124 



GLEANINGIN BEESCULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



but we feared our hor:?e Bob would fai'e hard 

 over the rough roads we should have to travel, 

 and we kept a more merciful and direct route. 



The rank injustice in nearly all of these 

 cases is apparent from tlie fact that the bee- 

 keepers were the first to occupy the country. 

 Then in the case of the Del Zura fig-grower, 

 his profits from figs were probably less than $50, 

 while he wanted to destroy an industry that 

 brought thousands of dollars into the "town, 

 and, in fact,^has been and is now the leading 

 industry. 



We continued our journey again, and, soon 

 after leaving Del Zura, deflected our loate a 

 little and climbed up into the mountains to the 

 stock and bee ranch of Mr. S. H. Donahue. 

 Here we pitched our tent and gave our steeds 

 a rest, having made about 25 miles that day, 

 much of the way up hill. Mr. Donahue is the 

 possessor of .500 colonies, and two sons who aid 

 in the management. Two or three apiaries are 

 located back in the mountains, and are worked 

 for extracted honey in a modified Harbison 

 hive. In these cases a "modification "' means 

 a sawing-off'of the hive on a level with the 

 bi'ood-frames, and an extracting-super worked 

 above. Messrs. Donahue have a fine range, 

 and have obtained some large yields of honey. 

 They were inclined to withhold "information in 

 relation to amounts: but we learned indirectly 

 that over 17 tons was the product during the 

 past season. Though these apiaries weie three 

 or four miles from Del Zura and the fig-man, 

 still his threats \\ere high enough to reach 

 these mountain apiaries, and cause some little 

 uneasiness. We again rehearsed all of the 

 good qualities of the Union, and trust that we 

 grafted in another branch to the Union tree. 



Our tent life among the grand mountains 

 that surrounded us. and our elevation of nearly 

 2000 feet here, gave us not only an elevation of 

 body, hut our spirits began to enliven ; and Bro. 

 Hansen made the welkin ring with his shouts 

 and songs, while Bob and Kimball actually be- 

 came frisky. In following up this route from 

 National City we travel aboutl5 miles and cross 

 a pass, and enter what we might term a little 

 different or later climate. When we pass Del 

 Zura we cross another of these passes, and the 

 climate is still latei'. The highest point now in 

 sight is Tecarte Peak, about on the Mexican 

 line. This looked down upon us for several 

 days. Our shotgun had given us an abundance 

 of quail and rabbits, and here was where the 

 training of oni' dog Queen came in. Just as 

 soon HS the gun was discharged, away she 

 would hound and bring in the game. Another 

 kind of game was this: One day. while rattling 

 along, the Ramblei's hat sailed off in the rear 

 of the wagon. Queen was directed to get it, 

 and dutifully brought the hat to the wagon. 

 That the dog was rightly named Queen, and a 

 jewel besides, was a thought not only enter- 

 ained by his owner but also by the 



Ramulek. 

 ^ I ^ 



JOHNNYCAKE FEEDERS. 



PRATT SELF-HIVER A FAILURE. 



On page 421 of Gleanings for 1892. mention 

 is made of feeding syrup to bees on "johnny- 

 cake" as an expeiiment. An old bee-keeper 

 from Allegany Co., N. Y., says that it was a 

 common practice in 1840, and prior to that time, 

 there to feed their bees, when they required it, 

 by this method in the spring. They would 

 remove the syrup and bread down to the crust. 



8ELF-HIVERS. 



Personally I have had bad luck with Pratt's 

 self-hiver. Securing one hiver from you, two 



from Mr. Pi-att, and also royalty stamps. I 

 manufactured and placed on trial, selling some 

 direct to others; some were used on the Dove- 

 tailed hives; others on box hives; the result 

 was a loss of several swarms caused by the 

 drones filling up the front zinc. I have refund- 

 ed for those paid for, and hold the hivers for 

 fui'ther experiment. I think tnat explicit di- 

 rections should be given, so that they may not 

 be applied to the hive until the egg is laid in 

 the queen-cell; and. again, the farmer with 

 only a few swarms wants a hiver that can be 

 attached to a box or Dovetailed hive while he 

 goes to his daily task or to church on Sunday, 

 and also one that will not require lifting off to 

 see if he has a swarm or not. 



Of course, these criticisms do not apply to 

 the bee-keeper who devotes his whole time to 

 his bees during swarming time. He would 

 probably be successful with almost any of the 

 devices on the market: but the small bee- 

 keeper or farmer who would be benefited the 

 greatest, and who is eager to accept and try a 

 self-hiver. must have something simple and 

 effective; and the inventor of such a hiver will 

 reap a rich reward. 



Colonies have gone into winter in good shape. 

 Ample stores were secured; strong colonies 

 that failed to swarm filled two or three supers 

 of surplus honey. The drouth in September 

 cut short the yield from ladyfinger and buck- 

 wheat. I find it profitable to sow buckwheat 

 about the 20th' of April; then sow aeain the 

 first week in August, sowing both .Japanese 

 and common varieties. The Japanese made a 

 yield of 23}.2 bushels per acre, which finds a 

 ready market, either as seed or .is flour. We 

 plow early for wheat: sow to buckwheat, cut 

 at first heavy frost: remove, and seed to wheat. 

 The buckwheat leaves the ground in splendid 

 shape for wheat. Jacob Nixon. 



Kellogg. Kan., Jan. 4. 



[That is right: we want the facts. Possibly, 

 however, the following might suit your purpose 

 better, although we can not fully understand 

 why your experience should be so different from 

 ours. I 



THE PRATT 1893 HIVER. 



HOW SOME OP THE OB.IECTIONS TO THE FORMER 



DEVICE HAVE BEEN OVERCOME; 



GOOD IMPROVEMENTS. 



I am sending you by mail one of the 1893 pat- 

 terns of the Pratt automatic hiver. You will 

 see that I have greatly cheapened the construc- 

 tion, and attached it to a honey-board, all in 

 complete condition to put directly on a hive 

 when received. Many of the purchasers last 

 season did not understand how to attach the 

 hiver to their hives, and there were some who 

 could not understand, although it was explain- 

 ed to them very carefully. I therefore deem it 

 necessary to supply the escape board and ex- 

 cluder all complete, with directions to place on 

 the hives in the simplest possible form. 



With these facts in view I have endeavored 

 to construct the device complete in itself, and 

 you will readily understand the advantage this 

 hiver I am sending you has over all the others. 



First, you will notice that it is in two parts 

 (divisible at H), making it convenient to pack 

 and mail at a very moderate cost. These two 

 parts intersect and form the honey (or escape) 

 board to cover an eight-frame Dovetailed hive, 

 and can be fastened together by the receiver 

 with three or four nails or not, as he sees fit. 

 As you notice, it is a cheap and light board. 

 I have reduced the escape triangle (H. C) to 

 two simple pieces of ^^x^; also the zinc surface 



