1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



697 



all of this country around Selma and its neigh- 

 boring city of Fresno, is planted largely to 

 grapes, and the product of the vineyards is, to a 

 great extent, raisins. After the harvesting of 

 the main crop, there is more or less of a fall 

 crop that nearly all goes to waste. Birds and 

 insects live upon them, and the bees bring in 

 much of the juice; and, from the sample of 

 comb shown, it answers for drawing out 

 foundation, and bees will winter well upon it, 

 for I have in mind parties who pressed out the 

 juice and fed it to their bees in Southern Cali- 

 fornia with success. The product from the 

 Stearns hive would not be pronounced good 

 honey, for it had not undergone very much 

 change. It was grape juice still, and had a 

 distinctive raisin taste. 



Although our friends had nice comb honey, 

 all they were offered by dealers was 8 cts. per 

 lb., and the most of it was sold at that price. 

 They were, furthermore, suffering from a rank 

 injustice in relation to tare on honey-cases. 

 Upon a case weighing 4 lbs. a tare of 7 lbs. was 

 taken; upon a 6-lb. case, 9 lbs. tare — a clear 

 steal of 3 lbs. on every case. Individual action 

 in shipping was hampered by the railroads 

 charging excessive freight rates upon less than 

 car lots; and as but few bee-keepers produce 

 carloads of comb honey they have to submit to 

 the extortion. Cooperation, it seems, would 

 help the bee-keepers of Central California, as 

 well as the bee-keepers of the whole country. 

 Let's have cooperation. 



Mr. Wilder and I concluded that we should 

 like to enjoy the hospitalities of Bros. McCub- 

 bin, Zimmerman, Stearns, and a host of other 

 bee-men, for several days; but the clouds, and 

 a sprinkle of rain, admonished us again to be 

 on ,the road, and wc loft our friends, 'feeling 

 that Central California, though not written up 

 to a great extent, is a honey-producing location 

 that will attract more attention as the area of 

 alfalfa is increased. We also desired to turn 

 aside from our route and look up the honey re- 

 sources of Kings Co., and around about Tulare 

 Lake. In Lemore, Kings Co.. resides Mr. J. F. 

 Flory, a gentleman not unknown to the readers 

 of Gleanings, and an extensive honey-produc- 

 er, not only in Kings Co., but also the West 

 Side. We could only look that way while our 

 ponies were speeding toward Bakersfield. 



KEEPING TOPS OF SECTIONS CLEAN. 



A BEE-SPACE BETTER THAN QUILTS OR SHEETS, 

 AND WHY. 



By Dr. G. C. Miller. 



A correspondent thinks some one should in- 

 vent a way to keep th' tops of sections clean. 

 I don't feel very sangu ■ ne in that direction, as to 

 any great iraprovemeni over the present. There 

 are two ways in practice. One is, to leave the 



tops entirely uncovered; and the other, have 

 them covered. If left uncovered, there is noth- 

 ing to hinder the bees from putting on all the 

 propolis they like. With a cover of enameled 

 cloth or any other cloth, the bees push glue 

 into the crevices, and gradually raise the cloth 

 until the glue is a quarter of an inch thick and 

 all over the top. A rigid cover of wood is not 

 so bad; bu,t I never saw any thing of this kind 

 but that the bees could squeeze in a line of glue 

 along the edges. Perhaps it is because it is 

 impossible to have a perfectly close fit with a 

 rigid covering. 



The only way I can think of to have some- 

 thing fit down close enough would be to have a 

 cloth cover; then over this lay a bag of sand, 

 so that the weight of the sand might press 

 down at every point. It is possible, however, 

 that it might take something like a wagonload 

 of sand to press down hard enough so the bees 

 could squeeze in no glue. 



On the whole I have been best satisfied to 

 leave the tops of the sections free for the bees 

 to manage as they like. Watch closely and 

 see how the bees manage a super in which the 

 sections are left uncovered, and one at the 

 same time in which a slat covers them. In the 

 early part of the season propolis is not so plen- 

 tiful as later, and bees don't seem called upon 

 to use it as a varnish, except to glue up cracks 

 and crevices. They will crowd in glue over 

 the edges of the covered sections, and leave the 

 uncovered sections clean. Later on, after the 

 white-honey harvest is over, there seems to 

 be a surplus of propolis, and it is smeared every- 

 where, even on flat surfaces. At this time the 

 uncovered sections get the worst of it, being 

 painted all over, while the covered ones are 

 clean, all but the edges. 



As we can generally manage to get sections 

 oE before the glueiest time comes, I think less 

 glue will be found on the sections left entirely 

 uncovered, and we must be satisfied to sci'ape 

 off all we find. 



NEW THINGS. 



" Why is it, doctor, that people seem always 

 ready to down a new thing?" writes a friend. 

 The first part of the answer to that is, they're 

 not. What bee-keeper is there who hasn't a 

 lot of traps stored away somewhere, or lying 

 kicking around, showing the many new things 

 that were received with favor, only to be found 

 wanting when tried? Witness the favor with 

 which the Chapman honey-plant and other 

 new honey-plants were received. But who has 

 a field of them now? All of which goes to show 

 that, as a rule, people are not down on new 

 things to an intolerable degree. 



As experience tells us that the majority of 

 new things will not prove desirable, it is only 

 right that, when a new thing comes up, we 

 should want to know all we can about it. 

 Foundation with a veneer base is instanced. 



