678 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



found on the grounds, aside from bee culture, 

 it seems to us it will pay most of the bee- 

 men of Ohio, if not adjoining States, to be 

 prepared to be on hand during the three 

 days mentioned above. 



THE W^ALKING STICK. 



MIMICKKy IN NATURE. 



R. F. A. GEMMILL, Stratford, Ontario, sends 

 an insect with the question: 

 "Dear Pro/esso?;— What is it? I found it in 

 the bush." 



Talie a gray stick, put four long stick-like 

 legs on it, append two long antenna?, some eyes and 

 jaws, and you have his honor, the walking stick; 

 or, if you wish a more dignified name, here you 

 have it : Diapheromeia femorata. The walking 

 sticks live in the forest, and eat vegetation. They 

 illustrate mimickrv excellently well. In childhood 

 they are green, and always rest on the green leaves. 

 With age they become gray, when they are found 

 adhering to the twigs, though they look so like the 

 twigs on which they rest that usually they are not 

 found These insects drop their large eggs from 

 trees in autumn, and are so thick at times that the 

 falling of the eggs reminds one of the patter of 

 raindrops on the dry leaves. The egg has a curious 

 lid which is pushed open by the young when it is 

 ready to slip out into the world. 



This walking stick belongs to the same order as 

 the "'praying mantis," which it resembles some- 

 what. The mantis I have illustrated and described 

 in Bee-Keeper's Guide, as it is an enemy of our 

 bees. A.J.Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



^ I ^ 



A LITTLE GROAATL. 



ANSWERING QUESTIONS OVER AND OVER AGAIN, 

 THAT HAVE ALREADY BEEN ANSWERED 

 THROUGH .JOURNALS AND TEXT- 

 BOOKS. 



^^% EING tired and somewhat worn out to-day, I 

 Er feel like talking a little plainly if not cross- 

 p^ ly to those of our brethren to whom it may 

 ■*^ apply. I am not always cross and fretful, 

 for even the worst of us are said to have our 

 good points, so I may not suppose I am an excep- 

 tion to the general rule; but a strain upon me, 

 along the line of answering questions for years, 

 has at last decided me to speak out what is in my 

 heart, about something which I think ought not so to 

 be. So far, I believe, I have answered every ques- 

 tion ever asked me, no matter how many times I 

 had answered it privately or publicly before, nor 

 whether I considered it of importance or not; 

 neither have I refused to do the best I could for the 

 asker, even if he did forget to put in any stamps 

 for reply, and mixed the questions up with a host 

 of other matter, so that I had to read over from one 

 to four, and sometimes ten sheets of closely writ- 

 ten matter to pick out these questions. Now, my 

 growl is to be in the shape of a little instruction to 

 those who ask questions of those who correspond 

 for GLKANiN(iS and the other bee-papers, to see 

 if a different state of affairs can not be brought 

 about. In the first place, dear reader, try to re- 

 member what you read, and have some means of 

 referring to the articles you wish, or think you 

 may wish to know more about in the future— 



a reference-book, such as I have described in 

 G1..EANINGS, being as convenient as any thing I 

 know of for this purpose, by the use of which I can 

 turn to any article written during the last five 

 years which I thought might be of use to me. By 

 this means you can find the most of what you want 

 to know in a moment or two, instead of writing a 

 long letter to some one, consuming your time and 

 bothering the one you write to. 



Again, an article on any subject partly or wholly 

 exhausts the subject on which it is written, while 

 at best you can expect to get only very short re- 

 plies to your questions when answered privately. 

 I have had questions enough asked in one letter, 

 which, if answered as fully as I write an article for 

 these pages, would amount to more than all I write 

 for Gleanings in one year; yet the asker wished 

 me to answer every question explicitly and plainly. 

 Secondly, if you are the one to be benefited, don't 

 ask the "beneflter" to pay the expense of benefit- 

 ing you; or, in other words, if you are to be benefit- 

 ed, don't fail to put in postage-stamps enough to 

 make good the actual outlay that the answerer 

 must be to by way of postage and stationery. This 

 may seem to be a small matter to you; but when 

 your letter, and twenty others, reach some tired 

 person on a sultry evening, all containing no 

 stamps, and he has to sit up long after the family 

 are in bed, trying to please you by answering them, 

 he will be more of a saint than most of us are if he 

 does not feel a little ugly when he comes to stamp 

 all of those envelopes which he has furnished, at 

 the midnight hour. Is it not enough that he spends 

 his time for you— time when nature requires that 

 he be in bed— without having to foot the bill of the 

 whole thing? Keeping a little track of this matter 

 for the past five years, I find that, on an average, 

 about one in five put in a stamp for a reply, while 

 one out of fifty will put in two stamps, with an ex- 

 ceptional one in about 300 who will put in 10 to 25 

 cents. Nearly all of these questions tell of how 

 much good the writer's articles have done them, 

 which, of course, pleases the one receiving such 

 letters; for who does not like to know that they are 

 of some use in the world? But this will hardly pay 

 the bill if it happens to come at a time when the 

 last sixpence has been used to pay postage on 

 somebody's letter before it; and if you have receiv- 

 ed benefit free from the writer befoi-e, there is on 

 you a special obligation to make good to him the 

 postage on the benefit you now expect to receive. 



What has compelled me to write on this postage 

 matter is, that of late I have received several let- 

 ters asking questions, with no stamp inclosed, nor 

 any thing of the kind, asking me not to reply by 

 postal card, for, said they, we do not wish the in- 

 structions given us read by the postmaster or 

 others about us. This " riled " me, for such selfish- 

 ness is in no way excusable. 



Thirdly, there is one way of asking questions 

 which I am always pleased to reply to. Bearing in 

 mind the point of asking no question that you can 

 readily find printed information about, and inclos- 

 ing postage for the reply, put your questions on a 

 separate sheet of paper, numbering them and leav- 

 ing space immediately under each for the reply, 

 the space being governed by the length of the re- 

 ply you think will be necessary to be given. In 

 this way you have your question and reply all to- 

 gether, which is much more convenient for you, 

 and saves the writer from writing out your ques- 



