302 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 1. 



THE KECORD BKOKEN AGAIN ON DEER- SHOOT- 

 ING BY A BEE-KEEPKR. 



On page 170 Mr. J. D. Given asks for a better 

 record on shooting and killing game than he 

 has. I will admit his score is good, and hard to 

 equal. I used to think 1 was fairly good with 

 the gun myself. I use a rifle instead of a shot- 

 gun. I have stood in one place and killed five 

 deer with six shots. The gun was a single- shot 

 breech-loader. The first shot I fired, the deer 

 was about forty feet distant, and the last one 

 was about 400 feet. There were only five deer in 

 the band, all full grown black-tails. I have 

 frequently killed three and four out of a band 

 before they would get away. At another time 

 there were four of us boys worked up to a band 

 of elk. I killed three while the other boys got 

 none. At another time there was a party of ten 

 of us went on a buffalo-hunt. We killed 42 

 buffalo, 6 antelope, and 2 deer. I killed 39 of 

 the buffalo, the 6 antelope, and 2 deer. I have 

 fired 2fi cartridges without missing a single shot, 

 and with the same I killed not less than 10 tons 

 of meat, beeing inis is not a sporting-paper I 

 will let up; but we have bee-keepers here who 

 have records all right. This shooting was done 

 from 1868 to 1876. Use this if you see fit; and If 

 you wish any more records I have plenty left, 

 on up to killing Indians. 



Buckskin Charley. 



Aurora, Neb., Mar. 13. 



[Among his other accomplishments " Buck- 

 skin Charley " is the inventor of a section-press 

 and foundation-fastener that seems to have 

 merit, judging from the engravings and de- 

 scription in a circular sent. Verily, is there 

 any thing bee-keepers can't do between be- 

 tween being legislators and breaking the rec- 

 ords on shooting deer? By the way, I am 

 interested in gunning. When I was sick last 

 fall, and convalescing, the doctor prescribed 

 the shotgun and long tramps. I got both of 

 them, but yame— not any. Indeed, I "broke 

 the record for the county " in missing every 

 thing I shot at. May be if we had deer here I 

 could miss them too.— Ed.] 



SCORE FOR THE BEES. 



At the Oregon Experiment Station, peaches 

 were grown under glass, and forced, by artificial 

 heat, out of their natural season. In such cul- 

 ture, it is necessary to pollenize the flowers by 

 some artificial means — a brush or otherwise. 

 This is very slo\v, tedious work. Bulletin 34 of 

 this station tells what was done: " To save la- 

 bor in transferring the pollen, some trees were 

 sprayed when in full bloom with warm, others 

 with cold water. This proved very unsatis- 

 factory, more fruit dropping at the stoning 

 period than in the case of trees pollenized with 

 the brush. As a further exneriment, a hive of 

 bees was placed in the house when the trees 

 commenced to bloom. This was in November, 



and a heavy fog prevailed for 1.5 days; and 

 although the flowers were constantly opening, 

 not a bee showed itself. During the night of 

 the l.Tth the fog lifted, and the next morning 

 was bright and clear, causing the pollen to 

 burst. Then the bees came from the hive and 

 kept up their work for eight or nine days. The 

 result was, that not a single peach was observed 

 to drop at the stoning season. So great was the 

 amount of fruit on the trees, that it was nec- 

 essary to thin it. On 3 tree in the house was 

 securely protected, so that bees could not gain 

 access to it, and all of the fruit dropped at the 

 stoning period."— R?t7'ai New-Yorker. 



THAT EUROI'EAN AUTOMATIC SMOKER. 



Mr. Chas. Norman, in " European Matters," 

 talks about an automatic smoker. I inclose an 



Illustration. I don't think it will ever do for 

 any "go-ahead '■ bee-keeper. Some one of my 

 acquintance having seen it says the automatic 

 movement, produced by a kind of clockwork, is 

 very noisy. My impression is against this 

 smoker. You can judge for yourself. 



Winter has been very severe in France; but 

 our situation behind the Alps, in Nice, has kept 

 away the fierce cold all our neighbors had to 

 undergo this exceptional year. We had snow 

 three times, though not to stay longer than a 

 day or two. In Palestine my people want rain, 

 especially in Jerusalem — very much exposed to 

 east winds, which dry up every plant. Last 

 year, 1894, was a very poor season here. I hope 

 1895 will be better. I didn't have one-fifth of 

 my usual honey-harvest. 



Nice, France. Pii. J. Baldensperger. 



[The smoker is not reproduced because I 

 think it practicable for this or any other coun- 

 try, but because it represents an idea.— Ed.] 



HONEY FROM RASPBERRIES. 



I wish to attempt to correct two mistakes in 

 your list of seeds of honey-plants, which I cut 

 out and inclose. I was brought up on a fruit- 

 farm, and have kept bees since I was 12 years 

 old. It is the red ra^'pberries that the bees 

 work on principally. They work some on black 

 raspberries, and a very little on blackberries; 

 but the bulk of the raspberry honey comes from 

 the ivild red raspberry. The cultivated is as 

 good, or better, but there is not enough of ii;. 



Sang Run, Md. C. A. Montague. 



CORRECTION. 



Friend Root:— In Gleanings for March 15, 

 you apparently committed me to the proposi- 

 tion that bee-paralysis Is hereditary, by your 



