1905 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



853 



time. I think Mr. S. 's valuation of the sages 

 is not exceptional. I know Mr. Harbison 

 always gave black sage much higher valua- 

 tion than he did white. I have known many 

 others of like opinion. I think one reason, 

 perhaps, for this comes from the fact that 

 the white sage is more partial to the lower 

 ground, while the black sage pushes up into 

 the canyons and thus is likely to find moist- 

 ure, while possibly the white sage lacks this 

 necessary adjunct for honey secretion. Is it 

 not possible then that both of these plants, 

 with suitable weather and soil conditions, 

 will yield invariably an abundance of honey, 

 though in case of scant rainfall the white 

 will fail utterly, while the black may give a 

 fairly good harvest simply because it grows 

 in a region where moisture is sufficient to 

 insure nectar secretion? Were I to locate 

 an apiary in Southern California, I should 

 wish to find both these plants in profusion, 

 and for reasons given above; as also from 

 the fact of its longer period of bloom I 

 should prefer to have the white sage omitted 

 rather than the black. Perhaps the reason 

 that the black sage blooms earlier than the 

 white is in part due to its location. With us 

 the white sage grows on the flat mesa lands; 

 and, while the black sage is not omitted in 

 this locality, it is much more abundant on 

 the sunny slopes of the canyons where the 

 moisture is more in evidence. 



E. E. R., Santa Barbara, Cal., asks for 

 information regarding the sages. The ac- 

 cepted name now for the white sage, of 

 which he sent a sample, is Ramona poly- 

 stachia. It was formerly Audibertia. The 

 black sage, I suppose named because of its 

 darker color, perhaps because the heads of 

 the flowers turn dark with age, does not 

 grow so high as the white, has a shorter 

 leaf, and looks very different. The flowers 

 are in heads, while in the case of the white 

 sage they are in a long raceme. I suppose 

 that from this head of flowers it also takes 

 the name of ball sage. Mr. R. also sent 

 another sage the color of the white sage, 

 which also had the flowers in balls. The 

 specimen was too meager for determination. 

 There are several sages in California, all 

 valuable for honey, but the two species re- 

 ferred to above are by far the most com- 

 mon and important. 



DERMESTES LARDARIUS. 



As I am away from home I did not receive 

 the specimens from Mr. N. D. West, Mid- 

 dleburg, N. Y. ; but from your expression, 

 "little striped worms," and also from the 

 description given by Mr. West, I have little 

 doubt that the insects in question are 

 the common museum pest, Derwestes lar- 

 darius. For a figure of this beetle, I refer 

 our readers to my " Bee-keeper's Guide." 

 It is a small gray beetle with a buff band 

 crossing the front part of the wing-covers. 

 The little banded hairy grubs, or larvae, 

 ringed with lighter and darker brown, feed 

 upon dead animals; and so the bee-hive in 

 spring, and hives where the bees have all 



died, furnish a very picnic for these in- 

 sects. I have often found the beetles and 

 grubs within the hives in such cases. I can 

 readily understand how Mr. West, in his 

 great apiary of a thousand colonies, might, 

 after a severe winter, find these grubs in 

 surprising numbers. As they feed only upon 

 dead animals, I do not think that their pres- 

 ence in the apiary need excite alarm or even 

 disgust. It is quite otherwise in our muse- 

 ums where often our insect cabinets receive 

 irreparable damages from the ravages of this 

 pest. In such cases it is killed by the use 

 of bisulphide of carbon, and is kept away 

 by way of aid of naptholine or moth-balls. 

 It may interest our readers to know that the 

 so-called "buffalo carpet-moth," which is 

 really no moth at all, but a little beetle— an 

 insect which plays fearful havoc in carpets 

 and other woolen fabrics, belongs to the 

 same family, and so is a close relative of 

 this museum pest. 



CARBOLIC ACID AS A DISINFECTANT. 



Subscriber, Greencastle, Ind., refers to 

 my "Bee-keeper's Guide," page 481, where 

 I state that R. L. Taylor keeps foul brood in 

 check by the free use of carbolic acid. He 

 asks what a free use is, and wishes to know 

 if the hives and combs can be disinfected 

 by this substance, using an ordinary hand 

 sprayer. He inquires further if combs 

 sprayed with carbolic acid would be injured, 

 and if formaldehyde, bisulphide of carbon, 

 or copper sulphate could be added to the 

 carbolic acid with profit. 



I doubt if it pays to use carbolic acid in case 

 of foul brood in the apiary except as a wash 

 for the hands and to disinfect the tools. 

 While visiting Mr. Taylor I noticed he 

 washed his hands in a rather strong solu- 

 tion after working with any hive before he 

 commenced working with another. I do not 

 believe any of these substances can be de- 

 pended upon to cure foul brood. The com- 

 mon method given in my book and all our 

 works on apiculture is reliable and satisfac- 

 tory. The same can not be said of carbolic 

 or salicylic acid. But we should use the 

 carbolic acid freely as a wash for our hands 

 and as a disinfectant to prevent the spread 

 of the disease. If I may be pardoned for 

 making the statement here, I will say that no 

 one can be too careful in any work that has 

 to do with these germ diseases. The little 

 micro-organisms are so insidious, and multi- 

 ply with such startling rapidity, that disin- 

 fection, italicized, should ever be the motto. 

 In case of pruning pear-trees to eradicate 

 pear-blight, sufficient attention is rarely 

 given to this matter of disinfection. The 

 free use of a sponge, wet with carbolic acid, 

 at the end of the cut twig, and to wet saw, 

 knife, or shears often explains why one per- 

 son meets with success and another with fail- 

 ure. It will be remembered that Mr. Taylor 

 kept foul brood in his apiary as a sort of 

 plaything, or, perhaps, I had better say, as 

 an opportunity for study, and felt safe in 

 doing so. Had he been less intent in the 



