696 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



Wpst Side. He was engaged In getting his 

 honey ready for market. 



Mrj R. E. Zimmerman was another prosper- 

 ous bee-man, and very patriotic. He had just 

 been elected to serve his country as constable, 

 and did not seem to wear any larger hat than 

 we common people. He was more successful as 

 a candidate than our friend McCubbin. The 

 latter was also patriotic, and ran for office; 

 but owing to the fact that he belonged to the 

 right party he was not elected. 



Mr. Zimmerman is the happy posscs-or of 225 

 colonies of bees, or was at the above date. His 

 apiary showed something of the wear aad tear 

 of the late political strife; and, the soil being 

 of a very productive nature, the weeds had 

 gotten the start of him; but in spite of politics, 

 a dry season, and healthy weeds, his best apiary 

 of 120 colonies had averaged 60 lbs. of comb 

 honey to the colony, and he was busy at work 

 in a cheese-cloth honey-house getting it ready 

 for market. 



Mr. McCubbin's apiary of 143 colonies was 

 nicely located upon what I should call very 

 poor soil. Even weeds would not grow there. 

 It is. however, possible that his political senti- 

 ments of prohibition went so far as to interfere 

 with the personal liberty of the growth of the 

 weeds. If so, I have no doubt the weeds loudly 

 protested, as all weeds do in the moral world 

 when an effort is made to root them out. I 

 mentioned the fact that Mr. McC. had several 

 tons of honey in his residence in town, and 

 here in his honey- house at the apiary were 

 several tons more which had just been taken 

 from the hives, and was ready to be graded. I 

 secured a fine photograph of our friend and his 

 honey. 



Mr. McCubbin is something of a genius, and 

 believes in short cuts to save labor. The photo 

 shows his portable shelves and his method of 

 using them. The shelf is constructed by nail- 

 ing together at the edges two boards, six or 

 eight feet in length, twelve inches wide, then 

 nailing in square ead-pieces as shown. In use, 

 these shelves tier up; the honey is brought 

 from the hives, taken from the supers, and 

 placed upon a shelf. When this is filled, an 

 empty shelf is tiered upon it, and so on until a 

 large amount of honey is upon the shelves. 

 Two smaller adjustable shelves or brackets are 

 attached, and moved as the operator requires, 

 while grading and packing. 



Eight sections of comb are placed together 

 upon the little shelf. In Mr. McC.'s hand is 

 shown a small V-shaped strip. One of these 

 strips is nailed upon each corner of the sec- 

 tions. The eight sections thus held compactly 

 together in one box, as it were, are then packed 

 into the crate shown upon the upper shelf, 

 holding 48 sections. 



The adjustable bracket upon the middle 

 shelf is a handy receptacle for nails and strips. 



Mr. McC. thinks he can work much faster this 

 way than to crate from the supers as they are 

 taken from the hive. 



The section used by our friend is 4J^x4i^xlK, 

 and holds a trifle over 12 oz. Many bee-keepers 

 use this size section about Selma. The prefer- 

 ence is gaining ground for a section that will 

 hold a full pound. From 140 colonies Mr. McC. 

 secured during the last bad year 6300 lbs. of 

 comb honey and 1500 lbs. of extracted. 



The increase in Central California comes 

 early; then there is a dearth of honey in May, 

 followed by a flow of nectar all through June, 

 July, and August. The early alfalfa bloom 

 yields but a small amount of honey as compar- 

 ed with that secured from the later bloom; and 

 the early and late maturing of blossoms 

 lengthens the honey season. Here it is a period 

 of sweetness long drawn out. 



Apiary work commences here in March, as it 

 does further south; but instead of ending in 

 July, as it generally does in the southern 

 counties, the bee-keeper is kept quite busy 

 clear up to December. The few intervening 

 months are profitably spent in preparing for 

 the coming season. Central California bee- 

 keeping needs no side issues, for there is 

 enough to it to make it an all-the-year-ronnd 

 business. In the little town of Selma there are 

 seven bee-keepers. Their apiaries are locat- 

 ed at various points all the way from one mile 

 to ten from town; and several progressive men 

 like Mr. McCubbin devote their entire time to 

 bee-keeping. One of these progressives is Mr. 

 O. W. Stearns. He resides in a pleasant home 

 In the suburbs. His apiary of 390 colonies is 

 out of town; but he has a few colonies near the 

 residence, just to hum around and keep him 

 company. Mr. S. manages on economical prin- 

 ciples, making hives of gasoline and oil cases; 

 and while he practices economy outside the 

 house, a worthy helpmeet manages things in 

 the house and shop, and attends to many little 

 details that would escape the attention of the 

 men: for instance, Mis. S. saved 14 lbs. of nice 

 beeswax which she made from scraping sections 

 and frames that had been thrown aside as 

 worthless. From the amount of beeswax I 

 have seen wasting in many California apiaries 

 it would be an excellent idea for many more 

 ladies to take a hand, especially in the wax 

 management of bees. 



Mr. Stearns said that, from 30 colonies, spring 

 count, he increased to 71, and obtained .5000 lbs. 

 of comb honey. To further demonstrate what 

 his bees were doing at that date, Nov. 27, Mr. 

 S. opened some of his coal-oil-case hives and 

 showed us combs that had been drawn out, 

 and well filled with honey, but not sealed. 

 Holding up a new comb, " This," said he, " has 

 been drawn from foundation, and filled, as you 

 see it, since election day. The product was 

 grape honey. As the reader is probably aware, 



