388 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 15. 



brood-chambers. The sections are put together 

 with a light mallet, and the inch or foundation 

 put in at the same time; and when the super is 

 filled, the job is finished, and the sections han- 

 dled but once. Two thousand sections per day 

 could be thus handled, and it was an easy trick 

 to do it without any of the new-fangled daisy 

 machines. 



Mr. T.'s apiary is laid out on the railroad plan, 

 and his sun wax-extractor is also mounted on 

 the railroad, and can be moved into any posi- 

 tion desired. 



The valley is well stocked with bees; and 

 among the most prominent bee-keepers is Mr. 

 Wm. Muth-Rasmussen. of Independence. A 

 healthy local organization exists, and has a 



avoid such animal references. But the doctor 

 is probably excusable. I suppose he includes 

 certain phases of politeness in his list of '"don't 

 knows." Rambler. 



E. FRANCE'S EEPORT. 



HOW THE BEES HAVE STOOD THE WINTER. 



bright future before it. Mr. T. thinks that, in 

 bee-keeping as well as all other branches of in- 

 dustry, a person who goes into it must step up 

 or step out. 



One disadvantage that bee-keeping in that 

 valley had to contend with was getting the col- 

 onies up to the proper strength to get the first 

 honey-flow, and Mr. T. thought it would be a 

 good trick to purchase virgin queens and stock 

 up early, and that was one of his reasons for 

 visiting the bee-keepers of Southern California, 

 to find a man who could supply him with a 

 small carload of queens. 



Inyo County is something of an out-of-the- 

 way place, and is visited only two or thiee times 

 a week by a sort of accidental train over a nar- 

 row-gauge railroad from Reno, Nevada. 



The laborers in this valley are mostly Piute 

 Indians, and they are very good workers. In 

 fact, they have to step up and work or step out, 

 for the large game is driven to the mountains, 

 and a living from game would be precarious. 



The cold mountain streams were formerly 

 without fish; but the introduction of the speck- 

 led trout makes life worth living, to the lover of 

 the fly and rod. 



Ants are nearly as troublesome in Inyo Co. as 

 further south; and the producer of comb honey 

 has to be careful to keep it from their trespasrs- 

 ing habits. 



After recounting my troubles with ants last 

 season, I received a postal with the following 

 information upon the subject: 



A little powdered corrosive sublimate, mixed with 

 three times its bulk of lard ; run ;i tape or large coTd 

 through it, and tie it around your table-legs or 

 around cans of provisions. It will keep the ants 

 out. Migratory Bach of Florida. 



I felt very grateful to this bach, and have no 

 doubt others of the fraternity will feel the 

 same. 



"A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind;" 

 but according to Dr. Miller's vocabulary, I 

 ought to call this bach a hog; but the fact is, 

 Rambler was always taught to be polite, and to 



Last year was the poorest one that we have 

 had since I have been in the bee business. 

 When the honey-gathering season was over we 

 had not a pound of surplus honey, and, worse 

 than that, we found that the bees had not a 

 winter supply of feed in their hives: so for the 

 first time we bought sugar to feed. 

 We bought 14 barrels of granulated 

 sugar to feed them, and during the 

 month of September we fed the 

 most of it. We had a large boiler 

 made to melt tip old combs into 

 wax, and we used that boiler to 

 make our feed, which we did as fol- 

 lows: To 18 gallons of rain water we 

 added 2.50 lbs. of sugar and 25 lbs. of 

 last year's honey, candied. We heat- 

 ed this to the boiling-point, skim- 

 med while warm, and, when cool, 

 fed it to the bees. Then we packed 

 the chambers with straw or chaff 

 cushions as usual; then we left them 

 to their fate until spring. The out- 

 a/JetVhf yards we did not see again until 

 April. 

 The winter set in early — about the 

 middle of November. Snow became deep, and 

 drifted badly. It was very cold all winter. The 

 bees were shut in their hives by the cold for 125 

 days without a cleansing flight, and then many 

 of them could not get back— too cold. Many col- 

 onies had the dysentery badly, and soiled their 

 combs very much. I send an itemized report of 

 each yard. You will notice a great difference 

 in the death rates, some yards losing a greater 

 proportion than others. We find that, where 

 the snow was the deepest among the hives, the 

 loss was the most; the less snow, the less loss; 

 the dryer their condition, the better for them; 

 the damper they were, the more they died. All 

 had honey-boards over the frames next to the 

 bees, and pretty well sealed down, as they were 

 not raised after the middle of September. 



HOME YARD, MARCH 30. 



First-class colonies 50 



Second-class colonies 34 



Third-class colonies 8 



Alive. 



Queenless 3 



Dead 7 



Fall count 102 



ADKINSON YARD, APRIL 3. 



First-class 23 



Second -class 18 



Third-class 8 



Alive 49 



Queenless 2 



Dead 36 



Fall count 



WHIG YARD, APRIL 5. 



First-class 



Second-class 



Third-class 



.36 

 .23 

 . 6 



Alive 65 



