708 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



has ruined thousands of dollars' worth of 

 orchards in the San Joaquin Valley; and as 

 it has now pushed up into the Sacramento 

 Valley, the end is not yet. Our readers 

 have already heard how the bees are instru- 

 mental in spreading pear-blight. Yet it is 

 to be said that, even in this case, the bees 

 are more to be desired than condemned; for, 

 while the bees are absolutely necessary for 

 proper poUination, even of the pear, yet 

 other nectar-loving insects are sufficient in 

 number to scatter the pear-blight, and would 

 do it effectually, even though there were no 

 honey-bees at all. 



The asparagus-rust came from Europe, 

 where it is far less serious than in America. 

 It devastated in the East first about 1896. 

 It spread so rapidly that in 1900 it had in- 

 vaded California, where it has worked fear- 

 ful havoc. Asparagus grows remarkably in 

 California, and who of us does not know of 

 the excellence of canned asparagus? So this 

 question of asparagus-rust is one of great 

 economic importance. Like the wheat-rust, 

 the asparagus-rust has three forms— the 

 early-cluster cup stage; the aecidium stage, 

 which, in the case of the wheat-rust, works 

 on barberry, here works on the asparagus. 

 This is inconspicuous. The summer stage, 

 uredo, carries red spores, and so colors the 

 asparagus, as it does the wheat, a red color. 

 These red spores are carried easily and to 

 great distances, and so scatter the disease, 

 even carrying it across our country in a few 

 years. As this does the principal scatter- 

 ing, it is, perhaps, the most serious stage, 

 though the mycelial threads in all three stages 

 penetrate the tissues and kill the plants. The 

 third stage, teleuto, is black, and comes in 

 late autumn. This is hardy, and carries the 

 plant through the winter. The spores also 

 enter the plant from the ground. Professor 

 Smith, of our State University, has pub- 

 lished a valuable bulletin. No. 165, in which 

 he gives the results of his researches. He 

 finds that the red spores can develop only in 

 moisture, and so a very dry atmosphere is 

 safe against this plague. This explains why 

 plants underneath trees are free from the 

 fell disease. He shows that, in case of as- 

 paragus, the black spores, where the aspar- 

 agus is cut and the ground well tilled, do not 

 get a hold. If, then, all other asparagus- 

 plants are kept away, the disease would be 

 less in evidence. The practical point, then, 

 is to allow no asparagus- plants to grow ex- 

 cept those in cultivation. Professor Smith 

 also finds that sulphur is a specific against 

 this rust. Here, then, we have a case where 

 scientific research saves to us one of our 

 most important industries, and one of our 

 most succulent and appetizing food-plants. 

 The bee-keeper will be interested to know 

 that bees gather this rust in lieu of pollen, 

 as the spores furnish them their proteid 

 food. 



COLD VERSUS HONEY. 



We have been having very cool weather. 

 With the exception of a very few days, 



when the honey came rushing in, the days 

 have been so cool that the bees were loath 

 to fly and the flowers too chilled to secrete 

 much nectar. It is now warming up, and 

 we hope that June will show up better. 







RED-CLOVER BEES. 



A Word of Defense from H. Freudenstein, 



Publisher of the "Neue Bienen-Zeitung," 



Marburg, Germany. 



Translated from the Bienen-Vater, Vienna, Austria, 



by Frank Benton, U. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Washington, D. C. 



How times change! A few years ago I 

 was a welcome guest in the bee papers. 

 When I sent an article it was accepted and 

 paid for. But since I have been publishing 

 the Neue Bienenzeitung not a good word is 

 to be found about me in the papers; on the 

 other hand, attacks in nearly every number, 

 particularly on the subject of the sugar 

 swindle and the swindle with long-tongued 

 bees. If I attempt to defend myself against 

 these, my articles are not accepted. In the 

 beginning this aroused me greatly. But I 

 have become quite used to it. What those 

 papers desired they did not succeed in, as 

 daily experience shows. The Neue Bienen- 

 zeitung is succeeding well, notwithstanding, 

 or perhaps even in consequence of, these 

 attacks; and, for that matter, why does 

 one, if he has a good conscience, need to be 

 at all stirred up over such a thing, even 

 though he may have been attacked on one 

 side or the other as a humbug? He has 

 simply to keep still and wait until the sky 

 clears, and then only those who have raised 

 the false accusation will have to bear the 

 blame of it. A thing which in itself is good 

 can not be easily suppressed by such 

 means, but, on the other hand, such attacks 

 are a fire which purifies and which also 

 blazes up and draws attention to the sub- 

 ject. 



Two articles directed against me have ap- 

 peared in the Vienna Bienen-Vater. But 

 the Bienen-Vater appears to differ most re- 

 markably from other papers in that it has, 

 without my having suggested the plan at 

 all, requested me to answer these articles. 

 I shall do this by answering the question: 

 What is there really to this subject of long- 

 tongued bees? 



If we take a look at our various races of 

 domestic animals we find that they have 

 nothing at all— a member, a hair, a feather, 

 which does not show the greatest differences. 



