Vol. XII. 



AUG. 15, 1884. 



No. 16. 



TERMS: «I.OOPEBANNUM, IN ADVANCE;! 77»o//Tf 7> ZV O Zl /7/7 TTI 1X7^ f v^'"S? *? '^'*^®^''"*cP°f '"'f ^' •'!PL''fhf 



2 Copies for 81. 90; 3 for $2. 76; 5 for S4. 00; \ JllStCiOilS tl&Ci 171 lO/ O. IthanOOcts. each. Sent postpaid, in the 



lX!TidUi!-^^'^u^fX^r^^e \ -B..s„K. s.Mi-MONxn.y b. { ^rifs Sfth^^&^n1^|V J^afu'^^^ 



^o'^o'j;^ j:S?T^oKFlc'r "^^ ^'' '" '" ""'J A. I. KOOT, MEDIXA, OHIO. [fh^^r/.u^itcpe^yelreTtra"'""" "' 



THE APHIDES ON THE MAPLE 

 LEAVES, ETC. 



PHOF. COOK'S REPLY TO FHIEND B'KADENBITKG S 

 AKTICLE ON PAGE 524, LAST ISSUE. 



I and not the aphides, that furnished the 



sweet secretion, and this illustrates how 



easily we may be misled in drawing conclu- 



1 sions', especially when we are in a Held 



1 where Ave are comparatiyely unacquainted. 



HE t;aiis which A. A. Fradenburg finds on the I May I not suggest, however, that the maple 



soft-maple leaves, upper surface, are caused seeins unusually full of saccharine matter 



by mites {Phytopus ijuadripo^). These mites this present season, and that, theretore, it is 



are very abnormal, or non - typical. Most exuded by different kinds ot insects that 



adult mites have eight legs, while these have ; feed on the foliage ? A few days ago "l 



passing an osage-orange hedge. I beared a 

 loud hunmiing. and investigation showed 

 multitudes of l)lue bugs, almost the size and 

 shape of common buckwheat, which were 

 feeding on the rank foliage, and the bees 

 were chasing them about for the coveted 

 sweets. It seems to me this is a season of 

 sweetness, although some of the sweetness 

 is a little suspicious. 



»hilc these have 

 but four. Their irritation causes a gall to form on 

 the upper side of the leaf. Mr. F. says he found 120 

 galls on a single leaf. It is not uncommon to find 

 even a greater number. I think over :300 have been 

 noticed. The elongated mites appearing like minute 

 white specks are within the gall, where they find a 

 sheltering home and toothsome food at the same 

 time. I believe it was Coleridge who was so fond of 

 pudding, or sweet cake, and that one of his remark- 

 able dreams was that he had a house of it which he 

 was forced to eat out of. These mites are not un- 

 like the great poet. The scales under the leaves ai-e 

 the young bark lice, recently described and figured 

 by me in Gleanings, page 438. The sweet is doubt- 

 less from the bark lice, though there may be aph- 

 ides or plant lice which add to the nectar. I have 

 recently received white clover from Illinois, which 

 was covered with such aphides. This clover was 

 fairly dripping with this secretion. 



This bark-louse nectar is very peculiar in its fla- 

 vor, and is very deleterious to the honey. Hereaft- 

 er we must be on the lookout, and extract this, if 

 present, at the dawn of the white-clover season. 

 A. J. Cook. 

 Ag. College, Lansing, Mich., July, 1884 



FROM THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF 

 CALIFORNIA. 



KEPOKT FHOM ONE OF OUR A B C SCHOLARS. 



M 



K. ROOT:— Thinking that a few lines Iroiii 

 one of your ABC students from the far-oH' 

 northeast corner of California would not be 

 amiss, I will give you a short report of Mr. 

 TithiringtonV ami my progress in apicul- 



lis season. 



We connnenced this spring with 50 colonics in box 

 hives; drove a hu-ge i)ortion into tho SiniBljcity 

 hives that we got from you, n\ul we increased to 'JO 

 by artificial and natural swarming. We have 10 



.^. ^ ^, - - . _ in Simplicity lilvos; and 20, for the want of the Sim- 



Antl 80 It transpires, if 1 gather correctly I pliolty, are yet in boxeg. We are now in the midst 

 from the above, that it was tlie bai'k lice. ' of our honey-harvegt, and it bids fair, consi<1ering 



