miM 
.Hiu'rV 
enervating parasites. But it is well to be ac¬ 
quainted with lice, and even with Satan him¬ 
self. if acquaintance means riddance. Hence I 
make no apology for introducing, and even 
dwelling upou the habits and character of 
help herself to honey from the comb. Only in 
very rare instances, when the bees have been 
a very long time without a queen, and have 
lost all hope of rearing one, is it udvi-nMc to 
introduce a valuable queen to a colony with- 
of a brute; and it is one of the chief ends of 
man to overcome the difficulties that are met 
with in procuring subsistence and the means 
for comfort in spite of the injurious attacks of 
the lower animals, insects included, with vari¬ 
ous other pests which interfere with the suc¬ 
cess of our labors. We believe that a way may 
be found to overcome all these ; and every 
hint to this effect is useful. We give herewith 
a method described iu a German paper, by 
which sheep may be enabled to resist the at¬ 
tacks of dogs. It consists of a metal collar 
furnished with sharp, steel spikes, as shown at 
Fig. 2, and applied as shown at Fig. 1. At Fig. 
3 is showu more in detail, the mauner of 
fastening the spikes aud the collar. The collar 
may be made of light hoop iron, and the fast- 
tenin.gs may consist of small bolts with nuts. 
The spikes are held in the same way, and the 
collar is opened aud closed by removing aud 
replacing the bolt shown on one side. A strap 
of harness leather may lie used in place of the 
irou band, and this would be more easily man¬ 
aged. While this may not be a thoroughly 
effective preventive, it will, at least, be a great 
protection to the sheep. Dogs will attack the 
animals by seizing them by the leg or hind¬ 
quarters, but the throat is the most vital point; 
aud if this is well protected the sheep will not 
be killed, although they may be Injured. 
to take them hardly as many seconds. “ Bit¬ 
ing as they run,” they quickly inflict their 
painful wounds on various parts of the body. 
The color of the dog-flea is dark chestnut, 
darker than the human flea, aud unlike the 
latter, it lias sharp spines (Fig. 1) projecting 
from the lower lateral borders of its bead, and 
the posterior edge of the first thoracic ring. 
The small, oval white eggs are laid ou the ani¬ 
mal, or in the dust of the kennel. The larva? 
(Fig. 3) are footless maggots with lateral hairs, 
and live in dust ami dirt where they feed upon 
the organic matter which these contain. They 
mature in about two weeks, when they spin 
slight coeoons in which the iuaetive pupae 
may soon be seen. In two weeks more the 
mature fleas hop forth. There are several 
broods in a season. They pass the winter cer¬ 
tainly as imagoB or mature fleas, aud perhaps 
in other stages 
PREVENT DOGS FROM KILLING SHEF.P. 
in the cage these noxious pests of the barn and poultry 
irs, the bees house. 
ind she can Fleas, Family Pilllclrl/e, Snb-Order Diptera. 
ittle smoke As l)lf , immature fleas live upon the organic 
ild be much inatter 0 f dirt aud filth, these animals can only 
tile pepper- thrive aB t i lC companions of untidyness and 
•, daub her ueg | fiCt Hence, we have more than one rea- 
t lior go out S0Q t0 congratulate ourselves that our State is 
tie notice of not nmch troul.Hul by these irritating pests. I 
[Vmg off the )(ave yct t( , WC( . tlie human flea in Michigan. 
• work—she But with nc gieet and filth, the dog, cat and 
rear ; but if , ien jlca3 wiil init j n au appearance even in 
around her, onp goocllv State, and it is an unwelcome fact | 
;c for a day t)l!U i u ttcr are nothing loth to take a sip 
3 wed. Once frotn our owu 1>rec ious blood, if opportunity 
offers. The flea, -''A O 
structurally speak- 
iug, is a kind of / -h 
nondescript among / i 
insects, and hence 
has been ranked ]>>;. 
by many aide ento- y 
mologlets iu a dis- .fpllAjk'* 
tinct sub-order— Hw 
Aphaniptera. Oth- *. jj / Tt 
ers, and I think a ■■ ^ 
wisely, have re- \ I f'lQ j 
garded it as a de- ' y cL 
graded dipteron. Fig. 1.—Head of Dog-Flea. 
The fact of its being apterous is certainly no 
objection to this, as all sub-orders have mem¬ 
bers that are wingless. The possession of 
labial palpi (Fig. 1, f), which are warning in 
all other dipterous insects, would seem a 
stronger reason for separation, yet such differ¬ 
ences are wanting In other groups. When wc 
take into consideration their whole life econo- 
HOW TO ITALIANIZE 
Tiie excellent qualities of the Italians as | 
compared with the black bees, are so much in j 
favor of the former that all amateur bee-keep- , 
urs should supersede, their common stock with , 
Italians as soon as practicable. The Italians 
have been cultivated for many decades, per¬ 
haps centuries, in the valleys of Northern Italy, 
and iu appearance differ from the common 
bees ouly iu buviug the three first segments of 
the abdomen of a bright yellow color. 
To Italianize a colony, it is by no means 
necessary to sell or kill off the black bees. 
All that is required is to remove the old queen, 
aud in her place introduce a fertilized, pure 
Italian. The queen is the mother ol every bee 
in the hive. She lays the eggs from which all 
workers, drones and qneon-bees arc developed. 
Hence, when a pure Italian queen becomes 
sovereign in a hive, her progeny will be pure 
Italians, and as the life of those bees that are 
hatched iu spring, or early in summer, and 
have to collect the honey of the season, is but 
about three months, while those hatched iu the 
fall, that go through the winter, live only about 
seven or eight months at the most, it will take 
but a comparatively short time until the old 
bees have disappeared from the stage aud their 
places are filled with the children of the new 
queen. 
If one lias no pure Italians from which to 
raise a queen, the ouly alternative is to pro¬ 
cure a young, tested queen from a reliable 
breeder. By a “ tested queen”—a colloquial 
phrase among bee-keepers—is understood a 
queen that lias been fertilized, and the purify 
of whose progeny has been ascertained. An 
investment iu such a queen is a valuable 
acquisition to the apiary. An untested queen, 
though Bhe can be bought cheap, is at best but 
a game of chanee—a lottery—upon the fortu¬ 
nate turns of which no prudent bee-keeper 
will stake the value of his stock. Many and 
plausible arguments have of late been brought 
forward both for and against the practice of 
selliug “dollar queens.” We would advise 
those of our readers who may desire to pur¬ 
chase queens, that in the choice between 
quality aud cheapness, they should invariably 
eboose quality. If a breeder can furnish a 
tested queen, young and healthy, and warrant¬ 
ed to be fertile, pure and prolific, for one dol¬ 
lar, then well aud good; she is all that can bo 
wished for ; but if there is the least chance of 
her haying imperfections that will interfere 
with her fruitfulness, or of haviug met a black 
drone, or that she has not been fertilized at 
all, she should be rejected; aud rather than 
buy such a mother, one should pay from three 
to live dollars for one that is known to be per¬ 
fect. 
A pure queen obtained, it remains but to in¬ 
troduce her to the colony. On a mild day, 
when tin* bees are busy gathering houoy, and 
most of them are absent in tlic fields, blow a 
little smoko into the hive to quiet tlie bees; 
then carefully take out and examine one frame 
after another till the old queen is found. 
Having found and destroyed her, together 
with all queen ‘cells that may lie under con¬ 
struction, the frames should be replaced. 
Next catch the new queen by the wing (always 
by the wing, us she may be seriously Injured if 
grasped about the body), and inclose her in a 
small wire-gauze cage, made by bonding the 
gauze over a Huger aud uniting the edges, 
leaving it open at one end, and close up this 
opening with a wooden plug or by bending the 
edge. When thus caged, place the cage be¬ 
tween two frames, so that her majesty can 
BEES AND HONEY PLANTS 
I li ad 200 colonies of hybrid bees last autumn, 
and I have not lost more that six. The winter 
1 laving been uuusuallycool, bees have not been 
out as much as usual and consequently losses 
have been less. Our bee Beason commences 
iu February and eon Guiles till near December, 
giving us a long working season, when we 
take care to keep a succession of flowers for 
pasturage. In September we usually have the 
greatest drought of the season and nearly all 
our wild (lowers arc dried up. During this 
dry season it nothing is prepared by cultiva¬ 
tion for pasturage, the bees get scarcely enough 
to subsist upou. Our lucerne meadows give 
great help, but generally as soon as tlie plants 
get well iu blossom, the mower spoils all the 
prospects of honey from that source. 
Iu all my experience with bees, I find Mig¬ 
nonette the most valuable for bee pasturage. 
This I announced through the bee journals 
several years ago, aud continued experience 
has strengthened that conclusion. That plant 
blooms early and eoutilinos to blossom till 
nipped by frost. 1 have not a shade of doubt 
but that a well cultivated acre of this plant 
would give abundant employment for 500 
colonics. 
Sweet Clover conics next to Mignonette, 
in value for bees. There is little doubt hut 
that, this plant will yield honey faster than 
Mignonette, but being a perennial, it costs 
double what the other does that blossoms 
annually and Is self-seeding after having once 
been started. There is still another very valua¬ 
ble plant for bees, known as the “American bee 
plant” that was introduced into the East in 
p-iob. It grows in sand, is a wonderful bloom¬ 
er and honey-producer, but the honey from 
it lacks the Hue flavor of that collected from 
the first-named plants. I. E. Johnson. 
St. George, Utah. 
A NEW RASPBERRY DISEASE 
malady, which is proving very disastrous to 
the raspberry vines in that section. Said our 
I first noticed the white 
Thornless, three or 
there is scarcely a 
plant of that variety left in this vicinity. For 
the last two years the spots have appeared on 
all the Black Caps, and tlie only way to obtain 
a crop from that sort, is to destroy all the old 
vines and to make new plantations; for the 
visitation does not alfeet tlie vines uutil they 
are three years old. Many who raise the fruit 
hero for market have never noticed the white 
mold ou the canes, and lustead of attributing 
the loss of their vines to it. they merely sup¬ 
pose they are dying out naturally.” Our 
friend says the disease la universal throughout 
that State, and he asks Its cause and a remedy. 
From inquiries we learn that in parts of New 
Jersey, also, the ailment is playing havoc with 
the Black Caps and threatening the others. 
Last season the New' Rochelle was seriously 
affected ou oneoxteusivc plantation, the owner 
of which sent specimens of the affected cane 
to several eminent authorities, and asked their 
opinion as to the cause of the malady aud a 
remedy therefor. To him we are indebted for 
correspondent 
patches ou the Davidsou 
four years ago, and noi 
PARASITES ON DOMESTIC ANIMALS 
No. 1. 
PROFESSOR A. J. COOK 
I think that iii all the vast realm of insect 
life, there are no other species so justly abhor¬ 
rent and so miserably disgusting as the external 
parasites ou man ami tlie lower animals. Their 
very look is repulsive, their habits intolerable, 
in sooth they are tit companions of the dirt and 
filth which ever serve as the kindly foster- 
mother to these most repel I ant of animals. 
Well may the ucat housewife start aghast at the 
sight of the nasty bed-bug. or blush with shame 
and confusion at the news that her own fornl 
kin are nourishing those repulsive pigmies, the 
liead-iiee. The thrifty farmer also dreads the 
presence of these terrible blood-thirsty minions 
ou his kiue, for he knows that the prosperity 
of his animals is well-nigh impossible, if they 
must give of their substance to nourish these 
Fig. 2.-Dog-Flea. 
The dog-flea (Fig. 2) is so named as it prefers 
to satiate its blood-thirsty appetite from the 
dog. If dogs are permitted to harbor these 
annoying pests, the latter will gain admittance 
to houses, will hide in carpets, mats, etc., aud 
