AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



281 



WavelBts o! News. 



Persuading" a Swarm to Remain. 



A lady bce-keepor was trying to make 

 a swarm stay in the hive the other day, 

 and after hiving it the third time, came 

 to the conclusion that she would try the 

 water cure ; and as soon as she shook 

 them off the limb into her wire swarm- 

 catcher, with the watering can she 

 drenched them with cold water, and 

 then dropped them down in front of the 

 hive. 



The result was, she says, that "they 

 laid there pouting on the grass for some 

 time, scarcely offering to move, but as 

 the sun warmed them they gradually 

 crawled in on the combs. I then poured 

 another can of water over the hive, and 

 on the grass around it, and all went in 

 without grumbling as soon as they got 

 dry enough to crawl, and we have no 

 swarm that has done better work since, 

 than this one." 



She has ordered a force pump, and 

 thinks she will try a finer spray, but 

 feels confident that using water is a good 

 plan. — Canadian Bee Journal. 



Know Your Insect. 



T often receive specimens of black 

 ground-beetles accompanied with the 

 question. How can I best destroy these 

 "bugs?" These beetles kill immense 

 numbers of cutworms, white grubs, etc., 

 and so do us only good. 



This year I have received scores of 

 pupae of our lady-beetles, hanging to 

 plums or leaves. In every case came 

 the question. What new insect is this 

 that is attacking our plums, and how can 

 we kill it ? This pupa was the resting 

 stage between the larva and adult lady- 

 beetle. Both larva and adult feed exclu- 

 sively and extensively on plant-lice. 

 Plant-lice are terribly destructive to our 

 plum and other trees. Thus to kill a 

 single one of these pupa is to destroy a 

 friend. 



A long ichneumon-fly, with fiat, long 

 compressed abdomen, and very long, 

 hair-like ovipositor, is found caught in 

 or boring into a maple tree. The insect 

 is sent to me with the question. How can 

 we kill this insect and save our maples ? 

 The truth is this insect is a parasite, and 

 was boring into the tree to lay its eggs 

 on or near a borer. Thus it is the borer 

 that is killing the tree ; to prevent the 

 borer from its work was the purpose of 



the ichneumon ; the way to save the 

 tree is not to kill or disturb this insect. 



We see, then, that it is very necessary 

 to know the habits of insects, lest we 

 kill our friends and protect our enemies. 

 These friends, though often very small, 

 are very numerous. This year the grain 

 a.pMs would have ruined the wheat and 

 oat crops, except for a minute parasite 

 that quickly destroyed the aphis. — Prof. 

 A. J. Cook, in New York Tribnne. 



Bees Gro Seven Miles to Pasture. 



I live in the center of what is called 

 the "Cross Timbers^" Texas, a belt of 

 timber that runs across Texas. Now, 

 where I live it is about five miles on 

 either side to the prairie. 



I was the first one to get the yellow- 

 banded bees in this part of the country, 

 and, in fact, the only one ; and the first 

 year I got them I happened to be about 

 two miles out on the prairie, where the 

 horsemint was in bloom. On looking, I 

 found it was covered with bees, and, to 

 my surprise, I found about half of them 

 were of the yellow-banded race. 



It caused me to watch them, thinking 

 I should find that some of my neighbors 

 had the improved races Of bees, but not 

 so. By watching carefully I noticed 

 that they would rise high in the air and 

 make a direct line for my house. 



I- asked nearly all of my neighbors 

 between there and here if they knew of 

 any one who had the improved races of 

 bees, and they said they did not, but that 

 they knew that no one had them but 

 myself. On this occasion my Italians 

 must have flown seven miles for forage. 

 — L. B. Smith, in Gleanings. 



Origin of the Albino Bee. 



I have received letters from a number 

 of persons from different parts of the 

 country, who wish to know something 

 more definite in reference to the origin 

 of the Albino bee. The mother of the 

 queen that produced the first bees, I re- 

 ceived of Mr. H. A. King, Nevada, Ohio. 

 The grand-daughter of this queen is the 

 one that produced the first Albino bees. 

 They were about half Albino and half 

 Italian. 



Now, the difficulty arose in my mind 

 how to get them pure Albino. I knew it 

 was useless to try to breed them pure in 

 my home apiary; so I took them to the 

 South Mountain, out of the range of any 

 other bees, in order to get them pure. — • 

 A. Pike, in the Ouide. 



