1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



841 



will understand it now. One friend sends us 

 $10.00 (for 10 lbs. of potatoes), with two new 

 names, and says for the other six, " Send me 

 Gleanings six years." Oh dear me I I was 

 afraid all the while I should get into a muddle. 

 Now I will tell you : if any of you want to sub- 

 scribe away ahead we will put it this way: 

 You will want to take Gleanings for 1896, 

 most of you, any way — at least I hope so. So 

 we will call that settled. But if you can not 

 get a new subscriber anywhere around you, 

 then just send us 13 00— half of it for 1896 and 

 the rest for 1897— and we will mail you the 

 pound of potatoes, and you need not do any 

 hunting. By the way, doctor, if I had my way 

 about it I would tell just how many subscribers 

 to Gleanings we do have, every issue. But 

 some of the younger Roots think it is not cus- 

 tomary, and perhaps not exactly business-like. 

 I will tell you, however, in strict confidence, 

 because you are an old friend, that we have 

 somewhere between 9000 and 10,000 paid-up 

 subscribers just now.— A. I. R.] 



CALIFORNIA ECHOES. 



By Rambler. 



Dr. Miller is such a musical man that it 

 seems "Stray Straws" is a misnomer. How 

 would it do. doctor, to change the name to " A 

 Harp of a Thousand Strings " ? 



Mr. Dosch. on page 737, describes just the way 

 I used to feel after a disastrous wintering of 

 bees in York State. Remedy, pull up stakes, 

 and pull for the bee-keeper's refuge, California. 



Later.— 1^ Mr. Dosch lets his neighbor Shaw 

 (see page 770) get so far ahoad of him, with 

 only three intervening miles, Dosch had better 

 stop in Arizona. 



On page 739 Dr. Miller brings out the idea 

 that lifting heavy hives is a work that some 

 people can not do. I found a case here a few 

 days ago where a threescore-and-ten bee-keeper 

 of feeble frame had shortened his L. hives 

 several inches in order to bring them within 

 his lifting powers. A jumbo hive may be the 

 thing, but it must be a permanent institution, 

 like a bouse or a barn. 



Did you notice what Prof. Verlinden said on 

 page 737, about churning honey? That's just 

 the trick I tried several years ago. I used a 

 quart fruit-jar, and operated the dasher by a 

 slack pulley on a belt from an engine. I could 

 keep the churn going all day. I think it did 

 hasten granulation; but. professor, we want a 

 machine to prevent granulation. Can you help 

 us? 



A little further along Prof. V. says of a bee- 

 keeping specialist, " He buys much honey of 

 strangers which he manipulates before he sends 

 it to its destination." Well, well! with what 

 sang froid he says it tool Tell a bee-keeper in 



this country that he manipulates his honey, 

 there'd be a little dust, a little blood, bruised 

 hat, torn coat, and the best man on top. 



Mr. D. A. Wheeler, of Riverside, who owns 

 about 1000 colonies of bees, and has produced 

 about 5.5 tons of honey during the past season, 

 soon leaves for Chicago, where he will estab- 

 lish a house for the sale of California honey. 

 Mr. Wheeler proposes to pay cash for all of the 

 honey he handles for other parties. The pres- 

 ent ruling price here is 3 to 3ili cents for ex- 

 tracted honey, and 8 to 9)^ for comb, and but 

 little demand at those figures. 



It seems that we want Apis dorsata, and 

 then we don't want her. Now I have a 

 plan. When Uncle Sam gets ready to send me 

 rambling after Miss Dorsey I'll sail right off 

 into the Pacific Ocean till the bee is caught, 

 then plant a few colonies on the Sandwich 

 Islands, to see how they stand "furrin" parts. 

 If they are desirable for the islands, of course 

 they would be for California, and could be 

 wafted to our shores. No patent on the fore- 

 going, and the route is open to all contestants. 



PICKINGS BY THE WAY.— NO. 1. 



By Skylark. 



INTRODUCTION. 



Some people here call me the " literary giant," 

 and others an "idiotic giant." Besides, there 

 are still others who say I have the " big head." 

 The two latter classes have a large majority. 

 The term "giant" refers entirely to the large 

 amount of undeveloped intellect stored away 

 in my mind, and not at all to my person, which 

 is not over ordinary size, and very elite and 

 distinguished. When one aspires to high lit- 

 erary honors, the public wants to know who he 

 is and whence he came. I sent my brother to 

 the Mexican war, and he whipped the Mexi- 

 cans. My father was in the war of 1812, and 

 whipped (ireat Britain. My grandfather li'OTtZd 

 have whipped the Tripolitans in 1804 if he and 

 two other lieutenants had not voluntarily 

 Hjlown themselves up. They took a fire-ship 

 into the harbor of Tripoli, loaded with 100 bar- 

 rels of powder, to blow up and burn the enemy's 

 shipping. Being discovered and overpowered 

 they voluntarily set fire to the powder and 

 blew their enemies and themselves into the air. 

 Congress passed a resolution of sympathy for 

 the families of these " noble men," and advised 

 all their noble descendants to follow their ex- 

 ample. 



Now, I love my country. I love the old flag, 

 and I love Congress, and I want to obey it. Do 

 you, Mr. Editor, know any easy way that a 

 man could blow himself up and not get hurt? 

 The only way I can think of is to go to war in 

 Gleanings, and I shall be blowed up often 

 enough, I suppose, and Congress will be sat- 

 isfied. 



