694 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



Bee B^t^ny, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



HEKCITLES' CT.tIB— A BEE-PFiANT. 



fROF. COOK:— In looking over your " Bee-Keep- 

 er's Guide/* tenth edition, T can find no de- 

 scription of the inclosed honey-plant, which 

 is plentiful on the blutts of Lookout Moun- 

 tain. It has just come into blossom, and is 

 worked on freely by the Italians, but not by the 

 smaller common bees. The tree or shrub grows to 

 10 or 13 feet high, has a thorny trunk, the limbs and 

 tlower-stalks branching out at the top of the trunk, 

 like a palm-tree. Sourvvood is very plentiful here; 

 and as this tree blossoms just as the sourwood 

 ceases to bloom, it may be of value, providing the 

 quality of the honey is good ; but it is such a queer- 

 looking tree or plant that I am doubtful about it. 

 Can you tell whether the sourwood grows from the 

 seed, and whether it can bo grown as far north as 

 Maryland and Ohio? It is a beautiful tree, and 

 yields bountifully of beaut il'ul white honey. 



Dh. C. F. Parker. 

 Valley Head, DeKalb Co., Ala., Aug. 15, 1887. 

 In reply, Prof. Cook says : 

 Friend Root :— The plant referred to above by Dr. 

 Parker, of which he sends the leaves and fruit, is 

 the curious Hei-cules' club— Aralia ^pinosa. This 

 tree grows along I'ivcrbanks from Pennsylvania 

 south. We have it growing on our grounds here at 

 the Michigan Agricultural College, so it is quite 

 hardy. It gi-ows from 6 to 30 feet high. The bare 

 trunk is armed with strong spines, and, like the 

 palm, is crowned with great leaves with ovate-ser- 

 rate leaflets, among which are the flowers. 



Mr. P. asks about the quality of the honey. The 

 bees work freely on the flowers here — are even 

 now, Aug. 35th, at work on them; yet as we have 

 only a few of the trees I can not speak of the hon- 

 ey. Can not Dr. J. P. H. Brown, of Augusta, Ga., 

 tell us of it? Mr. Parker says of this plant that it 

 comes into bloom just as sourwood is going out. He 

 also asks if the sourwood, or sorrel tree, will grow 

 from the seed, and whether it will grow as far north 

 as Michigan and Ohio. I answer yes, to both ques- 

 tions. We grow it here, though, like the peach, 

 which it somewhat resembles, it " kills back " in se- 

 vere winters. A. J. Cook. 

 Michigan Agricultural College. 



Bee En^^M^i^Q^y, 



Or Enemies of Bees Among the Insect Tribe. 



BARK, OR SC.\LE l.ICE, AND RED SPIDERS. 



fROF. CO(^K.— Inclosed find some leaves which 

 arc covered with insects, which please exam- 

 ine and tell us what they are and what will 

 exterminate them. Henry Dunham. 



Nashville, Tenn., Aug. IS, 1887. 



Trol'. Cook replies : 



On the leaves sent by Mr. Dunham, Nashville, I 

 found scale-lice and the little mite known generally 

 as the " red spider." The seale-lice were the im- 

 mature forms of the bark, or scale-lice, which were 

 so common a few years ago all through the North, 

 and which so injured the trees, and which secreted 

 the nectar which so annoyed the bee-keepers. For- 



tunately for our beautiful shade-trees, and also for 

 our bee-keeping industry, numerous insect-enemies 

 attacked them so vehemently that they were van- 

 quished, and our trees saved. I found that the 

 kerosene-and-soap mi.xture would kill these lice. It 

 was made by mi.\ing a quart of water, a quart of 

 soft soap, and a pint of kerosene together, then 

 stirring all vigorously till they were permanently 

 mixed. This is easily done by pumping the liquid 

 by means of a force-pump back into the vessel con- 

 taining it. We then dilute so that we shall have 

 one part of kerosene to ten or twelve of water. 

 This may be sprayed on to the trees just as the eggs 

 hatch in July, or the limbs of the trees may be 

 washed with it late in the fall or early spring, when 

 the lice have migrated from the leaves, and are 

 sapping the branches. 



The " red spiders " are often very serious ene- 

 mies in very dry seasons like the present. They 

 spin a web on the leaves. Frequent drenching of 

 the plants with water will Kill them. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



I presume, friend Cook, the red spider you 

 mention is the same one that troubles flo- 

 rists so much in their greenhouses. I be- 

 lieve, however, that Peter Henderson states 

 that it is caused by liaving the atmosphere 

 too dry. If tliis is" the case it is easily man- 

 aged in the greenhouse ; but during" a dry 

 season like the present it would be a pretty 

 big job to drench " all outdoors " with wa- 

 ter. I did not know that the red spider ever 

 made trouble in the open air. 



THE SPINED soldier BUG, AGAIN. 



An Indiana subscriber to Gleanings sends me 

 several of these very useful hemipterons, with the 

 request that I describe them and give their habits. 



This bug is about the size of the " bee-stabber," 

 described in Gleanings for Aug. 15. It is common 

 all over our country; and as it is a ravenous feeder 

 and lives almost wholly on insects that injure the 

 farmer and gardener, it does immense good. 1 have 

 never heard that it attacks bees, and I hope it will 

 be long before it forms such a habit. I shall be 

 pleased if any reader of Gleanings who may have 

 seen it about bees will tell me if he has seen it mo- 



SI'INEU SOLDIER BUG. 



lest his pets of the hive. The figure I send will give 

 a good idea of this bug. Its scientific name is unu- 

 sually appropi-iate —"spined soldier bug;" spined, 

 from the spines on the thorax. These sharp spines 

 will enable one to identify this bug. The color is 

 gray to bi-own. The jointed beak shown in the fig- 

 ure is a most interesting weapon. Within are some 

 long slim needle-like organs which can be forced 

 into its prey. These so wound the unfortunate vic- 

 tim that the blood oozes out, when, by the use of the 

 large grooved labium, or the jointed beak, this nu- 

 tritious iicjuid is sucked up. All of these bugs have 

 the same style of mouth parts— a large grooved 

 sheath which conceals the sharp strong needle-like 

 piercers. A. J. CoOK. 



Michigan Agricultural College. 



