1892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



701 



wiu'n ilu' I'oast siMMiiod clear tlioy would (luii-k- 

 ly dart into tho hivo, soinctimt's ivtuniiiig in a 

 moment, and sometimes remaining inside for 

 several miiuites. Do yon think iteonld lie pos- 

 silile that they injnred the hees in the brood 

 form'.' Tiie paralvties look verv much like 

 half-lxH' and half-wasp. .Iohn T. Sii.kk. 



Herkley Spiings, \V. Va., Aug. 30. 



[No one .seems to know the cause of bee 

 paralysis. It is no doubt a germinal disease. 

 \Vlieii the eonditions are favoral)le the germs 

 lind lodgment, and grow. Perhaps this is all 

 we ean say of it until further investigation is 

 made. It is impossible that the black wasps 

 could have had any thing to do with the mat- 

 ter at ail. I'^xtreiues of temperature, cold or 

 heat, insutlicient nursing of the larv;e, poor 

 honey— all are liable to injure the brood; and 

 the result is more or less imperfect bees— bees 

 with defective wings, legs. etc. These, of 

 course, are carried away bv the other l)ees as 

 of no further use in the economy of the hive.] 



I.EVCOPHYI.LUM TKXANUM. 



Prof. Conk: — Inclosed you will find a sp(>cl- 

 men of a shrub that grows wild in this vicinity, 

 called by Mexicans " cenecia."" which name is 

 adopted by the Americans of this place, and by 

 this mail I send a package of the leaves. This 

 shrul) lilooms after every sea.sonable rain, the 

 year round, and at times bees literally swarm 

 on the tlowers. and at other times scarcely no- 

 tice them. The leaves have, by several families 

 here, been used for tea instead of the Chinese 

 article, and is said to havedisclosed a medicinal 

 quality in purifying the hlot>d and curing colds, 

 dyspepsia, and various disorders of the digestive 

 organs and nei'vous system. One of our neigh- 

 bors, wlio had for years been in ill healtli, has 

 been habitually chewing, consuming, and swal- 

 lowing small quantities of the leaf, and is now 

 strong and vigorous. I should be pleased if you 

 would give, through Gi.EAXiNfiS. the botanical 

 name of the shrub, and such characteristics as 

 you may be able to discover. 



F. Vandekvooijt. 



Carrizo Springs. Texas. Aug. 1.5. 



This plant is Leucophijllum Texaiium. It is 

 a species of the ScrophularUtceir. and so be- 

 longs to the figworts. That it secretes honey is 

 not to be wondered at when we nsmember how 

 profusely the common figwort of our own woods 

 secretes nectar. We may call this the Texas 

 figwort. The plant Is about as light-colored as 

 the white sage of California. It is a good thing 

 to get all these lioney-plantson record. It may 

 pay to try to grow this on(! north, and see what 

 it will do. It would equal some of our common 

 foliage plants in bf^anty. if it would grow here. 

 I see no reason whv it might not do well. 



A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College. Mich.. Aug. 22. 



the (Jironde, must hav<' a vote of thanks here- 

 with, and a share in the good success and hoped- 

 for arrival at Marseilles. exi)ected to take place 



August IS. I'll. .1. U.VI.DKNSI'KRGKK. 



Ah'xandria, Egypt, Aug. i;5. 



HKKS OF A NON-SWAKMING AND NOX-IION'KV - 



GATHERING TVl'E; THAT QUARTEIi-ACi:]; 



FARM. 



The more I read (ii,E.\NiNGs the better I like 

 it. I'm getting interested in tliat quarter-acre 

 farm. I think I will venture a few stei)S in that 

 direction next s|)riMg. I?ees in my vicinity have 

 been of the non-sw iirming typ(> and iion-honey- 

 gathering too, for that matter, for this season 

 there has been none to gather. But we are 

 lil<e the old banker, when told that the bank 

 had been robb<'d. He replied. " They got all 

 the money, but they left us the bank, and we 

 ought to be thankful forth t."' We have got 

 the be(>s. and we are very thankful for that. I 

 like Dr. Miller's Stray Straws; and if Rambler 

 doesn't get all the l)est of th<>m, we might bind 

 some golden sheaves. L. B. Wekb. 



Lynchburg. Va.. Aug. 29. 



.MK. BAI.DEXSPERGER ON THE ROUTE TO -MAR- 

 SEILLE.S. FRANCE. 



I am on board a French steamer, with .50 nu- 

 clei of F'alestine and Cyprian bees, Ijonnd for 

 the Marseilles bee-exhibition of October next. 

 The bees are j^acked in the ordinary way; that 

 is. frames fixed with distant racks, and cfivered 

 at the top of the hive with wire cloth. .Some of 

 the bees got through, and were flying as if they 

 were at home, without disturbing any of the 

 passengers. I was afraid the "* Palestines," with 

 their stinging prop'-nsities, would prove dan- 

 gerous; but some of theiu on 13 frames (10x12; 

 nave'come out by the hundreds. It amused the 

 captain to see me troubled about the masses of 

 bees. He tried to be kind, which was a great 

 consolation to me. The captain, Mr. Isnard. of 



THE PRAYING .MANTI.S. 



J. M. HaiTis. Cedarrown. Ga., sends me one 

 of our most curious insects. It is the " praying 

 mantis '" — MmitLs CaroUna — and is sometimes 

 called the " Devil's race- horse." For figure and 

 description, see my " Bee-keeper's Guide," page 

 427.. It is called " praying mantis " from its cu- 

 rious forelegs, which, from their peculiar atti- 

 tude, suggest that of supplication. They are 

 very predaceous, and often kill and eat bees; 

 indeed, they are said to eat each other up. The 

 male is smaller than the fi'male; and it is said 

 that he often is eaten by his spouse as the last 

 act of the nuptial ceremony. I think this insect 

 may be counted as a friend, as it destroys many 

 of our insect- foes. I do not think it kills bees 

 enough to change this verdict. 



WHY QUEENS .SOMETIMES BECOME BARREN. 



Miss (iertrude S. Luther, Fairview. Pa., sends 

 a queen that has become baiTen. She wishes 

 to know the cause. I speak of this in my " Bee- 

 keeper's Guide." In some way the queen has 

 been injured. The reproductive apparatus is 

 very delicate and sensitive, and we do not won- 

 derthat it occasionally becomes disturbed and 

 even disabled. That this queen was ailing, ap- 

 pears from the fact that she airived dead. She 

 was sent in a cage with twelve workers. She 

 and two workers were dead: all the other work- 

 ers were well and lively. She may have inher- 

 ited some weakness, or have been chilled or 

 balled, or in .some other way injured. Such 

 disability is met among all kinds of animals. 

 Cattle with tuberculosis are very apt to become 

 barren. Examination shows th(! ovaries to bi' 

 the seat of extensive microbe alTection. Thus 

 any malady, constitutional or acquired, may af- 

 fect the reproductive organism, and impoteucy 

 result. 



WAX .SCAI-E.S. 



F. M. Humphrey, Oronoque. Conn., sends me 

 three bees with wax scales on the under side of 

 the abdomen, and asks me to state in Glean- 

 ings whether they are not abnormal, and why 

 they are there. These are simply the white 

 wax scales of which the comb is made. It isn't 

 strange that they are rarely observed nowa- 

 davs. We use so much comb foundation that 

 bees need but little wax. and so these scales are 

 rarely seen. I find it hard to lind them unless I 

 hive a swarm or colony on empty frames; then 

 it is easy to tind bees laden with these scales. 

 We thus see that ^^ax secretion is volnntary. 

 and is practiced only when the bees need comb. 



