142 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Nov. 2i, V6-2h- 



the extract absorbed from them must be used as bee when in the abode that nature assigned it* 

 atonic. Blossoms ofallkinds,e.xcepting those of I This very worm, from which they bid us turn 

 the red clover and of the honey-suckle are excel- 

 lent food ; and the bees especially profit by the 



aside when we meet it in our path, after destroy 

 ing the roots of our pasture and our corn, becomes 

 a winged insect, and continues its mischief to the 

 destruction of our finest fruits. 



We really are in a sad plight between our sen- 



increased attention bestowed at present ou the 



cultivation of the peach tree in some j)arts ot the 



country. They not only drink the nectar and ex- 



tract the pollen of the flower, but they appropri- sibilities and our sense of justice 



ate the peach itself. We have seen twenty or | We say that insects have so multiplied, that we 



thirty bees devour a peach in half an hour ; that 



is, they carried the juices of it to their cells, f he 



humming bird alone can reach the bottom of the 

 nectary of the honey-suckle, but even here the 

 instinct of the bee is seen. The small birds, such 

 as the wren, make an incision on the outside, near 

 the bottom of the flower, and extract a part of the 

 juices. The bee takes advantage of this opening 

 and avails itself of what is left. 



The scent of the bees is so acute, that every 

 flower which has a powerful odor can be discov- 

 ered by them at a great distance. Strawberry 

 blossom.s, mignonette, wild and garden thyme, 

 herbs of all kinds, ajiple, plum, cherry, and above 

 all, raspberry blossoms and white clover are deli- 

 cious food for them, and a thriving orchard, gar- 

 den, and apiary fitly go together. 



But as the bee seeks only its own gratification 

 in procuring honey and in regulating its house- 

 hold, and as, according to the old proverb, what is 

 one man's meat is another's poison, it sometimes 

 carries honey to iis cell, which is prejudicial to us. 

 Dr. Barton, in the fifth volume of the American 

 Philosophical Transactions, speaks of several plants 

 that yield a poisonous syrup, of which the bees 

 jiartake without injury, but which has been fatal 

 to man. He has enumerated some of these plants, 

 which ought to be destroyed wheieTer they are 

 seen ;— namely, dwarf laurel, great laurel, kal- 

 uiia latifolia, broad-leaved inoorwort, Pennsylvania 

 mountain laurel, wild honey-suckle, (the bees as 

 we have observed cannot get much of this) and 

 the stramonium or Jamestown weed ; which lust 

 we should wish to see completely eradicated, as 

 independently of the poison, extracted from its 



can neither raise grain for our canle, nor fruit for 

 ourselves. "Keep the birds near you," say the 

 philosophers — "quit the cruel practice of shooting 

 the harmless songsters of the grove, and you will 

 not only be rewarded by seeing that insects de- 

 crease, but you will be charmed by their melody." 

 But then, we say in answer that the birds do not 

 discriminate ; that they prefer bees to every other 

 insect, and therefore tlie birds must die. And in 

 reality we must make war upon those birds, that 

 show the greatest fondness for our little friends. 

 Let us, at least, show our sense of the value of 



pleasure of social intercourse to the profits which 

 result from intellectual acquisitions, seem to be at- 

 tracting a large share of public attention. We are 

 happy to perceive this, and at all times willing to 

 devote our pen and paper to so important an ob- 

 ject. It* has been well suggested in several of 

 the newspapers in this City, and Conmionwcalth, 



to ourselves. that the institutions, proposed under the name of 



American Lyceums, might well be recommended 

 ill Thanksgiving discourses, and the evening of 

 that day be laudably and usefiiUy employed in or- 

 ganizing such associations for mental improve- 

 ment. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



BOSTON, FRIDAY, NOV. 21, 1828. 



INSECT ON FRUIT TREES. 



A correspondent, with the signature " M." in a 



communication, dated Wrightsville, York county. 



Pennsylvania, gives an account of an insect and its 



these, by keeping their enemies away, at any rate i ravages, as follows :— ^" The first appearance of the 



from their very doors. Let us lessen the chance 

 of their encountering them abroad, by planting 

 the favorite food of the bees as near the apiary as 

 possible ; and also lessen the chance of their be- 

 ing drowned when driven by high winds, as they 

 stoop to drink, by giving them running streams 

 near to their hives. * » * » 



In the hive of a new swarm, during the months 

 of July and August, there are fewer small bees, 

 than in one that has been tenanted for four or five 

 years. The bee, like all other insects, spins itself 

 a covering before it becomes a fly. When it em 



insect, which I noticed was on a carthouse apple 

 tree, in the spring or summer of 1827. The ap- 

 pearance to me resembled the blossoms of Timothy 

 or some small grass, shaken on the trunk of the 

 tree, when wet with dew, and remaining on it. — 

 After which they appeared to increase in size to 

 about the bigness of shot No. 8, cut in two, and a 

 little lengthened ; and formed a cover, adhtsring to 

 the bark, under which the insect, whatever it may 

 be, was found. On rubbing them with the finger 

 nail or point of a knife, there seemed to remain a 

 liquid, darker colored than venous blood. They 



erges with wings from its cell, several older bees stick very tight, having resisted, in a great ineas- 

 approach it, feed it v.'ith the contents of their sto- ure, my attempts to rub them off on a damp day, 

 raachs, and then clean out the cell and deposit in with a stiff" hand-scrubbing brush. Their progress 

 it fresh honey. This is their constant practice ; appears to be fi-om at or near the ground, into 

 and the bee that is just born, as soon as it has the branches, when the stock or stem is free from 

 been fed and has stretched its wings, flies oflf to them, but the bark is left rough and cracked iu 

 a flower, and commences its labors. But although j many places, and I have observed streaks on it, 

 the bees clean out the cell the moment a young ' resembling a place over which a dark colored li- 

 bee is born, yet they either find no inconvenience i quor had flowed. While on the trunk (although 

 from that part of the film, which the young bee at first round and smooth) a raised and depressed 

 "eaves at the bottom of the cell, (and which is of: muscular appearance is produced, which is often 



flowers, and from its seeds which are otten eaten | _^ silky nature,) or they are umable to detach it. I found on our black hawthorn, and admired in 

 v„r «i,;wiron it U tlip uL'lipst weed that grows, and I , •' ._,•; ., „ ._ _. __ , i -. . __ . ~,_ _ _ ._,•_, , /- . 



by children, it is the ugliest weed that grows, 

 lias the most ofi'en.sive odor. 



The poets, always exalting and magnifying the 

 subjects that they touch, have contributed, per- 

 haps, tnorc than any other set of writers to mis- 



lead our judgment. They endow the bee with , yf\^\f.[y there is a great number, are never of the 

 memory, and Rogers thinks that it finds its way U^j] ^j^p of those that have had more room. Even 



In consequence of this the cell is not so deep, canes of that wood. The tree on which I first 

 and as the same circumstances occur perpetually, ' discovered it does not appear to have increased 

 brood alternating with honey, the cells become in size since first planted, and I think will not live 

 every year visibly smaller ; and, consequently, | another season. It was from a nursery in Lan- 

 those bees that are bred in these small cells, of caster county, Pennsylvania. 



I afterwards found the insect, very injurious on 



to the hive by this faculty alone. Nor is it only 

 with regard to the bee, that poets, the worst en- 

 tomologists in the world liave lead us astray. 

 Cowper says, 



" 1 would noi enter on my lift nf friends 



Thou'^ii grac'tl with polish'd manners and fine sense, 



. . — — ihe man 



the queen eggs, which we say are often deposited 



the summer pearmain, summer bough, and yellow 

 harvest, obtained from Burlington, N. J. growing 



in the cells of neuters, and have afterwards larger j on the opposite side of the orchard, but on the 



Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm.' 



By ivorm, we wonder if he included the grub 

 worm. Alas ! little did that amiable man think of, 

 the mischief that would ensue from this seusibihty j 

 and tenderness towards insects, lie thought that 

 when nature created them, and designed them an 

 abode, that it was a species of cruelty to hunt or 

 barm them, when nut actually crawling "in the 

 alcove, the chamber, or refectory." But the harm 

 that the few do, which so inadvertently approach 

 our dwellings, is insignificant when compared to 

 tlie ravages of every kind of insect excepting the 



cells attached to the first, never produce so large 

 a queen bee, as if the cell had been of the proper 

 dimensions at first. Thus we see that (lie con- 

 traction of the cell may diminish the size of a bee, 

 even to the extinction of life, just as the contrac- 

 tion of a Chinese shoe reduces the foot even 

 to uselessness ; but in neither case will a single 

 [.'• new organ be taken from or added to the bee, or 

 a single toe be taken from or added to the foot, 

 whether the cell or shoe be larger or smaller. 

 (To be concluded in our next.) 



AMERICAN LYCEUM. 



These scientific institutions, so well calculated 

 to accelerate the march of mind by adding the 



* Other insects, however, beside the bee are very useful to 

 man. Among the number are the Cochineal insect, the fly 

 which gives birth to the gall-nut, the silk worm, fcc. &e. 



-Eu. 



summer rose, (from Burlington) growing with the 

 pearmain, &c. I found none of it. The juicy bite 

 and rambo are badly affected with it, as also 

 the Newton pippin ; but the Bellefleur, Vandeveer, 

 and Winter sweet Paradise are nearly clear of it. 

 I have seen a little of it on some pear trees obtain- 

 ed from Mr. Prince, of Long Island, last spring. 

 Last summer, whilst looking at one of the Jersey 

 trees, which was afl'ecled with it, I discovered a 

 dark colored insect on the body of the tree about 

 the size and shape of a small grain of coffee, with 

 a bristly coat, and no wings, (at least I saw none) 

 and slothful in its movement, which I killed. I 

 then on the same tree, found two more, and on 

 another .ift'ected tree near it two others. Can this 

 be the insect which deposits the eggs? 

 I Last summer 1 washed the trees affected, with 

 corrosive subUinate, about four times the strength 



