1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



817 



bars. The bent wire described in Langstroth 

 Revised is a good implement also. 



These matters may seem to be of little mo- 

 ment; but it is found that there is scarcely an 

 hour in the morning or evening best suited for 

 the loading of the hives on the wagon, to say 

 nothing about fastening of bottoms and covers, 

 frame-fastenings and entrance-stoppers. When 

 we once get off on the rough roads, it is very 

 comforting to be sure that no comb can break 

 down, no colony smother or bees get loose. I 

 may speak about ventilation and entrances in 

 another communication. C. W. Dayton. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Oct. 10. 



[If you use self-spacing frames you won't have 

 to be bothered with spacing-sticks and the like. 

 Say, you don't tell us what kind of a hive and 

 frame you are now using in California, after 

 having had experience in Iowa with Heddon, 

 Langstroth, and other frames.] 



NEW MEXICO. 



AN ENGLISHMAN'S EXPERIENCE. 



Mr.Root:—\Y\\\ you permit me to relate my 

 experience in bee culture? 1 should be extreme- 

 ly obliged if I could obtain information upon 

 one or two points that have arisen in connec- 

 tion with it. To begin, I must say that, pre- 

 viously to coming to the States, I had no prac- 

 tical acquaintance with the methods that are 

 in vogue here, and I do not remember having 

 seen any other kind of hive in operation than 

 the old-fashioned one pictured upon the cover 

 of your journal, and I knew of no other way to 

 obtain the honey than by destroying the bees; 

 so you will see my knowledge was a long way 

 behind the times. I had formed an opinion, 

 from reading, that the Americans were much 

 further advanced in apiculture than the Eng- 

 lish were, and that bee-keeping was far more 

 general here than over the water. I have 

 since found this to be true, although I have 

 also learned that British apiculture is in a 

 much further advanced stage than ever I sus- 

 pected it to be. 



Before I left London I had made up my mind 

 that, if this country here was suitable for 

 keeping bees, I would enter upon it as soon as 

 practicable, despite my ignorance of the sub- 

 ject; and so in March last I purchased two 

 colonies of Italian bees and commenced to get 

 experience. I soon became intensely interested 

 — fascinated, perhaps, would be the better word 

 — in my new acquisition; although I was ex- 

 ceedingly timid at first, and every time a bee 

 began to buzz I felt like bolting. 



As soon as I saw that they were beginning to 

 bring in honey I placed a super on one of the 

 hives, and this was tilled during the month of 

 May. 



The other hive I began to experiment upon 

 by dividing it and forming two nuclei from it, 

 but without having any queens. I was anxious 

 for some time lest I had done wrong, and 

 thrown away a lot of time. I watched them 

 closely until they had reared queens for them- 

 selves, then I feared lest they were merely fer- 

 tile workers; but they have proved to be 

 excellent queens in every respect, and produce 

 brood at a rapid rate. Of course, if I had known 

 more of their habits I might have saved a good 

 deal of unnecessary worry. 



My next experiment was in driving a swarm, 

 to prevent natural swarming; and in this, 

 after consulting the A P. C. Gleanings, etc., I 

 succeeded in doing beyond my expectations, 

 and have a capital colony from them. I was in 

 doubt as to how I should manage if I had a 

 natural swarm come off, and so ray first efforts 



were to prevent them doing so, as we have no 

 trees near here upon which they could alight, 

 and I did not wish to run the risk of losing 

 them; but one morning my son came in, saying 

 that the bees were swarming. Fortunately 

 they alighted on some old pieces of timber 1 

 had near by, and I quickly got a hive, stole a 

 frame of brood from another colony, and had 

 them quickly fixed up, and now they are doing 

 well, and I am taking a nucleus from them in 

 the course of a few days when I get a queen. I 

 have divided and subdivided until I have eight 

 colonies and one nucleus. I should like to ask 

 if I have divided them too much or too quickly. 

 I am without experience on the subject. 



I had heard, and have read in the journals 

 and periodicals, that alfalfa is an excellent 

 honey-producing plant. I should like to ask if 

 this is an opinion only, or is it a fact based upon 

 the practical observation of competent persons. 

 This district is an alfalfa country. It has been 

 in bloom here since the middle of April; but, 

 though I have watched, and my son has watch- 

 ed closely, we have failed to find any bees 

 working upon it at any time; and when it has 

 been in bloom within a few yards of the colo- 

 nies, I have observed the bees to go in exactly 

 the opposite direction, where there has been no 

 alfalfa within a mile. The honey-flow began 

 in the latter part of April, and continued dur- 

 ing the month of May; and as soon as the 

 mesquite- bushes ceased blooming, the flow 

 stopped. The honey obtiiiued was water- 

 white, and of a most delicate and delicious 

 flavor, while the comb also was very white 

 indeed. During the months of June and July 

 the bees in this neighborhood did practically 

 nothing. In one hive they ate up nearly all 

 their stores, but during this month (August) 

 they have been exceedingly busy, and accumu- 

 lated honey very fast; it is, however, brown in 

 color, and strong in smell and taste, altogether 

 unlike the honey obtained in May. I believe it 

 is obtained from a species of wild sunflower 

 which blooms profusely just now, and there 

 is the same kind of smell with both honey and 

 flower. I may say, that alfalfa has been in 

 bloom the whole of the time from the middle of 

 April until the time of writing, and upon 

 inquiry among other bee-keepers my observa- 

 tion as to bees not working it is confirmed. 



I purchased one queen during this season, 

 and introduced her into a queenless colony. 

 She began to lay di'ones in worker-brood comb, 

 and continued for some time producing beauti- 

 fully marked small drones. She then changed 

 over to worker brood, and was going on very 

 well; but before the hive was full a queen-cell 

 was started and capped over; and as at that 

 time I had lost a queen I concluded to take the 

 queen from this hive (leave the one cap])ed 

 over to come on), and introduce her to the 

 queenless colony. After a week or so I saw she 

 had begun drones again; and during a period 

 of more than six weeks she produced only 

 drones in worker comb, so I determined to get 

 rid of her at once. I should like to ask what 

 the cause was of her producing the drones, 

 when she was changed over, as already there 

 was a large number of drones in the hive. The 

 queen raised from her is doing excellently, and 

 filling up the hive fast with working bees. 



Eddy, New Mexico, Aug. 31. W. Huggett. 



SHALLOW COMBS. 



THEIK advantages. 



Mr. Root:— On page 537, July 1, 1889, Mr. 

 Heddon says: "If I could get the capacity de- 

 sired, as cheaply, and still keep the standard 

 length and width, I would not have my combs 



