738 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 1. 



" There is one obstacle, however, to over- 

 come," said our friend; " and that is, to get the 

 light located in a position of the bee's body 

 where it will do the most good; and it is 

 thought best to turn the matter over to some 

 expert breeder of bees. Now, gentlemen, 

 whom would you suggest?" 



THE ele;ctric bee. 



" Well, gentlemen," said I. " you know that I 

 haveadmii-ed and advocated Henry Alley's sys- 

 tem of queen-rearing, and, furthermore, Mr. 

 Alley has a way of getting there second to none 

 in the bee-keeping world. He has bred the 

 yellow Carniolans from a gray 'race, and says 

 he can also get there with yellow Funics, and I 

 haven't the least doubt in the matter. Now 

 let's give him a chance upon this lightning- 

 bug scheme." 



We all arose with a cheer for Alley and an- 

 other for the California lightning honey-bee. 



So far as California bee-keepers are concerned, 

 I never saw a class of men so enthusiastic over 

 a project as they are over this when it is first 

 mentioned to them. They literally hug them- 

 selves with delight. With the many other im- 

 provements in progress there is nothing to pre- 

 vent California from supplying the whole wide 

 world with honey. 



Our discussion of these great questions de- 

 layed our dinner somewhat, but we got to it at 

 last with sharpened appetites. At precisely 

 three o'clock, after the heat of 103° in the shade 

 had somewhat subsided, we started for the 

 mountains, loping off across the plain, kicking 

 up a big dust, and shouting to our pack-horse 

 to keep her on the gallop. In the twilight hour 

 we entered Devil's Canyon. Above us, upon an 

 immense and precipitous hogback, is pointed 

 out to us the old Mormon trail by which the 

 first white men came into this valley. One 

 can almost imagine their surprise and delight, 

 after davs of hardship over the Mojave Desert, 

 with their slow-moving ox-teams, to look down 

 from this lofty height into a broad and fertile 

 valley. Thus the Mormons came; better passes 

 were soon discovered, and the old trail aban- 

 doned; but the washings of winter rains have 

 so deepened the trail that the old landmark 

 bids fair to remain there for ever. 



The cooling streams of the canyon, and the 

 agreeable shade and change from the hot 

 plains, makes this a resort of many camping- 

 parties; and I have no doubt that many more 

 would be found hero but for the rough nature 

 of the place, which, with huge boulder and 

 precipice, leaves but scant room for pitching a 

 camp. , , ^, . , 



There is an abundance of honey flora in the 

 mouth of this canyon, and it is taken advan- 

 tage of by Mr. Joe Marshall, who has an apiary 

 located here. It required something of a climb 

 to get to the cabin, for it is hung, as it were, 

 upon the steep side of the mountain. We found 

 the house well anchored to the ground with 

 brace-poles, for at times the wind howls 

 through this place with great violence— Devil's 

 Canyon! ^ , ^ 



We found the cabin a very good place to 



spend the night; and, in the absence of the 

 owner, we picketed our horses in what we 

 thought a patch of weeds; but when the light 

 of morning came we discovered that our horses 

 had spent a comfortable night in the garden; 

 but inasmuch as our animals ate more weeds 

 than "garden sass," we thought the damage 

 not beyond our limited means, and stand ready 

 to make amends for our blunder, which was 

 made under cover of darkness. 



Our night's rest was comfortable in the cabin 

 — the last one we were to have for many nights. 

 Partial to a good spring bed is the 



Rambler. 



THE ATCHLEY FAMILY. 



AN ACCOUNT OF THE LARGEST QUEEN-REAB- 



ING ESTABLISHMENT IN THE AVORLD ; 



METHODS EMPLOYED, ETC. 



I will begin on the left. The first person is 

 Willie. He is holding two frames with cells on 

 them. The frame in his left hand has 3.5 cells 

 nearly ready to hatch. They were built by 

 two colonies, but all put into one after they 

 were sealed. In his right hand is a frame with 

 cell-cups just grafted, ready to place in a hive 

 for the bees to go to work on. On the right- 

 hand corner of the table are his two wax-cups. 

 One of them is to be placed over the lamp; and 

 at any time when the wax happens to get too 

 hot he slips it off and puts on the other one; or 

 when the wax gets too low in one cup he uses 

 the other, etc. 



Leaning up against the wax-cups are the 

 cell-sticks, five in a group. Every time he dips 

 he makes five cells, dipping six to eight times 

 to get good stout cell -cups. Next you will no- 

 tice a little box full of jioles. This is about the 

 size of a common cigar-box. with ;*« -in. holes. 

 This is where the cells are placed while being 

 moved. All are set in the holes point down, 

 and can be carried quite a distance without in- 

 jury. The next box is a similar one, containing 

 his grafting-tools. You can see the razor with 

 which he pares down the cells before lifting out 

 the cocoons. Willie's main work is to dip his 

 cell-cups in the early morning, while it is too 

 cool to graft. In about half an hour he can dip 

 what cells he will need during the day; then 

 he goes to moving cells that are ready to hatch, 

 into nuclei. This he usually works at till about 

 ten o'clock. Then he and his ma begin graft- 

 ing, one doing the grafting and the other plac- 

 ing the cell-cups in the cell-building colonies, 

 taking it time about as we get tired. Then 

 when the grafting is done for the day, Willie 

 cages queens and looks after all the yards the 

 remainder of the day. 



The next person is Charlie, with his saw and 

 hammer in his right hand, and his plane in his 

 left. His post has been to nail up nuclei and 

 prepare all shipping-boxes, etc. He also has a 

 yard of nuclei to attend to, where he may be 

 found, every chance he gets, doing his own 

 grafting and caging. He has raised some sec- 

 tion honey. 



Just in front of Charlie is little Leah. She is 

 one of the best helpers in the yard, for her size; 

 and all during the day can be heard the words, 

 " Leah, bring me a frame of brood from num- 

 ber so and so;" or, " Bring me an empty comb;" 

 or, " Go cage a queen from No. 3u," and ail such 

 as that. She can graft cells too. and has a 

 yard of her own. 



The next personage I will call your attention 

 to is little Ives, sitting on a bee-hive. He has 

 a frame of bees in his hands; and while the 

 artist is trying to draw his attention he looks 

 up at him, but goes right on blowing the bees 



