1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



459 



my number again; but it is hard for a poor man 

 to lose so manj-. 



CARNIOLANS BAD FOR WINTERING. 



I had a few colonies of pure Carniolans. They 

 were the first to perish. I have tried them now 

 four years. They are no better than the common 

 black bees, but worse to swarm. 



Gallupville, N. Y., May 20. F. Boomhower. 



AN ABC SCHOLAR'S EXPERIENCE IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



STARTING WITH A FEW FOUL-BROODY COLONIES, 

 .\ND INCREASING TO 80 HEALTHY ONES. 



The rainfall in Southern California has been very 

 large, being over 40 inches, while in ordinary years 

 about 20 is a fair average. Such rainfalls have pre- 

 ceded good honey years in the past, and a good 

 flow of honey was predicted by the bee-men for 

 this season. 1 his prophecy seems likely at present 

 to be f iilflUed. Swarming has been going on at a 

 lively rate, and honey is now coming in freely. We 

 have this year's swarms from which we have al 

 ready extracted and taken comb honey. Some of 

 them are also ready to swarm again. 



This is all very encouraging to us. We know 

 nothing at all of bee culture except what we had 

 read in the ABC book and a few copies of Glean- 

 ings. We took an apiary here that had dwindled 

 from 150 down to IH hives, containing bees. Foul 

 brood had been among them, and we knew what 

 we had to contend with. Of the 18, about 6 or 7 

 were unaffected, and the others have at this date 

 mostly gone with the majority. 



We also purchased another apiary of ;'2 hives, al- 

 so affected. The price paid was so little that I am 

 ashamed to mention it without your knowing all 

 the circumstances. I noticed they were about as 

 willing to give us all the apiary as a part of them 

 for the sum we offered. We had very little money, 

 and were obliged to think before investing. We 

 commenced by buying empty hives at a low price, 

 taking out comb and boiling them in an iron tub. 

 The wax, we traded to a supply-dealer near by, for 

 foundation. We then removed all diseased brood 

 and gave foundation in place, removing the bees at 

 the same time to a cleaned hive. We now have a 

 rousing apiary of about 80 hives. 1 never knew 

 that bees could work as ours do now from daylight 

 to dark. About 10 or 12 swarms we took from trees 

 and buildings, or picked up in other localities dur- 

 ing the swarming season. The others are the in- 

 crease of our apiary. We have rented a furnished 

 cottage, and it would seem that we shall be able to 

 live comfortably. I might say, that California was 

 as new to me as the bee-business. It was a strange 

 land, strange people, and a strange business at the 

 same time. Such sights as raising an empty hive 

 and finding a lizard a foot long inside would be 

 new to many of your bee-family. Every step of 

 the way was new and novel. We often read the 

 ABC book until late at night, that we might know 

 how to act the next day. My helper is a young man 

 of more than ordinary practical talent and discern- 

 ment of things. Though scarcely able to speak or 

 read English, much of the creditor success is due 

 him. I read the book and gave him the outlines, 

 and was often astonished at the almost marvelous 

 comprehension, and even enlargement of the sub- 

 ject, which he showed. 



To the bountiful year, given by the kind heaven- 

 ly Father, of course, is due such an incease. Hen- 

 ry keeps a Bible in the bee-house, and at times 

 reads to me while I pronounce and explain the 

 hard words. He thinks it better than gold, and 

 digs deeper and deeper into its mines of truth day 

 by day, so that, besides becoming bee-keepers, we 

 are fitting for the pure and beautiful country be- 

 yond. Oh that we might get right, before the sum- 

 mons comes to pass over! 



To speak of bees again, I will tell you what I did. 

 I transferred a hive, cutting out several combs, 

 and fastening in other frames, without veil or smo- 

 ker, and without getting stung. I do not know 

 whether it is a feat or not. It was a good swarm I 

 found in an odd-sized hive piled up with others 

 somo distance from our apiary. I did not want to 

 go back again, and to save time I put it in a regular- 

 sized hive, as above stated. 1 raised the cover vein 

 gemlv, and got them exposed to the sun and air, 

 and then 1 think they did not know their own hive, 

 and so did not defend it. At any rate I cut out the 

 combs and fastened them into the other frames 

 with stickfi; and though the air was full, rot one 

 ventured to sting. 



It is necessary to shade all hives here. We buy 

 store-boxes for shades, and also use burlap some, 

 under the cover, and hanging down in front to 

 shade. We have just finished painting the hives 

 white, the better to stand the heat. I have seen 

 combs at the front of the hive (a black one) that 

 were melted into a mass. 



We get 12'/2 cts. at the village store, for comb hon- 

 ey, in 1-lb. sections. It is retailed at 15. For ex- 

 tnicte-i we get 6 cts. by the 00-lb. can, and 7 for 

 small quantities. We have just prepared :i:.' (iO-lb. 

 cans for honey, and hope that will not nearly hold 

 it. We have extracted at this date about 8 cans, 

 and the white sage is just beginning to furnish 

 honey. "Black sage " has been the best honey- 

 plant up to this date. Swarming commenced 

 March 2S, and was wonderfully lively for a time, 

 but now seems mostly over. W. S. Rltchie. 



Sierra Madre, Cal., May 10. 



BRACE-COMBS, ETC. 



friend doolittle argues that we do not 



WANT them removed. 



It has been with much interest that I have road 

 all the arguments, experience, etc.. along the line 

 of wide and thick top-bars for the frames to do 

 away with brace-combs, all, or nearly all, seeming 

 to think that it would be a great advantage to " be 

 rid of such a nuisance," or, at least, they seem to 

 think of these brace-combs only as a nuisance. 

 Now, with me I consider these brace-combs a great 

 help, and for years I have allowed them to remain 

 on the top-bars of my frames, because I considered 

 them of value: that Is, I consider them of more 

 value than they are a disadvantage. Were I work- 

 ing an apiary for extracted honey I might change 

 my mind a little, perhaps; but for comb honey I 

 would not allow any one to scrape them off my 

 frames for 50 cents per hive. Years ago I consider- 

 ed them a nuisance, and so each year I scraped 

 them off in the fall when I prepared my bees for 

 winter, till one fall, through an extra amount of 

 other work, I did not get time to go over more than 

 about two-thirds of the apiary in preparing for 



