1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



2fil 



I pocketed my dime I thought to give him, 

 and paid him in thanks, which seemed to be 

 satisfactory. 



Napa is the great center of the wine industry 

 of California. Vineyards and wineries are up- 

 on every hand. The viticultural associations 

 and many good people, including some very 

 prominent ladies, recommend the use of wine 

 as a Deverage. or as an appetizer at each meal. 

 Owing to a delay in the arrival of our mail and 

 express packages we were obliged to stop over 

 here one day. and we had an opportunity to 

 witness how delightfully the wine-bibbing 

 practice worked. 



Several of our Spanish neighbors, of both 

 genders, and including our fat and our volu- 

 ble acquaintances of the previous evening, 

 gathered under the trees a few rods from us. 

 around a demijohn of wine. It rapidly circled 

 from person to person, until it was emptied; 

 and after a short season it was sent to some 

 convenient saloon and filled. It then circled 

 again. Result, a young Spaniard slipped from 

 his chair and sought a slumberous attitude on 

 the ground. A blanket was spread, and he 

 was rolled upon it by the fat woman. If he as 

 much as opened an eye, the dames were on 

 hand to offer him more wine. Others of the 

 group staggered off to some more private place 

 to have a lethargic sleep. The senoras wound 

 up their afternoon with what might be termed 

 a jamboree of angry words. As the cool of the 

 evening came, there came also two men and 

 carried, rather than led, the limp form, that 

 was still on the blanket, into one of the cabins. 

 Thus the picture of the afternoon vanished. 



Shall we take a little wine for the stomach's 

 sake? Thus far on our journey Mr. Wilder 

 and myself had not patronized the drink-shops, 

 and this temperance lecture before us gave us 

 an opportunity to renew our allegiance to cold 

 water. 



I have no sympathy with viticultural associ- 

 ations, for the scene among these poor Span- 

 iards is daily reproduced in higher walks of 

 life, and where the public eye can not behold 

 the lethargic sleep or the domestic brawl. 

 Therefore, still in the ranks of temperance re- 

 form will be found the Rambler. 



JAKE SMITH'S LETTEK. 



FIVE-BANDED OR LONG-TONGUED BEES. 



Mr. A. I. Gleenings—deer Sir.-— Our Zed's 

 always a fussin at something. Last summer 

 he got a lot of oyster-cans and put them on the 

 different hives, with a little bit of feed in them. 

 I didn't mind it. for it was a bad season and the 

 bees wan't a gettin' nothin; and I didn't care 

 if he did feed em sunthin'. Zed's a good boy. 

 If I do say it, and when he hain't into no mis- 

 chief I let him have his own fun. 



One day Jim Short he come over, and we was 



a talkin' about how the corn was a dryin' up 

 without fillin', when Jim see Zed a fussin' at 

 the hives. 



"What's Zed up to now?" says he. "He 

 ain't a takin' off honey, is he ? " 



"Oh, no!" says I; "the bees ain't a makin' 

 any honey now. It's a bad year for bees as 

 well as every thing else. I guess Zed's a tryin' 

 to get the bees to hatch out a crop of oysters." 



I jist said it for fun, for I knowed he was a 

 feedin' em. And I told him so. 



Then he went over toward where Zed was, 

 and says Jim to Zed, "You'll get your bees 

 trained so they'll be no good." 



" How's that ? " says Zed. 



"Why, they'll git used to lookin' to you for 

 feed, and then when any honey does come in 

 the blooms they won't go after it." 



"I guess all I give 'em won't spoil 'em very 

 bad," says Zed. "Come and see how much I 

 give 'em." 



" Jimminy!"says Jim. " Why, they hain't no 

 feed there at all." 



" Yes, there is too," says Zed. " You see, 

 there's a false bottom there. And you see all 

 those little holes in it for the bees to reach their 

 tongues through. Well, there's just a little 

 feed on the true bottom. And the true bottom's 

 on a little slant, so you can tell just how far the 

 bees' tongues reach. They'll suck up the feed 

 just as long as they can; and when it's out of 

 their reach, of course they'll have to stop." 



" Oh I I see," says Jim; " you make 'em reach 

 as long as they can, and then they'll stretch 

 their tongues a little farther, and that way 

 you'll grow a long-tongued set of , bees." 



"Say-ee!" says Zed, "why wouldn't that 

 work ? " 



" I guess," says I, " you'd have to have a good 

 many stretches to make much difference, and 

 the whole hive would have to be at it all sum- 

 mer long, and may be a hundred summers for 

 any thing I know." 



" I guess that's so," says Zed, a fetchin' a 

 long breath. "But that wasn't what I was 

 after, though it ain't so far from it either. 

 You see, bees' tongues ain'.: all of a length, not 

 by a long shot. Now you see that feed comes 

 up to the seventh hole. Now let's go to this 

 next hive. Two, four, five — this comes only to 

 the fifth hole. You see there's a good bit of 

 difference in the tongues of these two colonies, 

 and it's that way all over the yard. Some of 

 'em must have tongues a half longer than 

 others. I guess I belter get this cover on, for 

 the robbers are gettin' around." 



" Well, now," says I, " what goodwill it do 

 if you take the measure of everv bee? It 

 won't make 'em any longer or shorter. If you 

 could make 'em longer you might git 'em to 

 work on red clover. But you can't do it." 



" Don't be too sure of that," says Zed. " You 

 can do what amounts to the same thing. Sup- 

 pose you measure tongues in every hive. Then 



