1890 



GLEANINGS tlST BEE CULTURE. 



487 



idea of the vast nectar resources of some of 

 the California locations. Mr. Mclntyre does 

 all the work with the bees himself, with the 

 exception of a man in the honey-honse, to 

 extract. Mrs. Mclntyre does not now tind 

 time to work in the apiary, her time being 

 taken up with the three little girls— Cora, 

 Myrtle, and Lillie. 



Mr. Mclntyre has the honor of being the 

 first-appointed legal foul-brood inspector in 

 the county. In October, 1884, invested with 

 proper authority, he cleared the county of 

 about 300 diseased colonies. Two whole 

 apiaries were found rotten with the disease. 

 Both of these apiaries were burned. The 

 county is now said to be almost free from 

 the disease. 



Mr. Mclntyre does not devote his time 

 wholly to bees, as he has a taste for raising 

 things, such as oranges, etc. He has now 

 200 yards of seed -beds engaged for next 

 spring's delivery, at $2.50 per square yard. 



E. R. 



In the ABC book will be found a picture 

 of friend Mclntyre's home, the Sespe Apia- 

 ry. The title of the picture is "Wilkin's 

 Hexagonal Apiary.'' Since the picture was 

 made, however, things have changed very 

 materially about the Sespe Apiary. After 

 my visit there in December, 1888, I gave a 

 description. Friend M. has changed some- 

 what the order of the hives, preferring to 

 have a passageway for a cart or wheelbar- 

 row through the apiary, and at the same 

 time leave another passageway for the bees 

 to take their flight, the enti-ances to the 

 hives being all turned into this lane, or ave- 

 nue. As this matter has recently been up, 

 we shall not need to go over it here. The 

 artist has not done justice to the mountains 

 in the background. What artist ever did, in 

 fact ? Even a photograph seems but a poor 

 picture of the reality. During my brief vis- 

 it at the Sespe Apiary, I remember many 

 things that were wonderful to my untutored 

 eyes. In front of the apiary, not shown in 

 the picture, is the bed of a mountain tor- 

 rent, and almost right before the house is a 

 big rock that came down the river-bed one 

 night by a freshet. This rock is pretty near- 

 ly as large as a meeting-house. It was on 

 the mountains opposite, where I saw some 

 little black pigs grazing. Upon looking 

 closer, however, I discovered that the " lit- 

 tle black pigs" had horns like cows; and 

 then I was told that they were cows. Just 

 back of the apiary the ground w^s so steep 

 that it made me blow and puff to climb up 

 where an irrigating canal was qut into the 

 side of the mountain. As I stopped to take 

 breath, not only tired but dizzy from look- 

 ing down at such a height, I was startled to 

 find one of the little girls (Myrtle I think it 

 was) right at my heels, chatting with per- 

 fect unconcern. She had not only climbed 

 fully as fast as we did, but she lugged a 

 good-sized " dollie " besides. I uttered an 

 exclamation of alarm, and was going to 

 catch her before she tumbled down the 

 mountain. Iler father remarked, however, 

 that there was no danger whatever — she 

 was a child of the mountains, and trod with 

 safetv and unconcern where I almost shook 

 with fear. And then the beautiful, sparkl- 



ing, and bubbling water, rushing fast over 

 its white bed of pebbles and crumbled gran- 

 ite ! Some people might tire of seeing these 

 irrigating canals, but I think I never should. 

 May God's blessing rest upon you and your 

 wife and little ones, friend M., in your far- 

 away home amid the hills. 



THE HONEY PROSPECT. 



PROF. COOK TELLS US THE HONEY IS SLOW IN 

 COMING IN. 



Mr. Editor:— The honey outlook for 1890 is not 

 very encouraging at the present time. The bees 

 worked very lively on soft maple, and got quite an 

 amount of honey, considering the strength of the 

 colonies at that time. During hard-maple and 

 fruit bloom the weather was so wet and cold that 

 ■the honey product from this source was very light 

 — just enough to cross-fertilize the blossoms, but 

 not enough to essentially affect the bees. Right 

 here I saw a nice demonstration of the value of 

 bees. I know some cherry-trees that blossomed 

 early, and before the bees could get out at all. The 

 weather was cold and wet; the blossoms had with- 

 ered, and the pollen and nectar were gone. Those 

 cherry-trees have set almost no fruit, while neigh- 

 boring trees and other kinds that blossomed a little 

 later are bearing a fair crop. Few horticulturists 

 realize how much they owe to the services of the 

 bees. 



The locusts have been in full bloom for over two 

 weeks, and also the clovers and raspberries; yet, 

 because of some peculiarity of weather, the nectar 

 is almost wanting. Except for feeding, I think we 

 should have lost heavily. Even now, though the 

 bees seem to visit the clover and raspberries, they 

 seem to be storing very little. There is something 

 in this matter of nectar secretion that Is quite puz- 

 zling. One would suppose that warm damp weath- 

 er, just such as we have been having, would surely 

 give an abundant harvest, but the truth is, the flow- 

 ers seem stingy and selfish, affording just enough 

 to attract the bees, that the flowers may be all right, 

 but not enough to substantially benefit the poor 

 laborers. We see that doling out in meager sums 

 for servic3 is not confined to human capitalists. I 

 have taken my class to the apiary for years at this 

 season, and this is the first time that I have bad to 

 delay, as the bees in enforced idleness are too cross 

 to make it desirable to work with them when ray 

 class are all inexperienced. 



GOLDSMITH BEETLE. 



Mr. B. S. Brumley, of East Dayton, Mich., asks 

 about a beautiful large beetle that he sends. It is 

 known as the "goldsmith beetle." Cutalpa hiniyera. 

 In size, form, and ha.bits, it is very much like the 

 May beetle, or June beetle, often called May or 

 June hug. This, however, is much handsomer. It 

 is golden yellow, and often shines like gold. It is 

 not often very common in Michigan; but this year 

 seems an exception. About the 20th of May I was 

 in a field prepared for corn near Howell, Michigan, 

 where the soil seemed full of these grubs. I could 

 have collected thousands in a few minutes. These 

 beetles come forth in May or June, and, after pair- 

 ing, lay their eggs on grass or other growing vege- 

 tation. The grubs are white, and feed on roots 

 just as the "white grub"— larva of the May beetle 

 —does. It feeds for three yeais, I supposed, as 



