1S81 



CLEANINGS IX BEE CULTURE. 



23 



the truncated abdomen, back of eac* wing-cover, is 

 a prominent reddish-brown spot. The entire body 

 is thickly set with punctures, and short, light-gray 

 hairs. From the habits of the K. inda wo are not 

 surprised to learn that this near relative has a 

 "sivect tooth" that has tempted him to this larceny. 

 It is to be hoped that his conscience will cause him 

 to desist, as his natural coat of mail will make him 

 fearless, even of the bee's formidable spear; and 

 his size will make it dilRcult to shut him from the 

 hive. For the present, we will rest his case. 

 Lansing, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



My bees for the past month have suffered consid- 

 erably, from the depredations of the mosquito- 

 hawk (LihelJula.) It makes its appearance about my 

 apiary late in the evening, and continues until near- 

 ly dark. With long willow switches my little children 

 bring down scores of this most terrible enemy to 

 our little industrious pets of the hive. These in- 

 sects are mostly found near ponds of water, on 

 marshy lands, and low, damp lands. They lay their 

 eggs in the water by a peculiar dipping motion, and 

 always while in the act of copulation. The manner 

 of meeting between the sexes is different from all 

 other insects that I have ever witnessed. The fe- 

 male gathers the tail of the male in her strong jaws, 

 and holds fast for a long time. In this position they 

 tiy just above the water, the female frequentlj' dip- 

 ping her tail in the water by an under curve of her 

 long abdomen, and, I suppose, she deposits an egg 

 in this operation. I now have a young one that has 

 just winged out, for examination. I will try to 

 catch two while meeting, and will send to Prof. 

 Cook for dissection, to see if I am right in regard to 

 the manner in which they copulate, 'i'hey are here 

 by the thousand, and destroy great quantities of 

 bees. 



I see, in Nov. No. of Gleanings, a description of 

 a bee-eater, by Wm. Duke, of Kansas. From the 

 description, I suppose it is the Mantia religiosa, com- 

 monly called "Devil's horse " and "Rear horse." 

 This species has a pair of legs in front, resembling a 

 person's bands when folded in prayer, and is fre- 

 quently called the " praying mantis." The word 

 III «h( is signifies prophet; hence we have "religious 

 prophet." I should not think that he had much re- 

 ligion about him, for I am sure he never follows the 

 golden rule, " do unto others as you would have 

 others do unto you." He is a great scavenger; and, 

 so long as he will stay in my orchard and let my bees 

 alone we will be friends, for he is king among in- 

 sects, making a meal of any other insect that comes 

 in his way, when hungry. She lays her eggs in a 

 close, compact row, like the roof of a house, on 

 apple and peach limbs, which batch in the spring. 

 Spare the good prophet if you can. 



B. F. CAUROLIi. 



Dresden, Navarro Co., Tex., Oct 30, 1880. 



EXPERIOTEIVTS WITH HOIVKY -BEAR- 

 ING PliANTS. 



f|HE past summer I experimented with about 

 +0 varieties of annual garden flowers, to find 

 out which bees work on most so as to produce 

 pasture, and be an ornament to the garden. We 

 also had already quite a variety of perennials, bulbs, 

 and flowering shrubs. The bees work more or less 

 on nearly all flowers except roses, deutzias, honey- 

 suckles, lilacs, and a good many other shrubs. 



Among early flowering bulbs, the little grape hya- 

 cinth is visited the most. Crocuses, single and 

 double hyacinths, some; many others, such as tu- 

 lips, not at all. The bees work on nearly all peren- 

 nial and biennial flowers. Pansies and sweet-wil- 

 liams are their favorites. Among the annuals, the 

 PliaccUa conaeata, a little blue flower, and a very 

 clean, neat border plant, beats every thing I have 

 had so far. It is more than equal to the sweet 

 clover; begins to bloom earlier, stands the hottest 

 weather, and the bees fairly swarm on it from early 

 morning till dark; and, after several light frosts, 

 next come portulaeas and resedas. Spider plant I 

 don't like; it takes too much ground for the amount 

 of bloom, allowing only one plant to grow. The 

 body was as thick as my arm, Ave feet high or over. 

 It stood in front of some hives, and the bees did not 

 notice it till it had formed seed-pods from first blos- 

 soms, and I had stuck a few bees on the drops of 

 sweetness. I don't think it is worth the ground it 

 takes up. Bees prefer to work on flowers where it 

 takes more work in getting to it. Last March my 

 bees would go into the pump spout for water when 

 they had a trough filled with corncobs and clean 

 water before them; and on our sidewalk are two 

 sugar maples, out of which the sugar-water eamo 

 pouring from little holes the woodpeckers had made, 

 so that the bark of the trees turned black, and the 

 gravel around the maple-tree was wet; but not a 

 bee would go on it, as bad as they wanted water. As 

 soon as I rubbed the woodpecker holes around the 

 trees full of candied honey, my bees began to swarm 

 on it as long and as often as the sap ran, so that peo- 

 ple got afraid to walk or dri\e past near the walk. 



I introduced two Cyprian queens to two extra good 

 Italian hybrids in October, and in one week all avail- 

 able room was full of brood, while none of the other 

 stocks had any. I am very anxious to see their 

 working qualities next season. 



Geo. L. Hollenbach. ' 



Noblesville, Ind., Dec. 1, 1880. 



May I take the liberty to suggest, that 

 some of your ideas are a little unusual, 

 friend II. ? Our bees certainly prefer to 

 work where they can get the honey the easi- 

 est; and a comb of unsealed honey, left 

 carelessly outside the hive, seems to be 

 the greatest temptation to them, of any 

 thing I know of, because it is so easy 

 to get the honey. We find it the same with 

 the Spider plant ; but when there is only one 

 single plant, and that right before the hive, 

 I am not at all surprised to learn they never 

 found it. Some of our friends have laid 

 bunches of grapes on the hives, and because 

 the bees did not attack them there, have de- 

 cided they would not "eat grapes" at all. If 

 I am correct, bees have to learn to get honey 

 from any flower ; and unless the flowers are 

 in great profusion, say rods of them, or a 

 whole tree full, they may miss them entirely 

 for a whole season. After the bees get 

 started on a plant, just as they did on those 

 maple-trees, it is a pretty hard matter to 

 stop them. After they once get to robbing 

 a hive, it sometimes seems as if nothing 

 short of inch boards would hold them at bay. 

 At such times they will j)uncture grapes and 

 strip the vines ; yet we nave but a few cases 

 on record where they have got so crazy about 

 it as to do this. It was just so with your 

 watering-place. They had not got accus- 



