GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 15. 



mains motionless for a short time. When a 

 larva first leaves its hole in the ground, its body 

 feels quite hard; but before long it becomes al- 

 most as soft as dough. Now, in its soft state it 

 can no longer crawl; and if prevented, before 

 it became helpless, from getting a firm hold on 

 some object, it would be quite impossible for it 

 to emerge from its shell; but. fastened firmly by 

 its claws, it soon began alternately to contract 

 and expand its body, until what at first resem- 

 bled a little crack on its back opened wider and 

 wider, continually disclosing more and more of 

 the emerging insect, until at last it raised its 

 head and the larger part of its body from the 

 shell, being prevented from falling out of it by 

 the lower part of its abdomen, which was still 

 held in the shell. It then looked considerably 

 like an Egyptian mummy standing upright in 

 its case, with its upper wrappings removed. 

 Now, as the transition from their har.l to theii' 

 soft condition is a very short one, it is obvious 

 that these holes, which are often bored through 

 hard ground, must be made a considerable time 

 before they are wanted, to enable the insect to 

 push quickly through the little space that is 

 needed to let it out, when its instincts teach it 

 that the time is at hand for its coming changes. 

 As soon as it has withdrawn its he=.d. legs, and 

 other parts of Hs body from the horny shell in 

 which each was separately inclosed, it rests a 

 while until its claws, which at first are too fee- 

 ble to grasp any thing, become strong enough 

 for it to climb out of its shell and cling to tlie 

 rough surface on which it had fastened itself. 

 Its wings, which are narrow and thick, can now 

 almost be seen to thin out gradually. liRe a 

 piece of dough over which a roller is continual- 

 ly passing. When they have reached their full 

 expansion they remain thus flattened out until 

 they become quite dry. when all of a sudden, by 

 an involuntary motion, they assume the proper 

 position for flight. , 



The locust lives only a short time as a Hying 

 insect, when the female bores holes into the ex- 

 tremities of small twigs, in which she inserts 

 her eggs. The larva\ when hatched, feed upon 

 the twigs until the latter wither and fall to the 

 ground, when they penetrate the earth, to reach 

 the roots of trees, by sticking the juices of which 

 with its sharp, hollow proboscis (as was discov- 

 ered not many years ago by a distinguished 

 lady), one species lives for seventeen years. 



I was not over twelve years of age when I 

 made most of my observations upon these lo- 

 custs; but when I returned to Philadelphia, in 

 the forti(!th year of my age. it being locust year, 

 I collected a large number of the larva? from the 

 trees in Independence Square, and sat up with 

 my daughter and some of hi>r school compan- 

 ions until after midnight to show them the cu- 

 rious ch.mges just described: but from my boy- 

 ish recollections 1 could have described them 

 almost as vividly and accurately as I could 

 after these last observations. 



I did not confine my attention entirely to the 

 insect-world. Catching mice, not fully grown. 

 I put them into water until they were appar- 

 ently drowned, and then, tying a string about 

 their necks, wrapped them in cotton and placed 

 tliem near the fire. After reviving, and dis- 

 gorging the water they had been forced to swal- 

 low, they were quite willing to eat. If they of- 

 fered to bite me, the water treatment was re- 

 peated until they became perfectly tame. In 

 due time I could give them their liberty, and 

 bring them at call to eat from my hand. Old 

 mice might be drowned again and again.but they 

 were always good for biting when they came to 

 life; and I found that experimenting with them 

 was like trying to "teach old dogs new tricks."' 



{Continued.) 



CAUSE OF SWARMING. 



TRIALS IX INTKODIU ING. 



In answer to C. C. Miller's request, page G1.3. 

 it seems to me the question can be answered by 

 one simple word; viz., " Nature." It is just as 

 natural for bees to swarm as it is for them to 

 gather honey. It is simply a natural provision 

 for the ])ropagation of the race. He further 

 says, some people say it is best to let each colo- 

 ny swarm once: but those same persons think 

 it would be a gain if the bees would not '"de- 

 sire " to swarm that once. Well, I don't think 

 so, for two reasons. In the first place, it would 

 cut off all increase unless " artificial:" and in 

 the second place, the hives would be over- 

 crowded, and bees would gather less honey. 

 Some will doubtless say, "Give them moi'e 

 room " — a very good idea indeed; but. remem- 

 ber they must have room to work, as well as to 

 store honey. It is just as easy to have a colony 

 too strong as too weak. 



A year ago I had one overcrowded in three 

 stories, entrance open clear across the front, 

 and an inch hole in the center of the from. I 

 divided them, and either colony gathered as 

 much honev as they all did together, thus prov- 

 ing to me that it is far better to let nature take 

 its course this far, that is, to allow each colony 

 (that desires to) to swarm once, and once only. 

 1 have known people to get their bees to sulk- 

 ing so they would do a mere nothing by return- 

 ing the first swarm to the parent hive, time 

 after time, and cutting out queen-cells. 



I should also like to say just a few words in 

 regard to introducing queens. On page (317 is 

 an article headed " Introducing queens; even 

 Doolittle Baffled." It is my opinion that this 

 branch of the busine.^is will baffle any of the 

 best of them so far as being " sure " of introduc- 

 tion. Several years ago I had only a few colo- 

 nies; and early in the spring, long before there 

 were any drones, one colony lost its queen. I 

 sent off" for a queen and introduced her by cag- 

 ing 34 hours ; she seemed to be accepted 

 all light, but the next day she was dead: 

 and in a short time I took a queen from a 

 strong colony, and introduced her by caging 

 48 hours. She was accepted, apparently, as 

 the mother of the colony; but the following 

 day she was dead. 1 then waited till there 

 were cells nearly ready to hatch in the hive I 

 had taken the queen from. I took a fine cell 

 and coated it with honey; and after thoroughly 

 subduing the bees with smoke I inserted it 

 between two combs; but they tore it down and 

 killed the queen. Then I took another cell and 

 inserted it in a wire protector. The queen 

 hatched in a couple of days, and they killed 

 her; then I took another cell, just ready to 

 hatch, and cut the queen out and let her lun 

 down between the combs after thoroughly 

 smoking, and she fared no better than the rest. 

 I then gave them a frame of brood in all stages, 

 and they reared a queen of their own. and 

 killed her. I repeated this operation from time 

 to time, and each time they would rear a queen 

 and kill her soon after hatching, until some- 

 time in September. Then they reared a queen 

 and allowed her to mate: and by her aid, and 

 the occasional addition of a frame from other 

 hives, they were fitted for winter. 



Hillsborough. Wis., Sept. 10. Elias Fox. 



[That bees swarm because it is in accordance 

 with nature, no one will deny; but the problem 

 is, how to overcome nature just as we do in 

 other things whenever we may desire. Those 

 who have out- apiaries are the bee-keepers who' 

 would like to do away with swarming. Vou 

 see, it means either the constant supervision 



