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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug 15. 



these they store the suing and paralyzed young. 

 Thus baby wasp has teudfi- spider or locust 

 steak as soon as it wakes to life. These wasps, 

 except that tliey sometimes capture bees, are 

 wholly our fiiends. They I'arely sting human 

 beings, if the latter will leave them unmolested. 

 I have had a tine pajx'r was])- nest close beside 

 my door all the sumuK^- through. I admired 

 the industry of Mrs. Wasp, and she surely had 

 nothing against me or mine, for she never 

 showed war or any thing but the. most kindly 

 spirit. Wasps like and act upon the tit-for- 

 lat rule. If struck they strike back: if hit on 

 the cheek, they turn nut the other, but the ab- 

 domen. And this wasp morality is that. I re- 

 gret to say. of many people. This species is 

 very near, and may be stizus grande. 



The fly seen going into the bee-hive is a rob- 

 ber fly, as Mr. Young thought, a species of 

 asilns. It is dark in color, with a snow-white 

 hand across the abdomen. The whole under 

 surface is white. These flics, like the wasps, 

 are very predaceous. and destroy many of our 

 foes. It is too bad that they will pounce upon 

 the useful honey-bee. Yet, as I have often 

 suggested, they do very much more good than 

 harm. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College. Mich. 



of my two lists; and between the hours of 5 and 

 7 A. M. we took !tO fine trout. We had other 

 bait, but as soon as the larva? gave out the flsh 

 refused the other bait. I would have giv«>n a 

 dollar then for a handful of drones. Trout re- 

 fuse the larvie. after the wings are formed. 



I save all my propolis, for it is more valuable 

 than wax. It is splendid for waxing thread for 

 sewing leatht^r. and it makes as good a varnish 

 as leaf shellac. Dissolve it in alcohol. Wood 

 alcohol is cheap and good. 



AltTHUR T. Goi>I)SBOKOUGH. 



Washington, D. C, June 8. 



[Friend (i.. your communication should cer- 

 tainly be a valuable one to trout-fishers if not 

 to bee-men. In the first volume of (ti.eaninos 

 published 18 years ago, the idea of using moth- 

 worm for baiting a hook was given: but your 

 suggestion that drone larvie. and the larvae 

 from the nests of hornets, is of value, is, so far 

 as I know. new. Will those of our readers who 

 are followers of our old friend Isaak Walton 

 test and report? By all means, let us make 

 use of the products of the hive. Will shoemak- 

 ers and liarness-makers please test propolis for 

 waxing thread, and report?] 



APPLAUSE AXD CKITICISM: WHY A SUBSCRIBEK 

 I.IKES <;i,EAMN(;s. 



Gleanings contains more information suited 

 to the masses than any other journal I have 

 yet seen. Prof. Cook's suggestion relative to 

 your editorial course is full of wisdom, and 

 should not be classed with "Nubbins," or. at 

 least, we Texans think so. It's really refresh- 

 ing ("an oasis in the desert") to find one who 

 is willing, when his faults are pointed out. to 

 publish them to the world. Really, brother 

 Root, do you not feel just a little bit lonesome 

 in the journalistic world ? The prevailing cus- 

 tom is to publish encomiums, and send criti- 

 cisms to the cruel waste-basket. But your 

 course, notwithstanding any thing that may 

 have been said, has endeared you to the readers 

 of Gleanings in this part of the world. Prof. 

 Cook's articles are more than worth the price 

 of Gleanings. The namos and habits of in- 

 sects and reptiles as given by him are very in- 

 teresting indeed. S. G. Christal. 



Stony, Tex.. July Ki. 



A USE ?FOK DRONE LARV,E AND PROPOLIS; 

 HOW TO CATCH TROUT. 



The following is a use for drone larvte and 

 moth-worms. I believe in making all the pro- 

 ducts of the bee-hive useful. Any one having a 

 choice lot of young chicks they wish to force 

 and make happy, ought to give them their 

 drone larva?. After cutting out the drone comb 

 I shove off the caps: and by tapping the under 

 side of the piece, the young drones easily drop 

 out. The hens will begin by eating, and show- 

 ing the chicks how to eat the white ones: but 

 after a while they will take them wlien they 

 are almost old enough to crawl out of their cells. 

 If there can be any thing more nutritious I 

 should like to find it." Moth-worms are also as 

 good. Both of them make the best conceivable 

 fish-bait. If you are near a trout stream or 

 lake, don't give it away, and your friends will 

 wonder why you are catching all the trout. 

 At Oakland, Md., boys spend their Saturdays 

 (and Sundays too) looking for hornets' nests. 

 and sell them for 50 cts. and §1.0() apiece. 

 In 1S88 a party of three fished in Browning's 

 Lake three days, without catching a trout. 

 My brother and myself arrived and found they 

 were not biting: but on the second day we were 

 able to procure a hornets' nist about thn size 



ORIGIN OF ALFALFA, OR LUCERNE. 



We clip the following from th(> Soiithcrn Cul- 

 Uvator and Dixie Farmer: 



I was recently on a tour in the West, and was 

 asked the question whether I could ascertain if 

 in any part of Alabama or Georgia an attempt 

 had ijeen made to raise alfalfa. This is also 

 sometimes called lucerne. As you are in con- 

 stant correspondence with the farming district, 

 I will appreciate receiving a reply. Vindex. 



Atlanta, Ga. 



The editor of the CultivaU)r gives the follow- 

 ing answer: 



Lucerne, or alfalfa, has been successfully 

 grown in the South for fifty or more years. The 

 writer's father cultivated it as far back as 1848, 

 and we know not how much earlier. Seed 

 were introduced from France, Italy, or Spain, 

 some time in the forties, or possibly earlier, un- 

 der the name of lucerne. Subsequently, some 

 years after the acquisition of California to this 

 Union, the same plant was introduced from 

 that State under its new name, alfalfa, into the 

 Western and Northern States, having originally 

 come into California from Chili, South America. 

 Hence its Spanish name. 



WHY THE SWARM ABSCONDED. 



I have something in regard to bees that the 

 best bee-man in these parts can not answer; 

 and if the whys and wherefores can be given, 

 I should like to have them given in Gleanings. 

 On the 11th of July. 20 minutes before 2 o'clock, 

 I was driving along the road and saw a large 

 swarm of bees hanging on a small tree at the 

 roadside. They looked so nice I wanted them 

 bad: but I dared not go back home after a hive, 

 so I thought of a neighbor who kept bees, so I 

 hurried and got a hive; and in just 30 minutes 

 I had them in it. At sundown I brought them 

 home and transferred them into oneof my hives 

 (I weighed the swarm, and had just 10 lbs. of 

 bees) with foundation and three frames of new 

 brood comb. At 2 o'clock Sunday they com- 

 menced to come out of that hive with a rush, 

 and nothing would make them cluster, and to 

 the woods they started. My boy followed them 

 half a mile, and then lost track of them in the 

 woods, and I bade them good-by and went into 

 the house disgusted. In not over 20 minutes I 

 looked out of the window at the hive, and I saw 

 the air full of bees, and out I went. They were 



