1896 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



861 



from your observation, this is not much of a 

 honey country; but appearances are di'ceiving. 

 To use a mining term, this country has pocl<eis 

 of honey flora in the mountains second to none 

 In the world. It is so with the Indians. P.iople 

 are unfavorably deceived respt^cting them." 

 :z,The last night of the j )urney wore away. 

 So much night travel caused Frod to sleep more 

 or less in his saddle while his pony bore him 

 safely forward. The morning dawned brightly 

 as they commenced the descent into Round 

 Valley, 



"Now," said the doctor, riding up to Fred's 

 side, "I can show you the location of my api- 

 ary. Here we see the Indian rancheria in the 

 valley; but look beyond to those mountains, 

 twenty-five miles away. D ) you see that glis- 

 tening in the morning sun ? " 



"Yes," replied Fred, "it looks like a city with 

 gilded spires." 



" Well, sir, my apiary is located in the midst 

 of that sp.irkle, and that is Crystal Mountain.' 



"Crystal Mountain!" said Fred, in astonish- 

 ment. " Why, doctor, ever since I came to Cal- 

 ifornia I have heard nothing but evil reports 

 from that locality. The man who claims to 

 own it is described as a brigand, a thief, a 

 murderer— sly, treacherous, unknown, yet lur- 

 ing a score of people to their death; and your 

 apiary is there!" and Fred, grasping his bridle- 

 reins, and turning suddenly in his saddle, with 

 a forced smile exclaimed, '' And, Dr. Hayden, 

 you are, perhaps, that mysterious man." 



" I am the man," said Dr. Ilayden, dryly. 



I" ■ "" 



COMBS ATTACHED TO SEPARATORS. 



Questiim. — Will you tell us, through the col- 

 umns of Gleanings, how to prevent the bees 

 fastening the comb to the separators? I had 

 several colonies which attached the comb in 

 nearly every section to the separators— some in 

 only one place, while a few were attached in 

 several places. Other colonies gave perfect 

 combs, not a single attachment being made to 

 any separator. 



Ansioer. — Were I to answer in short, I would 

 say, " Put each colony in just the condition as 

 were those which did not attach a single comb 

 to any separator;" and I sometimes think such 

 an answer would be the best reply that could 

 be given in the majority of cases ; for it would 

 set the person, having the trouble, to studying 

 into that which would make him (or her) an in- 

 telligent bee-keeper, through creating in him a 

 determination to master every problem which 

 might come before him along the line of our be- 

 loved pursuit. But as the managers of Gi-ean- 



INGS have set thisdepartmentapart for makthg 

 plain those things that are puz/Jing to the nov- 

 ice, I will give some of the things which con- 

 tribute toward an attaching of combs to the 

 sep.irators, which things are to be avoided. 



The greatest cau>e for attaching combs to the 

 separators li>s in not having th^ hives stand 

 level, for the bees always build their comb per- 

 pendicular — especially so in the case of narrow 

 or thin sections, where the uprights are no more 

 than \% inches wide, as in this case it requires 

 but very little out of the perpendicular for the 

 lower end of the comb to come near enough to 

 the si>parator for the bees to build brace-combs 

 out to the separator to hold the comb in place, 

 as they nearly always look out for bracing in 

 this way where the septum of the comb comes 

 within }<i to % of aa inch of any pirt of the 

 hive. It is n)t necjssary that thi hive be lev- 

 eled both ways, unless the combs in the brood- 

 chamberrun in anoppO'^itedirection from those 

 in the sections ; but it is necessiry to have the 

 hive level in the dir^jctiou of the op^n sides of 

 your sections if you would produce the nicest 

 of section honey. And it is not well to do this 

 leveling with the eye, for, unless the eye is 

 trained in this matter, it is little b.itter than 

 guesswork. 1 use a spirit-level for this work; 

 but in the absence of this I would use a plum- 

 met, which any novice can make. 



Next to having the hives level comes the 

 matter of how the starters are put. in the sec- 

 tions. If in a slip sh )d way, so that they pull 

 off or fall down from the weight of the bees be- 

 fore they thoroughly attach them to the top o 

 the sections, poor combs and many braces will 

 be the result. Then if care is not taken to hive 

 these starters run true with the sections, they 

 will be angling enough so that the bees will 

 swing the edges of thejcombs around ani at- 

 tach them to the sepirators instead of the sides 

 of the sections, thus making a nasty mess when 

 we come to remove the separators. Even where 

 full sheets of foundation are used, some are so 

 careless in putting them in that the edges are 

 nearer the separators than the sections, wh^a 

 placed on the hives, when the bees will attach 

 them to the nearest point, as they always d), 

 for they care not as to the salible quality of 

 their product. But in full sheets of tounJation 

 and a level hive we have the greatest prevent- 

 ive against these brace-combs, and latterly I 

 have come to the conclusion that it does not 

 pay to try to dispense with full sheH>ts of thin 

 foundation for each section, only as we have 

 full sheets of drawn comb to use in place of the 

 foundation. But the full sheets of foundation 

 will not remedy the trouble where the hives 

 are much out of level, for the bees seem to have 

 a way of building or drawing out their cells on 

 the side of the founJalion farthest away from 

 the separators first, which ten Is to curl the 

 lower end of the founlation around nearer the 



