416 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



houses, goods are stored all over the United 

 States for immediate shipment, and in suf- 

 ficient quantities in each locality to take 

 care of the local needs. By this plan time 

 is saved and freight rates are considerably 

 reduced, for the goods go almost the entire 

 distance to the consumer at carload rates. 

 Then there is only a small local freight 

 charge direct to the consumer. Again, the 

 customer can go to the nearest distributing- 

 house, look over the line of goods he de- 

 sires to purchase, and be advised as to his 

 needs for the locality in which he is located. 

 Say what we may, all business depends on 

 the middleman, always has and always will 

 to a great extent. 



Taking it all in all, the principle has given 

 universal satisfaction to bee-keepers, ex- 

 cept in some quarters where there is a feel- 

 ing that the branch- house busintss adds ma- 

 terially to the cost of the goods. This feel- 

 ing has been entertained by some honest 

 men, concerning whom we have the highest 

 regard; but they were mistaken as to the 

 facts in the case. It costs about as much 

 to store goods in one place as another. If 

 goods are all stored at the factory, and 

 there should be a fire, the loss would be cor- 

 respondingly great; but by having them dis- 

 tributed all over the country the risk is re- 

 duced, and the same clerical force that would 

 be necessary at the main office to take care 

 of the immense volume of correspondence is 

 placed where it can look after the business 

 to the best advantage, and where it can 

 come in actual contact with the local needs 

 of the vicinity. 



Lest I may be misunderstood. I will state 

 that I am not trying to compare co-opera- 

 tion with the branch-house plan, for, as a 

 matter of fact, each has its advantages, 

 and, I may say, disadvantages as well. 





ORDERS OF INSECTS. 



We have noted that all the orders of in- 

 sects thus far treated, if we may except the 

 beetles, and in a sense the thrips and the 

 sub-order Neuroptera among the lace- wings, 

 undergo in their development incomplete 

 transformations; that is, all are much the 

 same in all stages of development. We 

 have also observed that all have mouth- 



garts for biting and eating, if we except the 

 ugs and the thrips, although the latter re- 

 ally do suck. The wings are various; but if 

 we except the one family of scale insects— 

 Coccidx— the females of which are wingless 

 and the males have but two wings, all so far 

 possess four wings. We next consider the 



DIPTERA, OR TWO-WING FLIES. 



These well-known insects are at once rec- 

 ognized by their one pair of wings, which 

 fact is announced in the name Diptera, 

 which is from the Greek, and signifies two 

 wings. These may be very simple, as seen 

 in the notorious Hessian flies, and wheat and 

 clover-seed midges, or quite complex as il- 

 lustrated in the common house flies, horse- 

 flies, robber flies, etc. Like bugs, the flies, 

 or Diptera, all suck. They, like beetles, 

 butterflies, and bees, pass through very 

 complete transformations in their develop- 

 ment. The larvae are footless, and are call- 

 ed maggots. Their mouth is simple, and 

 works to scrape or wound the tissue on 

 which they subsist. The pupa is often seed- 

 like, and is protected only in the last larval 

 skin. These seed-like pupae -" flax-seed " 

 state of the Hessian fly — are known in sci- 

 ence as puparia, each a puparium. 



No insects are better known to man than 

 the two- wing flies, or Diptera. The house- 

 flies are ubiquitous, and in the warm days 

 of the year are always with us at meal 

 time, and never wait for invitation. They 

 are equally insistent as we essay an after- 

 dinner nap. Fortunately they cease from 

 their vexing annoyances as the night comes 

 on; but not so the equally well known and 

 more dreaded mosquito. 



Many of the Diptera are among our most 

 serious insect-pests. The Hessian fly and 

 wheat-midge destroy our most important 

 cereal to the tune of many millions of dol- 

 lars, often in a single season. The Antho- 

 myians also are serious pests in the vegeta- 

 ble-garden, while the Trypetas are dreaded 

 foes of the fruit-man. Others, like the 

 syrphus flies and robber-flies, are very good 

 friends in destroying other insects, though 

 the robber-flies are not as careful to dis- 

 criminate as we might wish, and often kill 

 our honey-bee^; jet on the whole I am quite 

 sure that they do far more good than harm. 

 The horse flies bite or stab our horses and 

 cattle, and give a cruel thrust with their 

 strong sharp beaks. The sheep-tick is no 

 mean foe to our valuable flocks, while a 

 close relative is the bee-1 juse, which in some 

 of the warmer regions is no slight enemy of 

 our pets of the hive. 



Of late the mosquito has become more in- 

 teresting to us as the necessary agent in 

 the spread of malaria and yellow fever. As 

 the Texas tick must be present to carry the 

 fatal Texas- fever germs from one bovine to 

 another, so no one would ever have malaria 

 or yellow fever except that the little sporo- 

 zoan germs or animals were carried to the 

 blood by the mosquito. There is some evi- 

 dence that the flea, also classed by Linnseus 

 with Diptera, though it is very distinct in 

 its structure, carries the plague of leprosy 

 as the mosquito does malaria. 



It is interesting to know that the maggots 

 of the common house-fly work on and devel- 

 op in the manure of the horse-stable. If, 

 then, our automobiles drive the noble horse 

 from us it will at the same time rid us of 

 the fly nuisance. 



