232 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



catalog. It has helped me to sell nearly all 

 my honey by sending it broadcast. 

 Augusta, Wis. E. H. Hanselman. 



[The circular referred to is well gotten up, 

 and not a cheap poorly written affair by any 

 means. The arguments given, though brief, 

 are interesting and convincing. A picture 

 of an extractor is shown, with a few words 

 explaining its use. 



Surely, this method of advertising can be 

 carried out by any man who has honey to 

 sell; and if the honey is worth selling it is 

 worth the time and trouble necessary to get 

 a good price for it near home.— Ed.] 



ROACHES HARMLESS IN SOME LOCALITIES. 



In reply to a question asked by Mary 

 Wood, page 97, how to get rid of roaches, I 

 will say that I live in the South, and that 

 roaches are not so very plentiful about here; 

 but I have had a good deal of acquaintance 

 with them, and find them perfectly harmless, 

 and, in fact, I like to have them about. 

 They are a help to me in the apiary, and I 

 don't see how I could get along without 

 them. Mrs. J. M. ROACH. 



Daisy, Ga., Jan, 26. 



[So there are roaches and Roaches. Evi- 

 dently the latter are not a rep-roach to the 

 name. — Ed.] 



YELLOW spider AN ENEMY OF BEES. 



I mail you a spider, or at least I think it 

 one, that is death to bees. It makes its 

 home on what we call a wild sunflower, which 

 is very yellow, and differing in size from one 

 inch in diameter to three inches. We have 

 thousands and thousands of acres of it here, 

 and the bees work on it in August until frost 

 kills it. The si)ider sits on the flower, and 

 you can not see it unless it moves; and when 

 a bee alights on the flower, and is in the act 

 of bending its head in order to reach the 

 nectar the insect grabs the bee behind the 

 head, and it never moves nor struggles. It 

 is just simply dead. I could not find any 

 thing that looked like a web nor any trace of 

 any thing of the kind. The insect is a very 

 bright yellow. Matt. S. Schwer. 



Peale, Pa., Nov. 10. 



[We sent the spider to Dr. Phillips, at 

 Washington, for examination. His reply is 

 as follows: 



Dear Mr. Root:— The spider referred to 

 n the letter from Mr. M. S. Schwer is Rim- 

 cinia aleatoria, Htz. I do not know to 

 what extent this spider is to be considered 

 as an enemy of the bee, but it is undoubted- 

 ly true that bees alighting on flowers are fre- 

 quently killed by these and closely related 

 spiders. These spiders do not spin a web ; and 

 their method of killing their prey, either 

 bees or other insects, is as described by Mr. 

 Schwer. Mr. Nathan Banks, of this Bureau, 

 who has identified this specimen for me, 

 says that they sometimes kill good-sized but- 

 terflies. E. F. Phillips, 

 Acting in Charge of Apiculture. 



rains in CALIFORNIA. 



This part of California is now (Jan. 15) 

 getting a good rain, and reports indicate 

 that it is general over at least the western 

 (coast) counties. At this date last season 

 we had 16 inches. So far this season the 

 downpour has been but 5 inches. There is 

 plenty of time yet for raio, and a good hon- 

 ey season; but so far it has been colder 

 than usual, and vegetation has been kept 

 back. Transient. 



Watsonville, Cal. 



FEEDING BEES BY SPRAYING LEAVES. 



In a recent issue of Gleanings I see the 

 suggestion made by a western brother, that 

 we might feed bees by spraying the green 

 leaves of trees or bushes with the food. I 

 have successfully fed my bees by that means 

 during the past fall. 



I was at first very much interested and 

 amused with the antics of the bees. They 

 were not accustomed to finding food on 

 green leaves; and wherever I placed colored 

 leaves, bits of paper, or holly-berries they 

 would alight in numbers. The yellow- jack- 

 ets and hornets, however, were first to find 

 the food on the green leaves, and after a 

 time the bees lost no time in going directly 

 to the sprayed leaves for their food. They 

 found it, and took it better when a little 

 honey was mixed with the sugar syrup. 

 When the air was dry the liquid quickly evap- 

 orated, and became a mere varnish on the 

 leaves; but this difficulty was overcome by 

 respraying with tepid water. It was the 

 most successful and satisfactory method of 

 feeding I tried. H. A. Surface. 



State College, Pa. 



[I believe your plan of outdoor feeding is 

 all right. It will eliminate entirely the ob- 

 jection on the part of the bees struggling 

 against each other and wearing themselves 

 out. Indeed, it would approachmore nearly 

 the condition of a natural honey-flow than 

 any other plan so far advocated. The only 

 objection is that I should be afraid that some 

 of the syrup would drop on the ground and 

 be wasted. Sugar is rather expensive to 

 throw away. With a heavily leafed tree 

 and a spray not too large, this difficulty 

 would not be very important. A spray- pump 

 with a long piece of quarter-inch gas- pipe 

 that would direct the spray clear up to the 

 top of the tree, where it could fall down 

 from leaf to leaf, would be the thing to use. 



It just occurs to me that some one else 

 has described something similar. Indeed, I 

 recall that one correspondent spoke of spray- 

 ing grass. But this surely would result in 

 quite a large waste, as the thin syrup would 

 soon find its way to the ground, and be ab- 

 sorbed. I should like to get reports from 

 those who may have tried the same plan. — 

 Ed.] 



BEES noticing COLOR; SMOKER FUEL, 



That bees have a preference for colors I 

 believe will be accepted by most bee-keep- 

 ers. This fact has been brought out by vari- 

 ous experiments conducted by Sir John Lub- 



