AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



775 



Wavelets of News. 



Doolittle's Q,ueen-Cups. 



We are making cells a la Doolittle. 

 His artificial cell-cups work very nicely; 

 and, in fact, during this season of the 

 year it has been about the only way we 

 could get cells at all. — Gleanings. 



Robber Bees. 



If it be necessary to feed some weak 

 colony of bees this Spring, and other 

 swarms begin to rob them, remember 

 the old and simple remedy : Place straw 

 loosely against the hive entrance, and 

 wet it. The robbers in crawling through 

 get wet and lose their grit, stopping the 

 robbing at once. — Exchanqe. 



Mistakes Often Made. 



To think that a man who has never 

 been able to make a living at anything 

 else (who has failed in everything else), 

 can in the bee-business make a " grand 

 success." 



To try to keep 100 colonies of bees 

 through the Summer with the same care 

 that 25 should have, and on a range 

 where 50 would starve. 



To neglect proper care in the Winter. 



To "rob" them of all their honey, 

 and then curse his "luck" in bee- 

 keeping. 



To use all the patent hives and 

 appliances just because a smooth- 

 tongued agent tells him to. 



To ventilate his hives by cracks in the 

 roof, and knot holes in the bottom. 



To fail to put on proper supers for 

 surplus honey at the right time. 



To let the grass and weeds grow 

 around his hives, so that he can hardly 

 find them. — Nebraska Bee-Keeper . 



Starving in the Midst of Plenty. 



In watching the different colonies 

 bringing in pollen, I noticed one large 

 colony where many bees were in the 

 portico and on the ground with out- 

 spreading winds, the picture of distress. 

 I jumped to the conclusion that they 

 were starving, and immediately gave 

 them a section of honey to tide them 

 over uiitil to-day, when I will put on a 

 feeder and give them a liberal supply. 



The advent of new bread will start the 

 bees to brood-rearing, and they will 



consume stores very rapidly, and many 

 large colonies may perish during cold 

 storms unless fed. 



.. Once, on the last of May, I found 

 nearly a peck of bees dead in front of 

 what had been a very large colony ; they 

 had starved to death, though it was a 

 fine day ; they had consumed their 

 stores rearing such large quantities of • 

 brood. As soon as those remaining were 

 fed they set up a happy hum, and the 

 next day there was honey to be gathered 

 in the fields. When bees die of starva- 

 tion, the queen is the last one to expire, 

 for the bees will give to their mother the 

 last drop that they have, for they realize 

 that the safety of the commonwealth 

 depends upon her life, and what is home 

 without a mother?— Mrs. L. Harrison, 

 in the Prairie Farmer. 



Chinese Insect Wax. 



The Chien-chang Valley, which is about 

 5,000 feet above the level of the sea, is 

 the great breeding-ground of the wax- 

 insect. One very prominent tree there, 

 is known to the Chinese as the insect- 

 tree. It is an evergreen, with the leaves 

 springing in pairs from the branches, 

 very thick, dark green, glossy, ovated 

 and pointed. In May and June the tree 

 bears clusters of white flowers, which 

 are succeeded by fruit of a dark purple 

 color. The Kew authorities have come 

 to the conclusion that it is Ligustrum 

 lucidum, or large-leaved privet. 



In March, attached to the bark of the 

 boughs and twigs are numerous brown, 

 pea-shaped excrescences. The larger of 

 these were readily detachable, and, when 

 opened, presented either a whity-brown 

 pulpy mass, or a crowd of minute ani- 

 mals like flour, whose movements were 

 just perceptible to the naked eye. 



From 2 to 3 months later these had 

 developed in each case into a swarm of 

 brown creatures, each provided with 6 

 legs and a pair of antennae. Each of 

 these was a wax-insect. Many of the 

 excrescences also contained either a 

 small white bag or cocoon covering a 

 pupa, or a perfect image in the shape (^ 

 a small black beetle. 



This beetle is a species of Brachytarsus. 

 If left undisturbed, the beetle, which is 

 called by the Chinese the "buffalo," will, 

 heedless of the Cocci, continue to burrow 

 in the inner lining of the scale, which 

 seems to be its food ; the beetle is, in 

 fact, parasitic on the Coccus. When a 

 scale is plucked from the tree, the Cocci 

 escape by the orifice* which is made. 



