;?26 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



May 15 



sui)er. Two or three hot tlays had brought 

 the blossoms forward so quickly that they 

 were not prepared for the rush of honey; and 

 the way that orange-blossom nectar was sail- 

 ing in was a caution. 



I was soon ready to pumj) the smoker for 

 Mr. Shultis while he brushed the bees from 

 the combs. Some of those combs must 

 have contained eight or ten pounds of hon- 

 ey, they were so fat; but I believe some Cal- 

 ifornia bee-keepers like fat combs. At any 

 rate, this particular one gave his bees a 

 chance to build them that way, having one 

 or two combs less than the regulation num- 

 ber in each super. The capping on this hon- 

 ey was fully as white as on the white-clover 

 or basswood honey in the East. 



The comi)actness of this apiary was a sur- 

 prise. There were ;>25 hives, all facing one 

 way, if I remember rightly, in a compara- 

 tively small space — ^just room enough be- 

 tween the rows, north and south, to run a 

 narrow wheelbarrow. It seems almost any 

 thing can be done with bees when nectar is 

 l)lentiful: but I wonder if they will be as 

 amiable all this hot summer after the orange 

 bloom is gone. 



Mr. Shultis expects to get four tons or 

 more of orange-blossom honey this spring; 

 and as this w'ill be practically the first new 

 honey on the market, it will command a 

 fancy price. The honey-tanks stand out in 

 the sunshine, and are "filled by means of a 

 pipe running from the honey-house, several 

 feet distant. They are also near a wagon- 

 road. Room to place a five-gallon can is 

 made in the ground under each faucet, so fill- 

 ing the honey into cans and loading it will 

 be comparatively easy. 



In conversing with a gentleman from Can- 

 ada the other day, who has been in the 

 southern part of the State the past year en- 

 gaged in the bee business, an interesting 

 subject was touched upon. He claims that 

 wintering is more of a i)roblem here than in 

 his old home. His argument is that the 

 queen lays no eggs during the cool rainy 

 months; but the workers are out, except 

 when it is raining, after forage, which real- 

 ly amounts to but very little, thereby wear- 

 ing themselves out and reducing the strength 

 of the colony, with no brood coming along 

 to take their places. The consequence is 

 that, when fruit bloom comes on, most col- 

 onies are too weak to send out a large force 

 of workers, and so the harvest is lost. On 

 the other hand, bees wintered in a cold cli- 

 mate have been resting for several months, 

 and start out in the spring with a large force 

 of energetic workers. Of course, we all un- 

 derstand that the deciduous fruit bloom 

 comes on much earlier here than in the 

 North and East. How is this, Mr. Califor- 

 nia Reekeeper? 



The late rains have set things a-hummin' 

 in beedom. Bees are being moved to wild- 

 buckwheat fields that would have remained 

 on their winter stands only for the rain. 

 Nevertheless a large honey crop is not ex- 

 pected in Southern California, especially 

 where the sages are the principal forage 

 l)lants. 



Wild mustard grows almost everywhere 

 in great profusion in this locality, and is 

 now in full bloom. Probably it is always in 

 full bloom. I never remember seeing it 

 otherwise. Why do we not hear of wild- 

 mustard honey? If all the waste i)laces 

 were covered with sweet clover instead of 

 mustard, what a jollification the bees would _. 

 have; and, incidentally, their keepers also! ^. 



Mr. C. H. Clayton, of Los Angeles, is ex- ^^ 

 l)erimenting with an uncapping -device 

 which, if it proves a success, will be a great 

 labor and time saver to bee-keei)ers, and 

 especially so to the apiarist who has hun- 

 dreds of colonies. I can just imagine the 

 outfit working which I saw standing still 

 the other day. A gasoline-engine was hitch- 

 ed up to our eight-frame extractor, with this 

 device firmly attached to the top of the ex- 

 tractor. The most arduous labor of the bee- 

 keeper with that outfit will be to pocket the 

 money from the proceeds of the season's 

 crop. 



The next meeting of the I^s Angeles 

 County Bee-keepers' Club will occur on Sat- 

 urday, .Fune 4, in the committee room, third 

 floor. Chamber of Commerce. This club 

 did enough during the first week of its exis- 

 tence to justify its organization. The com- 

 mittee named to confer with the County 

 Sui)ervisors in regard to shipping restrictions 

 got right after its work; and the consequence 

 was that an ordinance was ])assed prohibit- 

 ing the shipping of any bees, which were lo- 

 cated within twenty-five miles of a district 

 infected with black'brood, into this county. 



Plenty of Honey from the Cow Pea. 



Mr. Dillard. April 1, page 235, asks if bees gather 

 honey from field peas. My ob.servatlon for years 

 has been that the field pea that he refers to, which 

 is the cow pea, not the pea of the North, does pro- 

 duce nectar or some sweet around the joints where 

 blossoms join the upright stems. This is where the 

 bees, and particularly the common red wasps, love 

 to teed. I do not know that the honey-bee can 

 reach the honey in the blossoms. Whatever sub- 

 stance exudes from the point mentioned is not con- 

 fined to the blooming time alone, but is present, 

 more or le.ss, later, the joints taking on bright or 

 dark red color. My reason for stating that the pea 

 to which Mr. I), has reference is the cow pea is that 

 this is the Southern pea, and should be in bloom 

 late. The Canada field pea, if grown in Georgia, 

 would be ripe and dry by harvest. 



Phncnix. Ariz., April 7. K T. HUNT. 



Plaster-of-Paris Method of Killing Rats Very Sat- 

 isfactory. 



1 wish to indorse Mr. Hacking's method of exter- 

 minating rats, p. 128. I have used it for years, and 

 consider it the most humane, effective, and safe 

 way of ridding the premises of rats. They are hard 

 to catch in traps, and cats as well as fowls are liable 

 to be caught. 1 would not put out poison for any 

 consideration. 1 take the precaution to turn a box 

 over the pan of mixture, with the corners blocked 

 up so nothing larger than a rat can go under. This 

 keeps poultry and birds from it. 



I do not think it is necessary to put out a dl.sh of 

 water if there is any water to be had within half a 

 mile, for they will immediately go in search of it: 

 and if they have to go a few rods It takes them away 

 so they do not die about the buildings. 



If a cat or dog should happen to eat a carcass 

 there would be no bad effect as would be the case if 

 the rat had been poisoned. 



Mansfield, Pa., March 14. A. D. WATSON. 



