812 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



handling- of single- walled hives, such iis hiving- new 

 swarms on the old stand. 



The protectors are to be leveled up and located 

 permanently; and when hives are to be moved, lift 

 the inside hive out. Shade for tlie hives during tlie 

 heat of Slimmer, I think, is quite an advantage; but 

 shadf-lxiards ai^ unsightl.\-. and frocjuently blow off. 

 Tlie lii\-t'-]irot('i-t<>r nol onl.\- affords iieitect itrotec- 

 tion from the liot sun, but also from cool nigiits, 

 when the bees are liable to be driven from the cases. 

 The protector is made in two styles, the one with 

 shuttei-.s, and the other using tliin lumlier for siding. 

 I do not advise the shutters, on account of the extra 

 expense, as just as good ventilation can be secured 

 by raising tl^e lid an inch in the hottest weathei-, 

 when the heat of the inside hive will cause a current 

 of air to pass up around the hive. 



THE HONEY CROP OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



BEES AND F]{UIT: VALVaHLE TESTIMONY FROM 



A BEK-KEEI'ER and FKl'IT-GKOAVER THAT 



BEES DO NOT TOVCH SOUND FKUIT; 



YELLOW-JACKETS THE GUILTY 



CULPRITS. 



I caught particular tits for pi-edicting in 

 Gleanings that Southern California would 

 produce but half a crop of honey unless we had 

 later rains. Now. although every one was 

 watching and waiting, hoping and praying for 

 them, they never came. Then they got mad at 

 me— especially the honey-dealers— and pitched 

 into me. Mad ? Yes. What right had I to call 

 the attention of the world and his brother to 

 the possible failure of the honey crop? Would 

 it not be bad enough when the world had to 

 know it? Why alarm the trade, and send up 

 the price of honey only to collapse again? Be- 

 sides that, the failure would never come. Look 

 at the face of nature! Was any thing ever 

 more promising? I looked. Gentlemen, I ad- 

 mit the wide earth is covered with a carpet of 

 matchless green. The alfilaria, the buttercup, 

 and the daisy, with a thousand other flowers to 

 the deponent unknown, are fighting for stand- 

 ing-room all around me. The king of the 

 honey-plants— the black sage— all along ovei- 

 the mountain-sides, throws out its sheen of 

 white purple snow. We look around us, and 

 the eye is "dazzled and drunk with beauty." 

 The air is loaded down to the hub with the per- 

 fume of the flowers. We feel all over that it is 

 simply ecstasy to live. Anv man can jump up 

 and yell— yell with pure and unalloyed delight; 

 yell that he has such a country— all his own; 

 yell that he has a home to go to, and doesirt 

 have to board out. But in two or three weeks 

 there will be a change— all these flowers will 

 become thirsty. Th(>y will look up all the day 

 long to the pitiless sky, and yearn for a little 

 water. The stalks that now bear up their load 

 of bloom so proudly will creak in the wind, and 

 moan for a little water. The leaves will reach 

 out to you with a pallid and appealing look, 

 and seem to ask you with such beseeching 

 tenderness to give them but one drop of water. 

 Were you ever starving to death— starving for 

 water? Wei-e ever youi- lips parched and black 

 —your teeth covered with a thick coal of gum 

 for want of water? No? Then you know- 

 nothing about it. I imagine it is ";ibout the 

 same way with the flowers. We see their pallid 

 faces— see their fading forms— see their daily 

 change till they drooi) and die. But we know 

 not whether they have a consciousness of the 

 change. Now, gentlemen, have any of you got 

 a little patent pump abotit your clothes, that 

 will water all this broad expanse of Southern 

 California? No? Then look out for the honey 

 crop. Those who are close to large alfalfa fields 

 may get a good crop— as they mostly do. But 



all who dejiend upon wild feed — as nearly all 

 do — will suffer indeed. And we did suffer. 



bep:s and grapes. 

 I have seen Prof. McLane's experiments with 

 bees and grapes called in question by some of 

 the bee-]);! pels. But I think I could convince 

 the greatest skeptic of their truth and re- 

 liability. We are now picking our grapes and 

 making our raisins. Now, friend Root, walk 

 up into the vineyard with me. You see we are 

 cleaning the grapes at tables. You see and 

 hear thousands of bees on the tables, on the 

 long line of cleaned grapes, on almost every 

 vine around you. and flying around your head. 

 Take this bunch of grapes. You see halt a 

 dozen bees busy on it. They are sucking the 

 juice from the half-decayed grapes, and those 

 that have been picked by birds. You know al- 

 ready that a bee will suck the juice from rotten 

 or broken fruit. But here is another bunch — 

 the grapes about as large as your best eastern 

 plums. Every grape is as pure, perfect, and un- 

 blemished as if it just came from tlie hands of 

 the Creator. Hold that up for five, ten, fifteen 

 minutes, and not a single bee will alight upon 

 it. Oh, yesi they wMll fly round it and snuff at 

 it, but they won't alight on it. Why? Simply 

 because there is nothing for them to get, and 

 they won't try to pierce a grape. Now you are 

 satisfied that no bee is going to alight on tliat 

 bunch. But pull one single grape off it, and 

 see the change! There is a large, luscious 

 grape at the top — near your hand. But, hold! 

 Have your mouth wide open and ready to shut 

 the door when the grape goes in, or you may 

 have a small family of bees in there too. You 

 must do this or take a walk once or twice 

 around that gi-ape before eating it. The moment 

 the grape leaves the stem the bees will dash at 

 both of them for the fresh juice. These facts, 

 which I have tested again and again, prove tliai 

 bees do no injury to grapes or fruit. But yel- 

 low-jackets can and do pierce the grape. They 

 will, in cool cloudy weather, cut the cheese- 

 cloth into shreds and go in and destroy grapes 

 or raisins. 



RAISINS, AND HOW THEY ARE PREPARED IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



This is the way we clean the grapes for rai- 

 sins. Theoretically, you are not allowed to 

 touch the bunch at all — except by the stem. 

 When you touch the grapes it rubs off the 

 beautiful white bloom that covers the amber 

 tinge in the White Muscat of Alexandria. 

 Catch your bunch by the stem. Pick off every 

 prematui-e grape; every one that has not come 

 to perfection; every one that is cracked or 

 broken; every one that shows any indication of 

 decay; every one that has been picked by birds; 

 in fact, o?ny grape that has any fault at all. 

 Now cut the stem as close to the bunch as pos- 

 sible, and lay it carefully on the tray beside 

 you. This is the whole art of cleaning the 

 grape. These trays of cleaned grapes are car- 

 ried to one side and placed end to end. The 

 trays are just a yard long and two feet wide. I 

 cover mine with cheese-cloth. Th(> grapes will 

 cure in 13 or 1,5 days in first-rate laisin weather, 

 under the cheese-cloth. It takes ;?0or3.T to cure 

 them, with the best of weather, under the old 

 system — that is. bareheaded. The cloth pro- 

 tects the grapes from dust, dirt, and insects. 

 Woe to the yellow-jacket or bee that gets under 

 that cloth on a warm day. For these ri^asons 

 the cloth mak(\s a better and cleaner raisin. 



In four or five days the beautiful green grapes 

 that you placed on those trays will have under- 

 gone a change. You take off the cloth for a 

 hundred — two hundred yards. There, spread 

 out before you, is apparently an immense long 

 lin(; of soft, mushy, rotten grapes. A stranger 



