1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



453 



ruary the bees gather nectar, and build up on 

 the manzanita, willow, alfllaria, oak, and the 

 thousands of other flowers that are then in 

 bloom. Now. if we fill up the brood-chamber 

 with sugar synip, all this colored honey will be 

 thrown into the sections, and mix with and 

 contaminate our sage honey, which begins to 

 come in about the first of March, and is white 

 honey. 



Now, the question with us is, how to get this 

 honey into the sections, and get it by itself, 

 without mixture with our white honey from 

 the black sage. Granulated sugar is now worth 

 here .5^4 to 6 cents by the barrel. At the rates 

 that were paid here last year, this early amber 

 honey (for it would be amber, supposing we 

 could take it off bodily at the commencement 

 of the white honey season) would bring but 

 about 8 cents per pound. There is but about 3 

 cents difference between sugar and this honey. 

 Will it pay here? Some of our honey is haul- 

 ed long distances in wagons — from 25 to 100 

 miles. I have always figured that it takes 

 nearly one-fourth of the honey to market the 

 crop— that is, my crop— which I have to haul 

 only 30 miles to tidewater. There are many 

 men. away back in the mountains, who can not 

 market their honey for less than about one- 

 third of it. To feed sugar would increase the 

 expense; but the presumption is that they 

 would get more honey — enough more to make 

 it profitable— to the extent of 2 cents per pound, 

 less hauling the sugar out and the work of 

 feeding it. In fact, counting loss of bees in 

 feeding, work, and freight, I do not believe 

 there is any thing at all in the plan, for this 

 coast. 



On page 329 P. H. Elvvood pitches into Sky- 

 lark in this ruthless manner: "Skylark, in a 

 late number of Gleanings, laments the dense 

 ignorance of bee-keepers; and, having the 

 Rocky Mountains and his pseudonym to shield 

 him, proceeds to hold up myself and Dr. Miller 

 as examples because we do not happen to agree 

 upon the amount of water to put with sugar 

 for winter feeding. I do not object to sitting 

 on the dunce-block; but when Skylark refuses 

 me the company of team-*tprs, stockmen, and 

 poultry-keepers because they are so much bet- 

 ter informed than bee-keepers, I do object. 

 The alleged superiority may exist in California, 

 but is not acknowledged here where bee-keep- 

 ers are recognized as intelligent as other agri- 

 cultural classes. The assertion, that the classes 

 mentioned agree, and are better posted than 

 we on the feeding and care of their stock, is 

 not true." 



You see, Mr. Editor, he charges mo with car- 

 rying a deadly weapon — a pseudonym — to pro- 

 tect myself. I give you my word of honor that 

 I do not carry arms of any kind whatever- 

 much less a pseudonym — which I should hardly 

 know how to fire off if I had one. Now, 



P. H., that was real mean in you to go and 

 holler right out loud that I did not tell the 

 truth when I told you in that same article I 

 was not used to it. A fellow can't be every 

 thing at once, anyhow. Mr. Editor, if I did 

 not succeed in telling the truth I dirt succeed 

 in bringing out a first-rate article from friend 

 Elwood. If you have any other writers of the 

 same sort, just prance them out and I will 

 tickle them up. 



BOX HIVES. 



John F. Gates, in the American Beekeeper, 

 advocates box hives for breeding-purposes, 12x 

 12 inches, and 2 feet high, with two sticks cross- 

 wise about the middle of the hive — the old style 

 of a hundred years ago. He says: 



You see there is no frame, no comb guides, noth- 

 ing- in the hive but two cross-sticks, and right there 

 is where success Is commenced; for the bees are 

 not compelled to follow out any unnatural method 

 as they are obliged to do when on frr.mes and start- 

 ers; but they are at liberty to build their combs in 

 their own natural way, and will richly repay you 

 for giving them the privilege. 



Are straight combs and starters unnatural? 

 Bees build straight combs often, in trees, caves, 

 and under projecting rocks (in this State), and 

 that in the open air. Now, if their general 

 desire be to build straight combs in a state of 

 nature, why is it unnatural for them to follow 

 a comb guide along a top-bar? This passion 

 for box hives and cross-sticks is delusive any- 

 how. It is likely to lead back to brimstone 

 and fire, and I don't like that. The very idea 

 makes me shudder. If a comb 1 foot wide and 

 2 feet deep is such an excellent thing, why not 

 make frames of that size and hang them in the 

 hive? A door the full size of the hive could be 

 made at the side or back, so they could be ex- 

 amined when necessary. If the cross-sticks are 

 to strengthen the combs, so would a cross-bar 

 in the middle of each frame be equally eflficient. 

 No bee-keeper will believe, without the most 

 absolute experimental proof, that straight 

 combs are any impediment to raising a rousing 

 swarm of bees. If there is any thing at all in 

 this plan, it is not in cross sticks or box hives, 

 but in the deep combs. A bee. not having any 

 undeveloped intellect at all, doesn't know 

 whether it is in a box or frame hive — doesn't 

 know a cross-stick from a straight frame. 

 There, now. 



A NATIONAL HONEY EXCHANGE AND UNION. 



What are you fellows about there in the 

 East, anyhow? Are you all asleep, or like the 

 sluggard, saying, "A little more sleep, a little 

 more slumber, a little more folding of the hands 

 in sleep"? Wake up, for the hour of your 

 deliverance is at hand. But it will not materi- 

 alize unless you wake up to receive it. There 

 is inexplicable division among you — thrice 

 divided. One party cries, "Amalgamation! it 

 is a specific for all our woes." Another an- 

 swers, "No, never! shall we amalgamate and 



