1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



615 



tried to keep posted. My bee-keeping friends are 

 all enthusiastic over this section. 



Walter S. Pouder. 

 Groesbeck, O.. May 31, 1888. 



The projecting sides should be the same 

 width as the separators used— 3^ inches 

 wide. B is the separator. The sections, 

 A A, are brouglit together close to the sep- 

 arator, and hold it properly. 



Now, there are two or three important ad- 

 vantages in these sections, though they may 

 be overbalanced by the objections. These 

 advantages, as they occur to us, are (1) that 

 there are no projecting corners to hitch and 

 catch in putting in and taking out the super. 

 The beveled corners, as at C, make it possi- 

 ble for the projecting sides to slide by each 

 other without a hitch or catch. They do 

 not, therefore, require a case with adjusta- 

 ble sides. There is plenty of flnger-room to 

 grasp the sections. Should it stick on ac- 

 count of propolis in the crate, you can easily 

 grasp the corners and give it a pretty hard 

 pull without breaking. (2). The separator 

 will be held properly in position, providing 

 there is a support to hold it up to the proper 

 height at each end of tlie super used. (8). 

 We do not know from experience, but we 

 imagine it will be easier to scrape propolis 

 from them. (4). They are well adapted for 

 wide frames, either single or double tier. 

 (5). The bees can pass through the sections 

 from side to side, and yet there is no inter- 

 ference because of separators. 



In spite of these good features there are 

 some quite serious defects. A moment's re- 

 flection will convince you that it can not be 

 used in the T super, much less in the Hed- 

 don crate. These two kinds of crates, if 

 we are correct, are most in use by bee-keep- 

 ers throughout the country— that is, those 

 bee-keepers who do not make use of some 

 sort of wide frame. What we want, and 

 what we should like to have, is something 

 which can be adapted to sujiers that we 

 have already in use. But, you ask wliy it 

 can not be used in the T super. If you will 

 reflect a moment you will see that the up- 

 right of the T will necessarily close the 

 space C, leaving only the upper corner for 

 the bees to enter the section from the side. 

 The space Cis just ft in. high, and the upright 

 of the T tin is exactly ft in. high. (;-{). An- 

 other defect IS the expense of construction. 

 In talking with our foreman this morning, 

 we found that it would require almost an 

 entirely new set of machinery to make sec- 

 tions of this description. If you will imag- 

 ine that one of the sections, A A, is made 

 of one piece, and laid flat, just as you would 

 receive them boxed, you will see that there 

 will be first one little inset, ft inch wide ; 

 next an inset just exactly 5 inches wide ; 

 again, another inset 4t inches wide. You 

 see, the cutter-knives would have to be con- 

 structed of various widths; and not only 

 that, but have a width considerably beyond 

 any ordinary width. Four-piece sections 

 can be made on this plan, perhaps a little 

 cheaper. But even they would cost more 

 than the ordinary four - piece. If there 

 should ever be demand enough for them, 

 they could be constructed so as to be sold as 

 cheaply as common sections, and so the last 



objection would be obviated. If any one de- 

 sires to try a few, we would refer him to 

 friend Pouder, as above. We would say, 

 in this place, that friend Pouder has made a 

 good many valuable suggestions in apicul- 

 ture during the past few years, among 

 which we might mention his bee-trap, 

 which we illustrated on page l(i6, 1888, and 

 have since incorpoi ated in the A B C of Bee 

 Culture. 



THE GROUND-BEETLES. 



SHALL WE DESTROY THEM? 



R. LOUIS STEPHENS, Redstone, Pa., writes 

 me that, on June 11, he pulled up a plum- 

 sprout hard by his bee-hives, and found 

 under it a " bug " (beetle). " Please give 

 its name, and state in Gleanings if it had 

 any object in being so near the bee-hives." 



This insect, sent loose in a wooden box, came in a 

 somewhat ibroken condition. A little cotton, or 

 tissue paper in the box, would have prevented this, 

 and saved a most beautiful specimen from ruin. 

 This beetle— for it is a heetle, not a bug— is our 

 handsomest ground-beetle, and, indeed, one of the 

 most beautiful beetles found in ourcountry. It is as 

 handsome as the glittering insects of Brazil which 

 are set as gems to be worn as ornaments. This 

 beetle is known in science as CMJosomn scrutator. It 

 is fully one and one-fourth inches long; its wing- 

 coyers (elytra) are brilliant green, with depressed 

 rows of punctures, and margined with an elevated 

 border of shining crimson. The shield-like pro- 

 thorax just back of the head is rich blue, shining 

 with a metallic luster, and bordered with a depress- 

 ed brownish-yellow line, the outer raised margin 

 of which is also of the rich blue. The head, mouth- 

 parts, and antennfP are also blue, varied with the 

 same brownish yellow, and all shining with a bril- 

 liant luster. Beneath, this gorgeous beetle is varie- 

 gated with shining green, brown and blue. 



A near relative [Cahixoma calidum), a little smaller 

 and much more common, is black, dotted with rows 

 of copper-colored or steel-colored spots. 



These beetles are not only absolutely beautiful, 

 but, like all the great family to which they belong, 

 they are illustrations of handsome is that hand- 

 some does. They are predaceous, and destroy im- 

 mense numbers of cut-worms, white grubs, and 

 other subterranean insec*-pests. They do this both 

 while grubs— when they are black and armed with 

 strong jaws— and when mature. It is very interest- 

 ing to see the grubs of our calosoma oalidum attack 

 a huge cut-worm or white grub. At first its larger 

 victim rolls and tumbles it about as though it were 

 afoot-ball; but soon its endurance and grit assert 

 their superiority, and the cut-worm gives up, only 

 to be devoured by its little conqueror. 



This family of ground-beetles is a very large and 

 important one. The beetles range from minute 

 species to those the size of the one here described. 

 They are nearly all black, and are so common that 

 we can hardly turn over a log or stone in summer 

 without seeing one or more run away as they are 

 startled to see their very habitation from roof to 

 basement carried away. From their excessive 

 numbers we are sure that they must destroy an 

 enormous number of our insect-enemies; and with- 

 out them we should fdoubtlpss be at the mercy of 

 these same ubiquitous pests.cJt is more than like- 



