180.=5 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



53 



are much the form of leaves of mature trees of 

 Eucdlyptus (jlobulus. You remember the pe- 

 culiar leaf habit of the blue-gum. The early 

 leaves are oval and bluish; while later, as the 

 tree becomes older and larger, the very long 

 green leaves replace the earlier and more curi- 

 ous leaves. This E. longifolia has very showy 

 and beautiful flowers. They are creamy white, 

 and the long numerous stamens are very con- 

 spicuous. A curious conical cap also falls off 

 the bud as it opens, which adds to the interest 

 of this honey eucalyptus. The fruit is also 

 conical, or top-shaped, and so is attractive after 

 the flowers fade. The tree, like nearly all Cal- 

 ifornia trees, is long in bloom. It had been 

 blooming since October, and is certainly good 

 for three weeks yet. That it is a rapid grower 

 is shown in the fact that a two-year-old tree is 

 seventeen feet high. It is very desirable that 

 our bees be able to secure honey during the 

 winter months, and so I wish to ui'ge upou 

 California bee-keepers the wisdom of setting 

 or planting this Eucalyptus longifolia as we 

 would the basswood in the East. It is most de- 

 sirable for roadside planting for other reasons, 

 and must become a valuable acquisition to our 

 bee-keepers. As yet it is a rare tree. Mr. L. L. 

 Pond, of Riverside, writes me that it is very 

 rare there. I find only a few about here, and I 

 have noticed scattering trees at Pasadena and 

 a few at " Smiley Heights." 



Another eucalyptus, probably E. rostrata, is 

 said by Mr. Pond to be very fatal to bees. It 

 blooms earlier in the season, and Mr. Pond says 

 he has taken gallons of dead bees from beneath 

 the blooming trees, lie says a neighbor who 

 has an irrigating-flume beneath the blooming 

 trees has had the holes so stopped up by dead 

 bees that it interfered very much with his 

 work of irrigating. This is very interesting, 

 and I shall give it personal attention next sea- 

 son. It would seem that E. rostrata might 

 well be superseded by E. longifolia. 



There are various reports about the insecti- 

 cidal properties of the eucalypti. It is reported 

 that the blue-gum keeps the mosquitoes away, 

 and is deadly to many microbes; and a mer- 

 chant of Los Angeles reports, so I learn from 

 Mr. Abbot Kinney, our best authority on these 

 trees, that the foliage placed among clothing is 

 an effective preventive of moth ravages. 



I have been appointed by the University of 

 California as Director of Farmers' Institutes of 

 Southern California. This is exactly the soil for 

 grand meetings. There is so much of ability 

 and culture among the ranchers that the papers 

 are very able, the discussions very free and 

 sprightly, and the attendance and interest are 

 remarkable. I speak at each institute of the 

 value of bees in horticulture, and receive a 

 very hearty response to my propositions. 



Claremont, Cal., Dec. 27. 



[We. as bee-keepers, will rejoice over the ap- 

 pointment of Prof. Cook as Director of P'arm- 



ers' Institutes: fur that means that the bees 

 will receive a fair share of recognition, and 

 Prof. Cook of all men in a public meeting seems 

 to have a happy faculty of breaking down an- 

 tagonism against our pets, and of creating an 

 interest in their behalf. — Ed. J 



MICE IN BEE CELLARS. 



THE DAMAGE THEY DO; HOW TO POISON THEM. 



By C. Davenport. 



Mice in bee-cellars do more injury than is 

 often suspected. f>om a good deal of experi- 

 ence I know that a very few mice, if the hives 

 are so that they can get in or at them, will 

 often ruin a good many colonies. When I built 

 my two outside bee-cellars, six years ago, I 

 tried, and thought I had made them mice- 

 proof; but they soon got in. Bees seem to 

 draw and attract mice, and it is pretty hard to 

 keep the vermin out of a bee-cellar. Of course, 

 it can be done; but I will venture the assertion 

 that they can get into 39 out of 30 bee-cellars as 

 they average. Wire screen can be used to keep 

 them out of the hives; but this is a poor plan, 

 for bees that are confined are apt to become 

 restless and excited. Wire netting is used that 

 will not confine the bees but exclude the mice. 

 This is considerable work and expense; and, 

 besides, if the hives are so that the mice can 

 reach them they will gnaw and scratch, trying 

 to get in; and if they are not able to get in they 

 will do nearly if not quite as much harm as if 

 they did, as many bees will come out, and 

 the mouse then helps itself to the choicest part 

 of as many of them as it wants; and it is not 

 only what they eat, but their gnawing excites 

 the bees so that a good many of them leave the 

 hives, and die around in the cellar; and I think 

 this is often attributed to other than the real 

 cause. If this is kept up for three or four 

 months it is apt to cause poor luck in winter- 

 ing. 



The hives in both of my cellars are fixed so 

 that mice can not reach them. This can be 

 done without much work or expense. My hives 

 are set in tiers. The lower tiers are supported 

 about a foot, or a little more, up from the cellar 

 bottom. I would have them like this, mice or 

 no mice. I know that in my cellars, and I 

 think in all cellars, it is better to have the low- 

 er tiers up from the cellar bottom; but in cel- 

 lars that have tight board or cemented floors 

 this may not make any difference. Neither of 

 mine has any floor except the ground. I set 

 the lower tiers on two pieces, 4x4. These are 

 placed about 10 inches apart, and are held up 

 by driving a stake into the cellar bottom at the 

 end of each; and if the 4x4's are long, and the 

 hives are piled pretty high, it will be better to 

 have a stake under the center of each 4x4. I 

 nail two or three narrow pieces of boards, 

 across on the under side of the 4x4, to keep 

 them from spreading. On the top of each stake 



