1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



881 



some young bcos; and wiion slie commcncos to 

 lay I i'ntroiUu'c h<>ras above. .1. F. McIxtyhe. 

 Fillmore, Cal.. Out. :il. 



The success of the Benton cage for sending 

 (lueens across the continent to California has 

 been phenomenal: but within the last few days 

 it has failed to deliver the queen alive. The 

 cages, at our request, were returned, and on in- 

 spection we found that the candy had become 

 as hard as a rock: and the poor bees and queen, 

 not being able to use it as food, simply starved 

 to death. The fault, then, after all, was not in 

 the cage, but in the candy. We next tried the 

 Manum bee-candy, and that for some other 

 reason did not answer. The cold weather com- 

 ing on. I rather suspect has had something to 

 do with it: for, during the warmer months of 

 the year, the Good candy has worked. We now 

 rather look to the Morrison candy. The latter. 

 ]Mr. S. W. Morrison says, works perfectly dur- 

 ing all weathers, and is always soft. 



We have had large experience in introducing 

 — yes, introducing hundreds every year in our 

 apiaries, and we don't want a colony queenless 

 more than one or two days, at most, for safe 

 introducing. We have the best success with a 

 colony thathas hardly had a clutnce to make 

 preparations for a new mother. The point is this: 

 That when those preparations are once begun 

 {cell-starting) they sometimes seem determined 

 to carry out their original intentions; and so 

 we prefer to (jet the start of the bees by giving 

 them a new queen before they have time to 

 realize their queenless condition. If ive wait 

 until cells are capped, the bees are moi'e apt to 

 kill the queen when released. Some good au- 

 thority. I don't recollect who, now, corroborates 

 this. Still further, when we take out one 

 <iueen we frequently cage another at the same 

 time. In fact, we generally do so, and never 

 have a failure except when there is a dearth of 

 honey, and the whole apiary is disposed to rob. 



Now about your cage. The principle is cer- 

 tainly good. It combines the good principles of 

 the old Peet with the later and more conven- 

 ient candy method. For introducing alone, I 

 believe it is the best. 



It is a big thing to give a queen access to 

 comb just as soon as she reaches her destina- 

 tion, especially for you Californians. E. 11. 



BEES ON THE ISLAND OF MALTA. 



AN INTKUESTINfi I.ETTEi: FUOM THE ISEAXl), 



VHOM OXE OF OUIl Ol.D COHHESPONDENTS 



IX QUAKAN'J'IXE. 



Dear Mr. Editor:— After a trip of five da vs by 

 sea we arrived, coming from Jaffa, at the island 

 of Malta. I changed steamers at Port Said at 

 the Mediterranean (Mitrance of the Su<'z Canal. 

 Wh(Mi we were in sight of >[alta, the captain 

 said: " A queer place, this Malta. Tiiey hav(! 

 strange notions as to quarantine.'" And, indeed, 

 it turned out very queer, having no common 

 sense about it. The thi'ee cities "lie around 



a nuinlxn' of creeks where a number of men- 

 of-war are stationed. It affords place for 

 many other vess(>ls. Steamships are con- 

 tinually running into the harbor, which is a 

 great coaling station. Our steamship ran into 

 French Creek, conducted bv a Maltese pilot. 

 The sanitary officers came on board, and, after 

 examining my i)apers. maix-hed me (or, rather, 

 rowed me) off into the quarantine, togi'thei- 

 with the ijilot. as liaving touched the steamer 

 on which I came, the cholera i)eing 300 or 4tX) 

 miles north of .Jaffa. Tlie steamship itself, the 

 passengers, and crew, had a fair bill, and were 

 allowed to land, together with the sanitary of- 

 ficers. I had to sit alone in a room for the next 

 eight days. I was properly fumigated, and 

 robbed of as much money as possible, with the 

 least possible comfort — enough to nuvke a per- 

 son, traveling for the restoration of his health, 

 to become eventually sick, under the protection 

 of the Great Britons. 



THE HOXEY, AXI) HOW THE ISLAXD OBTAIXED 

 ITS OLD XAME. 



Being in the hospital, or lazaretto, a bee, 

 black as jet, fell down before me. I saw that 

 the bees of the island are, if not identical, at 

 least very much like the Tunisians. Melita of 

 the ancients was, very likely, named so by 

 Greek settlers, who changed the name of Ogygia 

 into Melita, now corrupted by the moderns into 

 Malta. MeliUi. very likely, means " the honey- 

 producing." although the constant advance of 

 agriculture has brought apiculture to a low 

 scale. The island is about 60 miles in circum- 

 ference— 13 wide by 20 long. The climate is 

 very favorable in every respect. 



At the western end of the island, about Calyp- 

 so's Grotto, the best honey is produced from 

 the wild thyme, growing more abundantly 

 there than on the rest of the island, whither 

 the bee-keepers all take their hives in summer. 

 Owing to the rocky and treeless East, this part 

 may have been still more beautiful in ages past, 

 for Homer calls it 



A scene where, if a g-od should cast liis sig-ht, 

 A god might gaze, and wonder with delight. 



But it does not even make a human being won- 

 der with delight now. The poet made Calypso 

 live there. There is a spring, and it might 

 have been nicely lifted out at one time, but none 

 of those groves are to be found there excepting 

 carob-ti-ees. which stand about almost on the 

 bai'e rock, and sui)ply a very dark-colored hon- 

 ey in spring. Wandering down the hill 



Where bloomy meads with ■i'ivld green were crowned. 

 And glowing violets threw odors round, 



as the same poet says, may, as much as the 

 before-mentioned, have met the eye of the 

 traveler after a weary voyage on a slow-sailing 

 vessel, and coming. i)erhaps, from the barren 

 shores of Tripoli, landing in the Bay of INIelleha, 

 which again derives its name from honey, his 

 fancy made it tit for gods to dwell in. Near by 

 is a dry liver-bed. all in I'ock. covered here and 

 thi>re with cai'ob-trees, called by the natives 

 " Oued-el-asel."' a pui'e y^rabic lumu^ denoting 

 the quantity of honey there produced. It is 

 translated '•Valley of Honey."" A priest told 

 me that, more than TO yi'ai's ago, many bees 

 li\('d thei'e wild, and i)robai)ly the masses of 

 honey they got there made them give such 

 names. The natives bring the hives here and 

 hav(> them shut up in caves, before which walls 

 are built, with small holes for each colony to go 

 in and out. An iron gate closes tin' very low 

 entrance. They greatly fear being robbed by 

 such as hav<' a good taste for sweets, and, more, 

 "covet their neighbors' property." The owner 

 of the i)lace gets '> to 8 pence a hive for his hire 

 during four months. 



