1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



771 



ing a cross-section between the two sheets of 

 foundation. Don't you see it plainly? 



But to make assurance doubly sure I tested 

 my microscope by a first-class iustrument. and 

 found that it was my glass that was cross-eyed 

 inst(^ad of the bees. So I had to seek a solution 

 of this extraordinary freak in another direction. 

 This foundation had been suspended In the sec- 

 tions for more than a year. Might it not, in 

 that time— being in single sheets— lose some of 

 its essential oils, and be unfit for the bees —too 

 hard and flinty? I had more of this same 

 foundation (in bulk) which 1 believed to be 

 good. So I took the sections off the whole 

 apiary, and replaced the foundation with that 

 which was kept in bulk (but of the same lot), 

 and the bees went at it and built as straight 

 and beautiful com us as ever. 



Now, to me this proves two things: 1. Foun- 

 dation suspended in sections will not keep a 

 long time without losing some of its "internal 

 arrangements" which are necessary for the 

 bees. 2. Foundation in bulk will keep a long 

 time, retaining all its elements intact which 

 are required for its successful working into 

 comb. So you can notify that "carload of 

 fellers " not to come all at once, but three or 

 four abreast. 



DO BEES EVER GATHER WHITE -SAGE HONEY 

 EXCLUSIVELY ? 



Well, Rambler has knocked all my ideas in 

 regard to white sage into pi. If there is one 

 single spot in all California where bees gather 

 honey from the white sage exclusively, I did 

 not know it. It must be a poverty-stricken 

 place for other flowers, for the bees will work 

 on other flowers while they are working on the 

 white sage. It is different with the black. 

 They will touch no other flowers while the 

 black sage remains in full bloom. I did not 

 believe that any man ever secured a single 

 pound of pure white-sage honey in all Califor- 

 nia or any other place. The black sage comes 

 out first, and. while that lasts — although the 

 ground is carpeted and the chapparal is inter- 

 woven with flowers — the bees will stick to the 

 black sage. Thus we get the first half of our 

 crop from the black sage. Then the bees 

 change to the white sage and the thousands of 

 flowers that bloom with it. The consequence 

 is, that the honey is always a mixture — amber, 

 some light and some darker. 



But Rambler has found a place away back in 

 the Sierra Nevada Mountains where the bees 

 revel in the white sage,, and the white sage 

 alone. How I should love to taste it and com- 

 pare it with pure black-sage honey I 



Escondido, Cal. 



[Experiments made recently by the Michigan 

 .experiment station, as well as the testimony of 

 competent bee-keepers, go to show that old 

 foundation is as good as new. But I could not 

 •understand tf/i,y a few observers equally compe- 

 tent should think it was not; but in the light 



of your experience I think I understand. The 

 last mentioned, those who reported adversely 

 regarding the old foundation, tested it proba- 

 bly when it had been a year in the frames or 

 sections before giving it to the bees to be 

 drawn out. Of course, being exposed to the 

 free circulation of air it would dry in a way 

 that the same article in the bulk would not. 

 If this is true, and it certainly is reasonable, 

 fripud Israel has called attention to a valuable 

 fact worth considering. I should like to hear 

 from others on this point.— Ed. J 



RAMBLE 141. 



LOST IN THE WEED-PATCH. 



By Rambler. 



After passing Tulare we were again in an 

 uninhabited country. Away to the east, the 

 Sierras present a dim outline against the hori- 

 zon; to the west, the Coast Range presents 

 much the same appearance; between them, a 

 broad prairie at least 100 miles wide, many 

 portions of it having all of the qualifications 

 of a desert. The portion we are now passing 

 over is dry, parched, and not a tree or blade of 

 green vegetation to relieve the monotony. 



O solitude! where are the charms 



That sages have Seen in thy face ? 



Better dwell in the midst of alarms 



Tlian reig'n in this liorrible place. 



To my notion, solitude can be endured and 

 even enjoyed where there are running brooks, 

 trees, rocks, and some animal life; but out on 

 a barren plain, please excuse me. Little rail- 

 road stations loom up occasionally. We are 

 just about out of sight of one, when away 

 ahead of us another begins to rise as it were 

 out of the desert. Here at the little stations of 

 Poso or Kimberlena would be just the locations 

 to start experimental queen-rearing apiaries. 

 The isolation would be complete, and the fer- 

 tilization of the queen with any choice strain 

 of drones could be easily controlled. I would 

 suggest that the new woman, unmarried and 

 of uncertain age, here organize a colony as out- 

 lined in Tennyson's " Princess," where dogs, 

 cats, pigs, etc., are all females, and the death- 

 penalty is the fate of all intruding males. I 

 am afraid, however, that the scheme would 

 not work; for in queen-rearing, drones (the 

 male bee) would have to be tolerated. My sug- 

 gestion, though, is worth acting upon so far as 

 queen-rearing is concerned, and I hope some 

 one will act. and reap fame and fortune. 



It was upon this broad and barren plain that 

 we had the pleasure of witnessing that curious 

 natural phenomenon, the mirage. All along 

 the distant western herizon there appeared a 

 narrow belt that glistened and shimmered un- 

 der the mid-day sun, and for a time we were 

 deceived with the idea that we were in sight of 

 the shining surface of a lake or river. The 

 same appearance soon presented itself in our 



