none can get out or in. When the robbers 

 stop buzzing around it, remove the clotii 

 and contract the entrance, and they will 

 generally defend themselves. 



In transferring, I had a lot of black comb 

 which 1 made into wax. 1 noticed in 

 moulding it that it was sure to crack. On 

 looking about for the cause, I discovered 

 that the edges cooled first, sticking fast to 

 the vessel when cooling ; I took a thin- 

 bladed knife and kept one cake loose around 

 the vessel while cooling. The consequence 

 was a nice cake of wax, without a crack. 



The best remedy I have ever found for 

 the sting of a bee is lobelia. I chew the 

 leaves and stock, and apply it wet with 

 spittle. I think the tincture of lobelia 

 would be still better. 



I think D. D. Palmer gave Novice a good 

 one in reference to " Our Homes." He is 

 apt to jump at conclusions. Probably he 

 has a dozen letters, out of 3,000 subscribers, 

 in favor of "Our Homes ;" butshouldhecall 

 us all up and take a vote, he would see how 

 it stands. I think everything not pertain- 

 ing to bee-culture out of place in a bee 

 publication . Long may the American Bee 

 Journal live. John R. Lee. 



Huntsville, Ala., Aug. 3, 1878. 



(£jOxvzspon&tnu. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



The Aphides, or Plant Lice. 



I submit the following extract from Dr. 

 Hartwig's " Wonders of the Polar and Trop- 

 ical World," who is also author of "The 

 Sea and its Living Wonders," and other 

 works. John Murray. 



Woodman, Wis., Aug. 5, 1878. 



" The aphides, or plant lice, eject a sweet, 

 honey-like fluid, which may be correctly 

 termed their milk, and which is so grateful 

 to the ants that they attend on the honey 

 flies for the sole purpose of gathering it and 

 literally milk them as we do our cows, forc- 

 ing them to yield the fluid by alternately 

 patting them with their antennje. But the 

 most extraordinary part of these proceed- 

 ings is that the ants not only consider the 

 apnides as their property, but actually ap- 

 propriate to themselves a certain number 

 which they inclose in a tube of earth or 

 other materials near their nest, so that they 

 may be always at hand to supply the noui'- 

 ishment which they may desire. The yel- 

 low ant, the most remarkable cow-keeper 

 among our indigenous species, pays great 

 attention to its herds, plentifully supplying 

 them with their proper food, and tending 

 their young with the same tenderness which 

 it exhibits towards its own. With the same 

 provident care a large black ant of India 

 constructs its nest at the root of the plant 

 upon which its favorite species of aphis 

 resides. The ants of tropical America, 

 where no aphides are found, derive their 

 honey from another family of insects — the 

 numerous and grotesquely-formed membra- 

 cidfe, which are most abundant in the 



regions of Brazil. According to Mr. Swain- 

 son many of these little membracidfe live 

 in families of 20 or 30, all clustered together 

 on the panicles of grasses and on the tops of 

 other plants like the European plant lice. 

 These are regularly visited by parties of a 

 little black ant which may be seen going 

 and coming to their heads and attending 

 them with the same care which the 

 European ants bestow on the aphides. To 

 render the similarity with cattle more com- 

 plete, the membracid?e possesses horns 

 growing out of their heads, or are otherwise 

 armed, while their large, abrupt heads re- 

 mind the entomologist of the bull or cow. 

 The Mexican honey ants [Mynnecocystu^ 

 Mexlcamis), are, if possible, still more re- 

 markable, for here we see an animal rearing 

 others of the same species for the purpose 

 of food. Some of these ants are mainly dis- 

 tinguished by an enormous swelling of the 

 abdomen, which is converted into a mass 

 like honey, and being unable in their un- 

 wieldy condition to seek food themselves, 

 are fed by the laborers until they are 

 doomed to "die for the beneflt of the commu- 

 nity. Whether this vast extension is the 

 result of an intestinal rupture caused by an 

 excessive indulgence or the appetite, or 

 whether they are purposely selected, con- 

 fined and overfed, or wounded for the pur- 

 pose, has not yet been determined.". 



For tlie American Bee Journal. 



Basewood— the " off year." 



Editor of Journal:— In the Journal. 

 for August you say that "basswood Is a 

 failure in some localities this year." For 25 

 years our basswood has blossomed only 

 every other year. This, 1 think, you will 

 find the case all over the East, North and 

 West. 1 have often wondered that old bee- 

 keepers from basswood localities never 

 mentioned this fact. Some very young 

 trees will blossom a little the off year, and 

 in large forests you will see one tree out of 

 100 in bloom that year, and the next year 

 all are full. Next year (1879), is the bass- 

 wood year, and if the season is without ex- 

 tremes, it is one of the most wonderful in 

 yielding blossoms for honey we have in the 

 North. Basswood conies in bloom about the- 

 12th of July here in Wisconsin. 



Our clover blossom was the finest this 

 year I ever saw, and all bee-keepers that 

 had their bees in good condition, and gave 

 them plenty of room, received a fine yield 

 for a little over two weeks. Since then, for 

 1.5 days, it has been one continual Sunday 

 with them. I never saw them cut down so, 

 and become so perfectly idle, at this time of 

 year. 



I have been a bee-keeper for 25 years, and 

 have never been able to overcome, to my 

 satisfaction, three different parts of the 

 business— cliangeableness of the summer 

 seasons, wintering, and fully to prevent in- 

 crease and swarming in the honey harvest. 

 The two first named difficulties, I think no- 

 bee-keeper will contend that he can master. 

 The swarming trouble 1 have given close 

 attention for the past two seasons, and am 

 quite sure I have made a discovery in that 



