72S 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



the hive, combs, and honey are left, and there 

 is a better chance iu the field for the other 

 bees." I've known cases in which neither 

 combs nor honey was left. [My experience 

 seems to show that it does pay every time to 

 see whether a young queen actually turns out 

 to be fertile and a good one. Too many queens 

 turn up missing to make such a policy as Bro. 

 Hutchinson indicates a safe and profitable one, 

 in our yards at least.— Ed.J 



I'm thankful, very thankful, to say of my 

 bees, that lately " a change has come over the 

 spirit of their dreams," and they've stopped 

 dreaming, gone to work, and are now filled up 

 heavy for winter. Who knows but some of 

 these years they may conclude to work again 

 during the clover harvest? 



One advantage of using percolating feed- 

 ers, or the crock-and-plate method, is that rob- 

 bers don't trouble as they do when you use 

 syrup. When you pour in the sugar, robbers 

 don't care for dry sugar.aWhen you pour in 

 the water, it stays on top, and robbers don't 

 hanker after cold water. [Yes, and that advan- 

 tage is a big one in a beginner's case. — Ed.] 



Alfalfa is the same thing as lucerne or lu- 

 zerne. Formerly it was known in this country 

 by its' French name, " lucerne;" but in 1853 it 

 was introduced into California from Chili, and 

 has since been known by its Spanish name, 

 "alfalfa." It is also called Chilian clover and 

 Brazilian clover. Its botanical name is Medi- 

 cago sativa. 



F. A. LocKHAKT has mailed me a cage with 

 equal numbers of Carniolans and blacks. The 

 one loti are nearly solid black, and compared 

 with them the Carniolans are regular zebras, 

 striped alternately gray and black, above and 

 below; no trouble to distinguish them, and no 

 trouble to describe the difference. D [No, not if 

 the other fellow has seen the difference.— Ed.] 



Introducing queens. Here's the plan N. 

 D. West gives in Canadian Bee Journal. Re- 

 move the condemned queen, and then, before 

 closing the hive, give them a queen in West's 

 spiral-wire queen-cage, with a piece of hard 

 candy 1% inches long in the large end of the 

 cage (use store candy). Then place the cage 

 in the hive on the top of the frames, or between 

 the combs, and in from 30 to 48 hours the queen 

 will be liberated. 



Foul brood being discussed at a convention 

 reported in the Australian Bee Bulletin, a 

 number claimed that the introduction of Ital- 

 ians made it easier to prevent and cure the 

 disease. Isn't that a new claim for the yellow 

 favorites? [Yes. It has been urged by a few 

 that our native blacks are much more hardy 

 and more proof against disease; but real facts 

 here from careful unprejudiced observers, I 

 think, show that there is no real difference.— 

 Ed.] 



THE BEE KEEPERS' UNION. 



MUCH NEEDED AND IMPORTANT WORK FOR IT 

 TO do; adulteration IN CALIFORNIA; 



the truth of an " estimate " 

 questioned. 



By C. W. Dayton. 



The amalgamation of the N. A. B. K. A. and 

 B. K. U. might turn out like uniting two colo- 

 nies of bees — in a little time the united colony 

 is no stronger than the single one. That there 

 is need of a more powerful organization of bee- 

 keepers, I do not hesitate to declare. What is 

 meant by " powerful " relates more directly to 

 the fatness of the treasury. An exhaustless 

 treasury and an active executive constitute 

 just such a team as we want. The present 

 executive force would be very hard to improve; 

 but if bee-keepers would rally for the protec- 

 tion of their interests only slightly there might 

 be 850,000 in the treasury. I will mention some 

 of the purposes for which such money might be 

 used. 



First, there are some counties in this State 

 where the keeping of bees is prohibited. Such 

 laws were made on account of the supposed harm 

 which bees do to grapes. At that time there 

 were thousands of acres of vineyards. A 

 disease has since destroyed the grapevines, and 

 the wineries are dilapidated and fallen down. 

 But the laws against the bees still remain. 

 Some of the worst- cut grapes I have ever seen 

 were several miles from an apiary, and at the 

 time of a honey-flow. There were many Mexi- 

 can hornets, but no honey-bees working upon 

 them. Last year a Los Angeles County super- 

 visor impetuously charged all such depreda- 

 tions to honey-bees. He said that one hive of 

 bees standing at the corner of a vineyard 

 would destroy the grapes for several rods 

 around. A bee-keeper may argue for the bees, 

 and his arguments have no weight, simply be- 

 cause he keeps bees. A vineyardist may 

 charge all the damage to the bees, because he 

 deludedly thinks bee-keeping a lazy man's oc- 

 cupation. We need a union which is able to 

 place three or five disinterested and competent 

 men in the field, and keep them there until the 

 facts are established ; then fight the unjust 

 laws until they are reversed. Bee-keeping is 

 one of the useful and pure industries; but it 

 has been stamped into the ground because it 

 happened to come in the way of the wine indus- 

 try. Next time we maybe compelled to move 

 because our bees sip at and get trapped in the 

 emptied beer-kegs standing by the saloon. 

 The bees ought to be ashamed of this; but here 

 in California, water is sometimes very scarce. 

 The wine industry is a positive injury and 



