1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE GULTUltE. 



441 



If any of your eastern men are of the same opinion 

 as Mr. Gallup, that there's money in the business 

 hire, now is the time for them to come out, as bees 

 can be bought at their own price. The great draw- 

 back to the business here is, that you and your fam- 

 ily are debarred from all social advantages, and 

 lead the life of hermits, doing every kind of home 

 drudgery yourselves, as employing help is out of all 

 question here. Like Mr, Gallup, I hope there's mon- 

 ey in the business, but what's the use in praising it 

 up, as most of your correspondents do, when the 

 facts won't bear them out? The truth won't hurt 

 any one if truthfully told. Well, the truth aboul 

 the honey business here is about this: With the ex- 

 ception of ihose who are here for their health, I 

 I don't know of a man but would gladly get out of 

 the business if he could, even at a sacrifice. Not a 

 man have I met, who can call himself out of debt; 

 on the contrary, most of them are as deeply in debt 

 to their merchants, as arc the cotton farmers of the 

 South. 



Personally, I am perfectly satisfied here, and hope 

 to make a success of it. I only speak above of the 

 actual condition of things at present. The future 

 must be brighter for us, for we will learn to avoid 

 the stumbling blocks by past experience, and not 

 borrow so largely of it. My apiary consists of 215 

 stocks in Simplicity hives; but, if I save 150 for next 

 season, I will be satisfied. 



HONEY FROM THE OAK. 



At present, they seem to be making a living of 

 what is called honey dew, but it is not a true honey 

 dew. It seems to be a sweetish exudation from the 

 acorn on the live oaks, just where the acorn and 

 cup join. I can discover no insect or hole in the 

 acorn, and as the acorn invariably turns black and 

 drops off, it may be a disease. 



A parasitic vine, here commonly called love vine, 

 has helped us out materially this season, as the bees 

 have been working on it constantly for the last 

 three months. 



COMB FOUNDATION IN CALIFORNIA. 



I have been fortunate enough to secure some 500 

 frames of comb from fdn., early in the season, and 

 when its utility becomes well recognized here, your 

 orders for machines will be large. I have been 

 bothered with no sagging, and combs built from it 

 are much more perfect than I ever had before. 

 Your machine works like a charm. As you say, we 

 .can roll out fdn., by the mile. Mine is always made 

 in long rolls of 15 to 40 feet, as the economy of trim- 

 ming is so much greater. For dipping, I find wood- 

 en boards of inch thickness (nut thinner), much 

 preferable to your metal sheets. 



ARRANGEMENT OF APIARV. 



My arrangement of hives is quite different from 

 any thing 1 have seen, and has its advantages. 

 They are placed in eights, s<> that each couple tly 

 in different directions. One can stand in one posi- 

 tion, and manipulate two hives, and neither cart 

 imi' man be in the way of Hying bees. 



San Diego, Cal. Rueus Morgan. 



I think, friend M., that California, as well 

 as almost every other locality, needs energy 

 to go with its natural advantages as a honey 

 state. You are doubtless correct in regard 

 to the cause of the honey found on the oak : 

 the matter has been discussed before, in our 

 back volumes. It is not honey dew. Very 

 glad to hear the fdn. mill pleases. 



IS I CAKING FEUT1LG, LAYING QUEENS, 



IN A HIVE CONTAINING A FERTILE, 



LAYING QUEEN. 



CAN IT NOT 15E DONE? 



ffillAj the reader please turn to page 

 jjw 361, Sept. No. V Now, read the item 

 - J headed "Two Queens in One Hive," 



and my comments upon it. Then read the 



following : 



A NEW FEATURE IN QUEEN HEARING. 



The last queen you sent me is a clipper; although 

 she cost only $1.25, I could not wish a better one. 1 

 wrote you last month that I had two queens in one 

 hive. I took the young one out and gave her to an- 

 other hive, and she is the largest queen I have, and 

 very prolific. Well, there are two queens in the 

 same hive again, and both laying queens. I was 

 looking through the hive yesterday and saw the 

 young queen laying. She is like her sister, very 

 large. They are both daughters of the $3.00 queen 

 you sent me this spring. J. J. White. 



Clinton, Mich., Aug. 19, 1879. 



Now all we have to do is to develop the 

 disposition of the bees reared by this queen, 

 and we are done with the troubles of queen 

 rearing, and also with artificial queens ; are 

 we not, friend Foster? See page 436. I 

 wonder if friend Hasty has time to leave bis 

 clover heads long enough to take such a 

 queen, and produce plenty of queens that 

 would always have a sister or two in the 

 hive with her, when swarming time came. 

 Friend White, I will give you $10.00 for the 

 queen just as she is now, and if she raises a 

 third daughter while sbe remains prolific 

 and fertile, I will give you $25.00 for her. 

 You see I will have an apiary then, all alone 

 by myself ; and how do you know I shall 

 not get a race of queens that won't kill each 

 other at all, but "let love through all their 

 actions run, and all their 'ways' be mild." 



HOW FAR WILL BEES GO FOR HONEY? 



f'HE precise distance that bees will fly in search 

 of forage, I am unable to state. Some consider 

 J three miles to be the extreme limit, while 

 others place it as high as twelve miles. The most 

 satisfactory results may be expected, if abundant 

 stores can be found within two miles. It is evident 

 that they will work more freely upon blossoms at 

 some little distance, than when these are very near 

 the apiary. If I were to sow anything with a view 

 to a supply of honey, I should prefer that it should 

 not be in the immediate vicinity of the hives. Their 

 flights are evidently modified by local conditions. 

 During the large yield from basswood in 1871, as the 

 blossoms failed in the valley, the bees continued 

 bringing in the same quality of honey, following the 

 basswood day by day, as it opened on the hills, until 

 the first week in August, when they still came in 

 heavily loaded, but very tired from a long flight. I 

 drove to the hights, six miles distant, and found 

 (hat basswood was there just coming into bloom. I 

 immediately moved 48 swarms to this location, and 

 in the following week these 4H colonies gave me one 

 ton of surplus honey, while the 71 swarms left at 

 home, did not secure one-half that amount, yet they 

 continued working upon the same ground during 

 the entire period. This is a tine illustration of the 

 advantage of obtaining forage within a reasonably 



