1S91 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



37fi 



ing or jarring of the hivf. Anj" wood-cornered 

 frame will not do this here, as tliey are fastened 

 with propolis to stay: so I am one more on the 

 side of metal corners and swinging (?) frames. 

 n. P. Langdox. 

 East Constable. N. Y.. Mar. 2:i 



Heads of Grain 



FROM DIFFERENT FIELDS. 



BLISTER-BEETLES OX BEES. 



Friend Root: — Th(> crumbled scrap of paper 

 inclosed in this letter contains a bee which is 

 nearly covei-ed with lice, which arc the most 

 disagreeable-looking insects that we ever saw. 

 They are about an eighth of an inch long, and 

 similar in color to llie wire-woi-m. 



Viola. Idaho. April T. E. P. Pai-mek. 



[We sent the above to Prof. Cook, who re- 

 plies:] 



As I state in the last edition of the Bee-keep- 

 er's Guide, where I illustrate blister-beetle par- 

 asites of bees. I have received such bee-enemies 

 from California and New York; now they come 

 from Viola. Idaho. These are the larva? of our 

 meloe. or blister beetles. The larv;e of the 

 blister-beetles are strangely interesting in that 

 they pass through several forms. The first 

 form is long. flat, with a broad head and thorax, 

 long legs, and two long stylets projecting from 

 the end of the body. This is the stage in which 

 they fasten to and feed on bees. I find that 

 there were fourteen of these little pests attach- 

 ed to the bee sent by Mr. Palmer. I hope I found 

 them all. There is a good figure of these larval 

 parasites in my Manual. I should like Mr. 

 Palmer to send me more infested bees, should 

 he find any. I shall take pleasure in describ- 

 ing and naming any insects sent to me. and es- 

 pecially of insects working on bees. 



Ag'l "College. Mich.. .\pr. 18. A. J. Cook. 



BEES AT WORK OX PEAVIXES. 



Last August I had a pea-patch about half a 

 mile from my bees — about an acre. The bees 

 made a continuous buzz, at work on them from 

 early morn till late in the evening, assisted by 

 the wasps and yellow-jackets. At the same 

 time, I had a lot of Japanese buckwheat (very 

 fine) of about l^.j acres close to the bees, and 

 there were always twice as many of my bees to 

 the rod on an acre on the peas as on the buck- 

 wheat. I have noticed for years that bees do 

 all their work on buckwheat in the morning. 

 The bees, etc., were at work on the fruit-stem 

 of the peavine about the time the peas were 

 large enough to be gathered to eat; and in 

 many cases every pea had been gathered for a 

 good' many days". They were confined to the 

 end of the fruit-stalk, just where the peas were 

 or had been pulled from. There were no lice nor 

 any thing cf the kind that could be seen with 

 the naked eye. In August the peas and buck- 

 wheat were about all the bee forage there was. 



Design. Va. R. Jeff. Joxes. 



[Friend J., this only gives us another illustra- 

 tion of the fact that almost any plant may at 

 times yield honey: and, furthermore, that, by 

 some freak of nature, the plants may at times 

 secrete nectar when they are not in bloom. I 

 suppose the sweet substance you mention oozed 

 from the stem or broken vines after the peas 

 were picked. We have had some reports to the 

 effect that wlieat and other grains, when cut 

 for fodder, at a particular time or stage of 

 growth, and during some seasons, secrete a 



large quantity of a sweet substance in the stub- 

 ble. In sucli cases, probably the starchy mat- 

 ter from the young growing plant is converted 

 into sugar.] 



TAX bees PIXCTUKE GRAI'ES OR IIULI, AVIIEAT? 



While perusing your valuable journal, I have 

 been brought to believe that bees can not punc- 

 ture fruit: but. under certain conditions of the 

 weather, grapes will crack, and the bees will 

 then be eager to save the wasting sweet. In a 

 late issue 1 learn that they can hull and pow- 

 der a bushel of wheat in their leisure moments. 

 Further, friend Root, when high authority ad- 

 mits it may be true, or it is possible for them to 

 do so, I miist confess I do not feel safe in telling 

 my neighbors that bees do not bite. 



JBelle Vernon. Pa., March 20. A. B. Baird. 



[Friend B.. I confess that I thougiit it a little 

 strange that bees could eat wheat: but since 

 then friend France has suggested that it was 

 mice and not the bees.] 



WHEX IT DOES AXD W HEX IT DOES XOT PAY 



TO USE FVEL SHEJ:TS OF FOUXDATIOX 



IX THE SEfTIOXS. 



In a rush of honey I find the larger pieces I 

 use in the sections the better, as the bees can 

 not then build cotiib nearly as fast as they 

 gather honey, build their combs thin as possi- 

 ble and seal them as thin as wafers: but when 

 honey comes in quite slowly they have a super- 

 abundance of wax. leave the foundation un- 

 drawn, in the shape of the renowned objection- 

 able '■ fish-bone." build their combs without 

 stint, and seal them much heavier. Where the 

 season is very short, but the flow, while it lasts, 

 heavy, fill the boxes with full sheets. Where 

 the flow is moderate and the season long, a nar- 

 row starter will be found to be of fully as much 

 value as the full sheets, and without the fish- 

 bone. W. W. Ca.se. 

 • Baptistown. N. J.. Apr. 1. 



SUGAR A COMPARATIVELY RECENT IXVEXTIOX. 



On p. 222. foot-notes to E. T. Flanagan's arti- 

 cle, you say. '"The Scriptures lay very much 

 more stress upon milk and honey than on any 

 other kind of sweet."" Sugar, as" an article of 

 commerce, has been known but four or five 

 hundred years, if I am rightly informed. Honey 

 is supposed to be the most ancient sweet known 

 to the human race. J. L. Hubbard. 



Walpole. N. H.. April (5. 



[No doubt you are right, friend IL: but just 

 think what progress we have made in these 

 times of civilization (?) — sugar unknown 500 

 years ago. and now it is only 5 cts. a pound for 

 the best granulated. By the way. friend H.. 

 are we to understand that the limited quantity 

 of honey produced in olden times was really all 

 the sweetening thev liad ? And. by the way, is 

 it not possible that, if we were rediiced to some- 

 thing liki- the same conditions, we might live 

 to a good old age. as they did in early Bible 

 times ? Who knows ?] 



THE FALLACY OF CHILLED BROOD DEVELOP- 

 IXG IXTO FOUL BROOD. 



One of the results of non-protection in the 

 spring is chilled and dead brood, liable to end 

 in foul brood. So says Allen Pringle. and so 

 say a great many other writers on bees. Now. 

 is it a fact that foitl brood can be started in 

 that way? I for one don"t believe it. I have 

 been a bee-keeper all my life, and am now 67.. 

 I always wintered outdoors, and have never 

 seen a case of foul brood yet. I am quite sure 

 that I have had iiundreds of cases of chilled 



