114 



April, 1908. 



American ISee Journal 



in tlie stove, or over a bhie-flame oil 

 lieatcr, when it is to be lightly laid on the 

 under side of the top-bar of the section 

 (the section should now be bottom side 

 up,) when with the other hand take 

 one of the triagular pieces of comb, 

 touch it to the iron, when the iron is 

 quickly withdrawn, and the piece of 

 comb immediately set firmly on the sec- 

 tion. Now turn the section over and put 

 it in the super, when you will have a 

 nice and enticing guide or starter for 

 the bees to commence work upon, which 

 will not fall or pull off. There is no 

 question but that the bees will take to 

 such a starter much more readily than 

 they will to one of foundation, but wheth- 

 er it will pay to put the foundation in 

 colonies to have it drawn out into comb, 

 and do all the extra work required so 

 that we may have starters of comb in- 

 stead of foundation, is something that I 

 am not just yet free to decide upon. 

 However. I do think it pays to save all 

 pieces of clean white comb we may 

 chance to find built where we do not 

 wish it, and use these for cutting up in 

 this way. If you prefer to use comb 

 foundation instead of this comb, let 

 the starter be a triangle, having the 

 length of sides 3 to 4 inches. 



Very many of our best apiarists prefer 

 to fill the section completely with foun- 

 dation, except a quarter of an inch or 

 so at the bottom. Where comb founda- 



tion is used, be sure to use only the very 

 thinnest, which should measure not less 

 than 10 square feet to the pound. If 

 thicker than this, the bees will not al- 

 ways properly thin it, and in that case 

 your customers are quite likely to com- 

 plain of the surplus wax in the comb. 



Foundation is best put on with a foun- 

 dation fastener, many of which can be 

 had of any dealer in bee-keepers' sup- 

 plies; but if you do not have one of 

 these fasteners, verv fair work can be 

 done with the band iron of about the 

 width of the sections. 



Having the starters all in the sections, 

 they are now to be arranged in the su- 

 pers. If possible, the center tier of sec- 

 tions in the super should consist of those 

 which were filled partly or quite full 

 ' of comb, left over from the season be- 

 fore. If you have these, the bees will 

 go into the sections and be at work much 

 sooner than when such are not used. 



A good many bee-keepers complain 

 of having too many partly-filled sections 

 in the fall, but. as a rule, I do not have 

 as many as I wish, for I consider them .^ 

 good investment as above ; in fact, bet- 

 ter than money in the bank. Having 

 the center tier of such partly-filled sec- 

 tions, place on either side those with 

 starters, till you have the super filled, 

 when you are ready to put them on the 

 hives at any time the bees are ready. 



Borodino, N. Y. 



■^- 



RcflcctionLf 



California Bce-Kccpcr 



By W. A. l'R\ Al,. .Md._ii .st.iti. 



A Promising Harvest This Year. 



It is now the first of March and the 

 rainfall has been all that could be de- 

 sired in this portion of the State. I 

 understand that the southern portion of 

 the State has been fairly well treated in 

 the same respect ; the northern section 

 of California seldom fails of getting a 

 'good wetting annually; this year it may 

 run over the average. Of course, all 

 kinds of agricultural crops will be good; 

 wliat the fruit crop will be will depend 

 upon whether there are heavy frosts dur- 

 ing the first couple of weeks this month 

 — ithe more tender kinds of fruit-blos- 

 soms may be nipped by cold weather. 

 What the honey-crop will be will depend 

 much upon the condition of the weather 

 during the period the flowers that secrete 

 nectar are in blossom. So the fruit- 

 grower and the apiarist is never "out 

 of the woods" until the crop is pretty 

 well gathered. 



Like Foul Brood. 



Mike Murphy was quite a gardener; 

 he had his "praties" and other "garden 

 sass," all of which grew in greater 

 luxuriance than was to be seen anywhere 

 around. He had a few colonies of bees 



which gave the family all the honey they 

 desired. One day Prof. Buggman, of 

 the entomological department of the uni- 

 versity of the State he lived in (remem- 

 ber that this is not a story upon any of 

 the bugologists hereabouts), came over 

 to see if there were any cabbage-flies 

 upon Mike's cauliflowers. The gardener 

 took the professor |o the patch, which 

 was close to the bees. An inspection 

 was at once begun, but all of a sudden, 

 the latter exclaimed : 



"Mr. Murphy, your bees have foul 

 brood." 



"Go 'way wid ye, ye don't know what 

 yer talkin about," indignantly retorted 

 Mike. 



"Sure, Mike, your bees have the dis- 

 ease, and that the worst I ever knew. It 

 is right in that hive there." 



And Mr. Murphy yanked off the cover 

 of the colony indicated, and said, "Now 

 we shall see if my pets are down wid 

 the dhread malajy." 



But the professor did not stop to in- 

 vestigate the colony, for a score of bees 

 from the hive flew at him. evidently to 

 resent the insult innocently aimed at 

 them by the savant. In his haste to beat 

 a retreat the good professor stumbled 

 over a freshly dumped pile of muckish 



manure that was not 5; feet from where 

 he was investigating the little green flies 

 on the cauliflowers. When he pulled 

 himself out of the muck Mike triumph- 

 antly exclaimed, "Ye dirty spalpeen, I 

 guess it is yerself that is afther having 

 foul brood and not the bays, for sure yc 

 are the foulest looking sight I have been 

 afther seeing in all me born days." 



And the professor admitted he was 

 pretty foul, and it was the manure that 

 was malvoilent and not the bees. With 

 that Mike apologized for calling the 

 savant a "dirty spalpeen." 



Scrapings and Cappings Mean Money. 



Too often the bee - man loses sight 

 of the small things. I have seen him neg- 

 lect the cappings until they were all 

 destroyed and unfit to render into wax. 

 So, also, he scrapes the hives and frames 

 and lets the wax fall upon the ground 

 to be lost. It pays to go through the 

 hives during the late winter months and 

 remove all unnecessary bits of comb 

 from frames and the sides of the hive. 

 Even where the bees have built the 

 combs so that they are unnecessarily 

 thick, it is a good plan to shave them 

 down to a fair thickness. You might 

 as well get the wax; it is often placed 

 in the hive by the bees in unwanton 

 liberality. 



The Eucalyptus Again. 



In years gone by I have from time 

 ti) time referred to this tree as a honey- 

 secreter and its great worth to our bee- 

 keepers. Throughout California two or 

 three varieties are quite common, es- 

 pecially E. globidous, or blue-gum, as it 

 is commonly called. I have just re- 

 ceived this year's Seed Bulletin from the 

 Agricultural Experiment Station of the 

 University of California. 



As supplementary to what I have al- 

 ready written on this tree, I am going to 

 copy the portion of the bulletin bearing 

 upon the Eucalyptus, in full. It is as 

 follows : 



The growing interest in Eucalyptus planting 

 is now keener and wider than in any previous 

 year since this important genus was introduced 

 from Australia over 50 years ago. This in- 

 terest is inciting commercial propagators and 

 our nurseries are therefore offering large col* 

 lections of well-grown trees at prices which 

 encourage forest and wood-lot planting. Aside 

 from species thus available we have several 

 growing at the University Forestry Station 

 at Santa Monica from which seed has been 

 gathered for this distribution to those who 

 desire to grow species which usually do not 

 enter into large plantings, viz.: 



1. Eucalyptus Botryoides {"Bastard viaUog- 

 any"). — An upright and spreading tree highly 

 recommended by all the Australian writers, as 

 one of their best timber trees, if it is grown 



, where there is plenty of water. The first 14 

 months after the young grove was put on the 

 Station Grounds at Santa Monica the average 

 height was nearly 13 feet. It will stand a 

 small amount of frost. 



2. Eucalyptus Citriodora {"Lemon scented 

 gum"). — Very ornamental, having lavender and 

 cream colored deciduous bark, the leaves are 

 long and narrow, the branches are pendent, 

 giving the trees a weeping effect. The wood 

 is claimed by the Australians to be v.ilnable 

 for wagon work. The average growth of this 

 species is about 5 feet a year for the first 12, 

 then the average *is somewhat smaller. The 

 leaves when crushed give off an aroma, from 

 which the species is named. 



3. Eucalyptus Cornuta rar. Lchmani. — This 

 variety is a dwarf, having very small, thick, 

 dark-green leaves. The buds are borne in 

 large irregular masses and the deciduous calyx 

 caps are 4 and s inches in length. The flow- 

 ers arc of a dark-green color and are in bloom 

 during the late fall. The wood is a light-brown 



