498 



GLEi\:NINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



From Different Fields. 



PATENT HIVES, ETC. 



^ygnpAVING been humbugged to a smell amount 

 JS[iJ'{[ (yet large to me, a poor man, the sum of 



' $20.00), I would like to know If there is a 



patent on a hive called " Kidder " hive, and if they 

 have agents to sell these hives for them. This sum 

 I paid to a man who called himself Kirk Kidder, for 

 an outfit to sell, but which I never received. Hav- 

 ing been caught in a small trap some time ago bj' 



for queens, smoker, etc., which I never re- 

 ceived, it served me about right for being so green 

 as to trust a man, not knowing whether he is re- 

 sponsible or not. All goods that I have ordered 

 from you have come promptlj', and give good satis- 

 faction. All goods that I have ordered from the 

 friends who advertise with you have been satis- 

 factory. Please give information concerning these 

 parties if you can. C. Haucke. 

 Greenup C. H., Ky. 



We have several times notilied onr readers 

 that the Kidder family were all in bad re- 

 pute, and we now say, have nothing to do 

 with any man who travels about selling 

 rights for patent bee-hives or any thing else. 

 Do not even stop to talk with them. You 

 are wasting your time any way, and will 

 stand a great chance of losing your money, 

 if you even allow them to getyour attention. 

 Thanks for your kind words in regard to 

 our advertisers. The party you mention is, 

 I think, all right, and we have written him, 

 to see where the trouble is. 



THE ANT-LION AS A FRIEND OF THE BEES. 



While walking among my bees this evening I no- 

 ticed that, where I had put sand about the hives for 

 keeping down grass, it was utilized by the ant-lion; 

 and the question at once arose in my min<1, whether 

 the curious little insect might not be an iidvantage 

 to us in keeping down the ants, which are so persist- 

 ent about hives when the tenants are not very strong. 

 Did it ever occur to you or any of our fellow-work- 

 ers? As some may not be familiar with the insect, I 

 will add a short description, as I have so often no- 

 ticed them. It is in its larva state that we wish to 

 notice it, as an insect about the size of a carp-fly, 

 with flat oval body, just the color of sand, and with 

 powerful mandibles, which are hollow, and which 

 serve as tubes for conveying the juices of its prey to 

 its own body. It delights in a dry sand, where it 

 throws up the sand from a central spot until it has 

 made a conical pit of perhaps VA inches diameter at 

 the top, and just as deep as the sand will lie on the 

 inclined sides. At the bottom of this pit it secretes 

 itself, and awaits the coming of some unfortunate 

 ant or spider that may venture too close to the edge 

 of the pit. Should the prey be at all likely to re- 

 cover its position at the top of the pit, a shower of 

 sand will be sent over it, making an a^■alanche, which 

 is sure to bring it within easy reach; and once in 

 the mandibles of the ant-lion, its life blood is drawn, 

 and its own carcass thrown out, and every thing 

 about the pit arranged for another victim. 



I have put two or more in a small vial, to observe 

 their movements, and generally a combat begins at 

 once, and continues till only one remains. 



Whether the number of ants thus destroyed would 

 materially affect the numbers about a swarm of 

 bees, I can not say. I noticed eleven of these little 

 pits about one hive this evening. 



Frank J. Bell. 



Moosehead, Pa., Aug. 2f, 1881. 



Thanks, friend B. I have often noticed 

 this queer insect, and its manner of securing 

 its prey, and I can think of but one objec- 

 tion to inviting them to take up their al)Ode 

 near our hives. It is my impression that the 

 perfect insect is a sort of a dragon-tiy that 

 sometimes catches bees. If this is so, we 

 had best look out. Will friend Cook staight- 

 en us out on this pointV 



SPANISH NEEDLES, ETC. 



Dry, DRV, DRY. Bees are now just beginning to 

 bring in honey and pollen from Spanish needle. 

 How the plant can survive the drought is moi-e than 

 I can imagine. We have not had any rain for three 

 months, to amount to any thing. When I was a boy 

 I said to pn, " What are those nasty Spanish needles 

 made for?" Pa said, " God knows best." And now 

 I begin to see that God made every thing for a pur- 

 pose. "And he saw it was good." It does seem, 

 brother Root, that if it were not for Spanish needles 

 bees would surely starve; for every thing else is 

 almost dried up. There has been no dew for three 

 weeks; still, our bees arc doing well. But my 

 neighbor's bees are almost all non est. My bees 

 have made more honey per hive than ever before — 

 some as high as 300 lbs. surplus honey (comb hon- 

 ey). Say. friend Root, what am I to do: there are so 

 many who want to know how my hives are made, 

 and 1 can't answer all? AVith your consent I will 

 write it up for Gleanings. Geo. W. Stites. 



Spring Station, Ind., Aug. 21, 1881. 



Very glad to hear so good a report, friend 

 S. If God did not send us the dry weather, 

 we snould not know any thing about wliat a 

 blessing rain is. I presume every man, 

 woman, and child here would smile at the 

 sight of lain now. Our well I told you 

 about, still holds out; but I tell you, "the 

 draft on it is severe. We should be glad to 

 describe your hive, if you wi!l make it brief ; 

 but I hope, friend S., "you will not start any 

 of the younger ones on any path out of the 

 regular standard sizes of frames. 



THREF. LAVING QUEENS IN ONE HIVE, AT LAST. 



I read much about 2 queens in one hive (laying), so 

 I will also say something about it. You will remem- 

 ber, at the time when you were here, we took one 

 frame with brood, out of a chalf hive (the hive I got 

 of you), to give that swarm that was hanging on 

 that peach-tree. You know that you complained 

 about the old queen's wings being clipped so dose- 

 Ij'. Well, about 3 or 4 days later I examined the 

 hive from which we took the frame Avith brood (and 

 it also contained that clipped queen), but there was 

 a young queen in the same hive (she had thick full 

 wings). 1 took the young iiuecn with 2 frames with 

 brood out of the hive, and formed a nucleus. A few 

 days later, I looked in the old hi\e again; well, there 

 was another young queen (Inying) in with the 

 clipped queen. So perhaps there were 3 queens in 

 the hive at one lime, laying. Otto Kleinow. 



Detroit, Mich., Aug. 20, 1881. 



Well done, friend Otto. I have often 

 thought of your pretty little apiary, and 

 wontlered what you were doing there all 



