90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1. 



while the dew was on the pumpkin-vines. 

 With all the fervent, ecstatic hopefulness I 

 possess, I do enthusiastically hope that Dr. M. 

 will stay at home and attend to that straw- 

 patch. 



SCRATCHING. 



Mr. Hansen's apiary is at present near his 

 cabin, and consists of about sixty colonies. A 

 great portion of them were obtained from 

 houses and out-buildings in the vicinity. There 

 is probably no portion of the country where 

 there are so many 

 wild swarms as on the 

 coast of Southern Cal- 

 ifornia. The houses 

 in every city and town 

 are more or less in- 

 fested. In a charming 

 location. l"itting;iy 

 named Paradise Val- 

 ley, Mr. Hansen show- 

 ed me a dwelling, 

 from the rear Z por- 

 tion of which he had 

 taken eleven swarms. 

 The house was well 

 stocked, for there was 

 a swarm of bees under 

 the shaded ! portions. 

 Mr. H. writes me later 

 that he has cleared 

 the Bonnie Brae 

 ranch of about as 

 many more, therefore 

 increasing his apiary. 

 Mr. H. is an expert at 

 this removal business, 

 and can cut into a 

 house and get the 

 bees, and then replace 

 the siding so that you 

 would scarcely know 

 where the swarm was taken from. 



There is ample room in many buildings for 

 the storage of large amounis of honey. The 

 style of architecture, with many dormer win- 

 dows and heavy cornices, favors the bees. One 

 of these buildings, with many gables and 

 towers, was erected for a sanitarium; but now 

 the fine building is vacant, except for the ac- 

 commodation of bees; and we saw very strong 

 colonies busily working through crevices in the 

 cornice. 



Mr. Rowlson has charge of the building, and 

 has a small and growing apiary, which he ha* 

 started from bees he has taken from the build- 

 ing. In his first efforts at removal, a colony 

 was taken from above a closet. In removing 

 the boards from under the colony, the combs 

 became loosened, and down came a sweet and 

 stinging mass over the head and shoulders of 

 Mr. R. From his vigorous remarks in relation 

 to his flight. I think he prefers an inside rather 

 than an outside application of honey. As Mr. 

 H. is a veteran of the G. A. R., he now operates 

 against such colonies by the more safe method 

 of a flank movement. 



When with Mr. Hansen in October, there was 

 an average of four swarms per week coming to 

 his apiary, and were found on vines or bushes 

 around the house. These were evidently starv- 

 ation swaims coming from the surrounding 

 dwellings. That stray swarms are numerous 

 may be inferred from the fact that a boy hived 

 sixty swarms in one season, in various nonde- 

 script lioxes, and made quite a profitable ven- 

 ture of it by selling them to bee-keepers. 



Mr. Hansen's apiary is established in the city 

 only temporarily, or for building-up purposes; 

 but if here for only a short time, his apiary has 

 attracted the attention of certain fruit- men, 

 and the harrowing commenced. His plan of 

 dealing with the harrower was first to join the 

 Union and send for a numberof court decisions. 

 One was posted in a prominent position in the 

 postoffice; another in the city-council rooms, 

 and copies were given to the city attoiney and 

 others. Since this judicious distribution of 

 documents he has heard nothing from the fruit- 

 men. 



While some are anxious to get rid of the bees, 

 others nre indiff'erent aboutit. Messrs. Kimball, 

 next neighbor to Mr. H., have a large raisin 



vineyard, and conduct their business without 

 injury from the bees, and, of course, without 

 harrowing anybody. It is more and more evi- 

 dent that it is only ignorant and prejudiced 

 persons who make this war upon the interests 

 of bee-keepers. If the so-called depredations 

 of bees were such an unmixed evil, the fruit- 

 growing associations would have much to say 

 aboutit; but in meetings of pomological socie- 

 ties in every county, not a voice is raised 

 against the bees or their owners; but many 



