50 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1.1. 



money. They would — nine out of ten — all feel 

 that they must have the money for their crop. 

 The Union would have to handle that honey 

 pretty lively, too, to keep up their supply of 

 funds. 



Here is a plan by Prof. A. J. Cook, taken from 

 the Rural Calif ornian, which is the only one 

 that I believe will ever ripen into a honey ex- 

 change in the East: 



"A third plan promises the least friction and 

 greatest assurance of success, which, if success- 

 ful, will soon lead to the adoption of the plan 

 last mentioned, as it will prove to the doubtful 

 that co-operation is feasible and has practical 

 merit. This plan is suggested by the experi- 

 ence of some bee-keepers, notably H. E. Wilder, 

 of Riverside, who, two years ago, took his large 

 honey crop east and disposed of it at a good 

 figure. The plan is to send some man like Mr. 

 Wilder, in whom the bee-keepers have confi- 

 dence, east with a carload of honey, to be fol- 

 lowed by other carloads as he gives orders. If 

 desired, this person could give bonds equal to 

 one or two carloads of honey, and he would 

 remit as rapidly as sales were made. Only 

 those who had confidence in this scheme need 

 join the enterprise; and if the success which is 

 hoped attends the scheme, others would join 

 another year; and as nothing succeeds like suc- 

 cess we might well hope and expect that this 

 plan would soon ripen into a honey exchange 

 which would sweep into its embrace all, or sub- 

 stantially all, the apiaries of Southern Califor- 

 nia. It seems that this plan has much to rec- 

 ommend it, and no insuperable difficulty in the 

 way of its accomplishment. It is to be hoped 

 that this plan may be tried this season. There 

 is no better place for it to materialize than in 

 San Bernardino, Riverside, and Los Angeles 

 Counties, as in no section of the world are there 

 more enterprising, intelligent apiarists. In the 

 hands of honest, pushing, wide-awake men, 

 such a scheme may do much to bring immedi- 

 ate benefit, and be more fruitful of good in 

 opening the door to the grand scheme of co-op- 

 eration that shall reach, with blessing, to all 

 the honey-producers of Southern California." 



This plan is feasible, and promises success. 

 Besides, it was originated by the greatest mind 

 in the United States— interested in bee keeping 

 —except my own. The only thing that grieves 

 me is that it is impossible for me to take charge 

 of the business before 1897, and they (the bee- 

 keepers) will be compelled to put up with a less 

 capable man till I can get ready to accept the 

 situation. 



[See Prof. Cook's article in previous issue.— 

 Ed.] 



If you would like to have any of your friends 

 see a specimen copy of Oleanings, make known 

 the request on a postal, with the address or ad- 

 dresses, and we will, with pleasure, send them. 



EUROPEAN AND OTHEB MATTERS. 



AN EXPEDITIOUS WAY OF USING THE BEE- 

 ESCAPE. 



By Charles Norman. 



A Mr. Sallemand {Revue) discovered quite 

 an expeditious way of using the bee-escape 

 preparatory to extracting. " The idea occurred 

 to me not to leave the escape in the hive. I 

 lifted the case rapidly, set it on the escape- 

 board, closed the hive quickly, and carried the 

 case away about thirty meters (40 yards) from 

 the apiary, under the shade of a small arbor. 

 I put a few blocks under the case to have the 

 lower side of the board free, and then turned to 

 some other business. After about an hour I re- 

 turned, and not a bee was to be found in the 

 case." In other instances the result was al- 

 ways the same. Well, this is splendid, so far as 

 it goes. But how is it when you don't want to 

 empty a whole case or story of its bees, if it has 

 the single frames, rather, that come in ques- 

 tion? As I was not at home last May and 

 June, when extracting had to be done at my 

 place, I told my oldest son, Hugo, to try the 

 thing — to procure an empty hive with a con- 

 ical bee-escape (a ?a Boardman, made of wire 

 netting); to fill it with the bee-covered honey- 

 frames, regardless of the colonies which he 

 would take them from, being careful lest they 

 quarrel (which, however, I did not expect in 

 the least); and, finally, to carry the hive off to 

 some distance under the shade of an orange- 

 tree. The youngster, who has notions of his 

 own, only partially obeyed orders and tried to 

 improve on what " the old man " had told him. 

 My hives, fronting the outside, stand below a 

 pretty long and wide palmetto roof; in fact, 

 you may call the whole a bee-house, except 

 that the four sides are open. By the way, this 

 is not only a good deal cooler than having them 

 in the shade of our trees (quite a consideration 

 in the South), but you can work with your bees 

 when it rains. When my son put the frames 

 in the empty hive the latter was near at hand, 

 just in the passageway between the hive-rows, 

 and here he Ipt it stand, saving himself the 

 trouble of carrying it away. He closed the en- 

 trance of the hive, leaving just an opening in 

 its middle, and here ho set a little box on 

 which he had attached the escape. Then he 

 placed the cover on top of the hive; but before 

 closing it tight he gave the bees some smoke 

 "to make it disagreeable for them in there." 

 Well, the thing worked like a' charm, and it 

 took much less than an hour to have the hive 

 empty of bees, and the frames ready for the ex- 

 tractor. 



