684 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Sept. 



down a bee-tree and got the honey, which Indians 

 are very fond of. The Creek nation gave them 

 forty acres of land, which is cultivated to some ex- 

 tent in garden and orchard, and, thinking that 

 bees would be a nice thing for them to have, wrote 

 to Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton. She informed her that 

 she would send a colony for twenty dollars. This 

 would amount to quite a sum when freight orex- 

 prossage would be paid from Maine to the Indian 

 Territory. She said that, if the children could 

 learn bee-keeping, it might brighten their lives 

 somewhat when they returned to their own homes, 

 and she is anxious to have bees at the mission. 



I told her that I thought Mrs. Axtell made a pres- 

 ent of quite a number of colonies to some mission 

 in that Territory, and it would be interesting to 

 know the result. This lady formerly lived in Peo- 

 ria, and was chosen for this work on account of 

 her practical ability to do housework, cut and 

 make garments, as well as being a good teacher 

 and musician. I told her that I would ask you to 

 send her Gleanings, and that she must make in- 

 quiries of the people about bees, what uses they 

 make of honey and wax, and tell us about it. Her 

 address is Miss Ada J. Bonham, Indian University, 

 Bacone, Indian Territory. These children are 

 taught the English language, and an avenue for 

 good might be opened up through the reading of 

 your publications. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111., Aug. 29, 1888. 



We owe you a vote of thanks, Mrs. H., 

 and we will with pleasure send Gleanings, 

 free of charge, to the address you give, as 

 long as they will read it. And, by the way, 

 it occurs to me that the Indians, above all 

 other races, should take naturally to and be- 

 come proficient in bee culture. If any other 

 friends know of mission workers among the 

 Indians, or, in fact, anywhere else in the 

 wide world where Gleanings would be 

 prized, we should be glad to send it free of 

 charge ; that is, free of charge to the mis- 

 sionary or teacher of any mission school, 

 with the understanding that it is to be used 

 as an aid in teaching modern bee culture. 



MUD--WASPS. 



SOME WONDERFUL, INSTINCTS. 



R. F. A. GEMMILL, Stratford, Ontario, Cana- 

 da, found some mud cells in an old bee- 

 hive. He thinks the cells are different, as 

 some contain larvas and some spiders. He 

 wishes me to describe them in Gleanings. 

 These are mud-wasps. They collect mud, build 

 cells, then catch and sting, not to death, but simply 

 to paralyze, spiders, which are placed in the cells. 

 Each spider receives a wasp-egg, and the cell is 

 sealed. Thus, if a cell is examined early, a spider 

 or other insect will be found; if later, a larval wasp 

 feeding on the spider; and if still later, the pupa, 

 or perhaps the fully developed wasp; later still, the 

 empty mud cells. It is a strange fact, that such 

 wasps often collect sjnders all of one species. 

 Such was the case with this one sent by Mr. G. 

 One of my students took this subject for special 

 study this summer; and he found that, in several 

 cases, the wasp peopled her cells with spiders— all 

 of the same species. Another interesting fact has 

 been reported, which I commented upon once be- 



fore in Gleanings: The male wasp is smaller than 

 the female, and so the mother-wasp puts more or 

 larger spiders into cells which receive eggs that are 

 to develop into females than into cells where the 

 unimpregnated egg is laid. Here, then, the wasp 

 not only voluntarily impregnates the egg, but she 

 thinks of it afterward, and varies her course ac- 

 cording to the needs of the ease. Who says that 

 insects do not think and reasonV A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



RAMBLE NO. 6. 



A HONEY-PEDDLER, AND HIS EXPERIENCE. 



Y cousin, with whom I passed the night, is a 

 box-hive bee-keeper with five swarms. He is 

 not an enthusiastic bee-keeper, and proba- 

 bly never will be, and will be content with 

 a tew swarms down by the garden wall 

 among the rank weeds. If space were not so pre- 

 cious in Gleanings we could moralize over the 

 free.and undisturbed lifelessnessof these bees. But 

 leaving our rigid Scotch Presbyterian cousin, I am 

 once more on the road. A prosperous farming 

 community is before me, and but few indications 

 of bee culture. I often see old box hives piled up 

 beside the fence, without occupants, and am men- 

 tally glad to see them so; for if bees can not be 

 managed according to improved plans, the hives 

 had better be empty or made into kindling-wood. 



The next bee-keeper I discovered was a son of 

 Crispin, a justice of the peace, and a member of the 

 Methodist church. This man was just starting in 

 the business, and was very sanguine iu view of the 

 future. He was just in the honey-moon of bee 

 culture, like all beginners, and in such a state it 

 would be cruelty to throw cold water upon their 

 hopes. It is far better to let them learn by experi- 

 ence that " all is not gold that glitters " in bee cul- 

 ture. 



Soon after leaving this bee-man I was so fortu- 

 nate as to run across the route of a honey-peddler. 

 As disposing of honey is the order of the hour, I 

 think the facts I gleaned will be of interest. Let 

 me introduce the reader to Mr. E. I. Welch, a dis- 

 poser of sweets. Mr. W. obtained his honey fi-om 

 an apiarist several miles from where I found him. 

 He started in the morning from the apiary, with 

 about 75 lbs. of comb honey and 300 lbs. of extract- 

 ed, in lai-ge cans, provided with large honey-gates 

 for quickly drawing off' into pails. The trip seldom 

 ran over two days, and oftener the return was 

 made the same day, and the sales were mostly 

 made to farmers on the vai-ious country roads run- 

 ning out not over twenty miles from the apiary. 

 When the peddler started out from the apiitry 

 the honey was weighed out to him, and a memoran- 

 dum made of it. When he returned, if any was left 

 it was weighed and deducted; then the cash was 

 handed over, and the peddler received 3.5 per cent 

 for his labor and the use of his horse. The peddler 

 furnished his own horse and wagon. Thus at the 

 end of every trip there was a settlement, and there 

 were no loose ends left to have a misunderstanding 

 about, which was a most satisfactory ariangement. 

 The honey was sold for from 10 to 30 cts., according 

 to the style and quality. While proceeding through 

 the country, and especially while upon a new route, 

 the peddler carried a small sample case, having two 



