

 chickens, or any thing of that sort. If other 

 lettuce-growers have noticed a similar phe- 

 nomenon, we should be glad to hear from 

 them. 



HANDLING BEES IN EAKLY SPRING. 



H. R. BOARDMAN ON THE QUESTION OF WINTERING. 



T HAVE .lUst been reading Our Own Apiary in 

 af last issue of Gleanings (Mar. 1), and I was a 

 W little astonished that you did not take out the 

 **■ frames and make a careful examination to as- 

 certain the exact condition of some of your 

 colonies. To be sure, winter is a poor time to be 

 tinkering with bees: but we have had quite a num- 

 ber of warm days when bees could be handled in 

 the sun without any possible danger of doing them 

 the least bit of harm; and we are all a little interest- 

 ed in knowing the condition of the bees at the 

 Home of the Honey-Bees, at the very earliest op- 

 portunity. 1 am very certain that you would have 

 found brood in nearly every colony some time ago 

 if you had looked. I am quite particular in these 

 matters, andwill not be satisfied with guessing; 

 and of those wintered inside I set out a few colonies 



on occasional warm days for examination, that I 

 may know .just what is being done. 



T am wintering ;iO colonies on their summer 

 stands, scattered about at four ditferent apiaries, 

 for the purpose more especially of perfecting some 

 experiments in downward ventilation in outdoor 

 wintering. Here at the home apiary I have eight 

 of these colonies. On turning to my journal I find 

 this entry : 



Jan. 29.— Warm and pleasant. Bees outside flew 

 nearly all day. I have examined four of the eight 

 colonies on summer stands here at the home api- 

 ary, and found sealed brood in all of them, with 

 more or less larva* and egg.s surrounding it. The 

 extent of brood-rearing is astonishing for the time 

 of year. The patches of sealed brood are four to 

 six inches in extent. I set but two colonies from 

 the bee-house for examination, and found no signs 

 of brood or eggs. And again: 



Feb. i».— Temperature hi}°. I opened one of the 

 hives examined on ,Jan. :i9th, and found a large 

 amount of brood, still more than there was when 

 examined before about two weeks ago, the frames 

 being nearly full, with eggs and larva" surrounding 

 the sealed brood, and also in the center, where the 

 brood is beginning to hatch. And again: 



Mar. I. — 'I'emperaiure 45°. I e.xamined a colony 

 on summer stand, and found an abundance of 

 brood with eggs and larvie, and some old pollen in 

 the combs. This colony has already bred up quite 

 strong, and has more bees now thiin at the com- 

 mencement of winter. I had expected to find 

 some damage done the brood by the severe cold of 

 the last few days past, but did not even see any 

 brood thrown out by the bees. 



1 might say that these colonies were of average 

 strength; had a fair exposure to allot the trying 

 weather of the past winter, with no protection 

 whatever, with only a '{.-inch board between them 

 and outdoors. They have been in good condition 

 at all tinies during the winter. Now. I would sug- 

 gest that we jot this item down on the tablet of our 

 memories. 



Bees wintered on their summer stands do some- 

 times begin brood-rearing earlier than those win- 

 tered in cellars or bee-repositories. 



The downward ventilation may have had some- 

 thing to do with the early breeding, l)Ut I attribute 

 it more to the warm spells of weather. 



My bees "inside" are wintering in flue condition, 

 and have, at this date, commenced breeding quite 

 extensively. H. K Boar dm an. 



East Townsend. Huron Co., O., Mar. 4, J88T. 



Friend B.,I am well aware that bees many 

 times do well when handled in the middle of 

 winter ; and I am inclined to think that, if 

 handled only Avhen they can tly, little if any 

 injury would be done. I have several times, 

 however, known bees started to flying by 

 this kind of handling, where others that 

 were not handled did not fly at all — or none 

 of any conse(]uence. 1 have also known the 

 weather to turn around suddenly in the win- 

 ter, and even before the disturbed colony 

 had got settled. Under such circumstances 

 a great many bees would be lost, and the 

 colony seriously injured. An old experi- 

 enced hand might safely go through his oees 

 in Januarv, if he thought fit to do so. I be- 

 lieve thaf handling in winter, as a general 

 thing, seems to start brood-rearing. T have 



