1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



877 



than the longitudinal. Until recently I believed 

 the bees purposely lengthened the brood-cells in 

 old combs, to compensate for the exuvial shorten- 

 ing at the base. That conclusion I find to be er- 

 roneous. The true cause is in capping the brood; 

 the cap sheet covers the entire surface of the 

 combs; and when the young bees cut the caps off, 

 that portion over the cell wall is left, thus length- 

 ening the cells out about as much as it is filled up 

 at the base; but if the combs are so close together 

 that only a bee-space remains, they must either 

 leave their babies bareheaded, or cap from the in- 

 ner edge of the cell, in which case the cells would 

 become permanently shortened, and they use them 

 for store combs, mostly pollen, and raise brood in 

 the outside combs. I have seen two or three combs 

 thus used for stores in the center of a ten-frame 

 hive, while brood was raised on the outside of the 

 outer combs. 



THE FRUITS OF RELIGION. 



On page 614, Gleanings, Aug. 1, 1888, friend Bur- 

 gess says: "I used to be religious in bygone days. 

 I do not mean to be understood to be opposed to re- 

 ligion, only the superstitious part of it. I was, in- 

 deed, very superstitious. I regard the morality of 

 religion the redeeming quality." Friend Burgess, 

 the religion of Jesus Christ has no superstition 

 in it, however superstitious some of its professors 

 may be. Morality is some of the fruit and foliage 

 of the tree of life, springing up in the heart of the 

 believer in the union of the soul with Jesus Christ 

 through the redeeming and cleansing power of his 

 blood. False religions have nothing but their mor- 

 al phase to commend them, while the religion of 

 Jesus embraces morality with every other virtue of 

 this life, even to loving our enemies and eternal 

 life and happiness in the world to come. Friend B., 

 in the midst of your most happy moments out of 

 Christ, just look seriously into your heart and ask 

 yourself, "Am I happy?" Is there no unsatisfied 

 longing? I have, perhaps, had as much earthly 

 pleasure as falls to the lot of average mortals; but 

 of happiness I knew only the name until I found it 

 In the love of Jesus. I have had more complete 

 happiness in one short hour of sweet communion 

 with my Savior than all the " so-called " pleasure 

 this world ever afforded me when Jesus was not 

 first. Tongue can not express, neither hath it en- 

 tered into the heart of man to conceive of the 

 ocean of happiness that bathes the soul of the be- 

 liever, in close communion with our dear Savior. 

 Oh that all would take of the water of life freely! 



E. S. Arwine. 



Tulare City, Cal., Sept. 25, 1888. 



Friend A., your points are good. Some 

 of them, at least, I think are partially cor- 

 rect ; but on other points I should want to 

 make some further extended observations 

 before I could agree with you. I have seen 

 crippled bees ; but where I have seen them 1 

 can hardly think it was caused by the brood- 

 combs being too old, but, rather, on account 

 of the depredations of very small moth 

 worms. These moth could be detected only 

 by pulling the comb to pieces, and examin- 

 ing it near the base of the cells. I have 

 never seen small bees, that I know of, that 

 I had reason to think were caused by the 

 combs being too old. I have, however, oft- 

 en found pieces of brood-comb in transfer- 

 ring, that I deemed were so heavy and so 



thick as to be unprofitable, and I do think I 

 have seen combs used by the bees only for 

 store-combs and pollen, principally the lat- 

 ter, as you state it. — The religion of Christ 

 Jesus puts down self and exalts the Crea- 

 tor, in a way that nothing else does in this 

 wide universe that I know of. 



BAKK OR SCALE LICE, AGAIN. 



PROF. COOK GIVES US SOME ADDITIONAL FACTS IN 

 REGARD TO THEM. 



lows: 



OW good it would be if only bad pennies re- 

 turned ! But that is far from being the case, 

 for bad insects are ever and anon doing the 

 same thing. Mr. T. J. Anderson, Joseph's 

 Mills, W. Va., writes me in substance as fol- 

 ' I send you a short section from the twig of 

 a poplar (tulip) tree, on which you will find some in- 

 sects, strange and new to me. The tree to which 

 my attention was cal'ed by the hum of bees is liter- 

 ally covered in many places by these insects. 

 Please give name and probabilities through Glean- 

 ings. I am fearful that the trees are doomed. Will 

 you be so kind as to write me at once, personally, 

 as I wish to know if the trees attacked should be 

 destroyed?" This matter, though well written up a 

 few years ago, is one sure to be of recurring inter- 

 est, over and over, as the years go by. Thus I deem 

 it important to write the subject up quite fully. 

 Let me say that this insect is fully described with 

 illustrations in my " Bee-Keeper's Guide." 



LECANIUM TI'LIPIFKK A— NATURAL SIZE. 



This insect is Lecanmm tuUpiferce, and the large 

 scales (see figure) sent by Mr. Anderson are the 

 dead remains of the mature louse. Not long before 

 Mr. A. sent the specimen of twig, which, though 

 only two and one-half inches long, and about the 

 size of a common lead-pencil, has thirty full-formed 

 scales on it, each scale covered hundreds of eggs. 

 These eggs had hatched when the specimen reach- 

 ed here; and the cotton inclosing the twig, the box, 

 and the inclosing paper were all covered by the thou- 

 sands with little hungry oval lice, the form of which 

 is well shown in the " Bee-Keeper's Guide," and in 

 my book, " Maple Sugar and the Sugar-Bush," p. 18. 

 Had the twig been left on the tree, the wee young 

 lice would have exercised the right of " squatter sov- 

 ereignty," and each become a homesteader, settling 

 on a small area of the leaf. These scale lice belong 

 to the true bugs, and, though so small, each is armed 

 or equipped with an effective suction-pump, its slen- 

 der beak. This it inserts in the tissue of the leaf, 

 and then it commences to suck the sap and life 

 from the tree. Though each one is so small, yet 

 from the millions of sappers, and their constant 

 pumping, the tree soon commences to languish, 

 and, unless relief comes, will die in about three 

 years. Just before the autumn winds carry the 

 leaves to the ground, the now partly grown lice mi- 

 grate to the tender twigs, and once more anchor by 



