ll>4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



APR. 



outer tray, 7^x4' ix2 is a good size, with sides of thin 

 wood, bottom and ends of one strip of tin, punched 

 and naiied ou with wire nails. Inner tray should be 

 made the same, except that the wooden sides must 

 be plated with strips of tin, to keep our jail-bird 

 from gnawing out. It may be about 6x3 1 «xl 1 A in 

 s^e. Gravel box may be 354x3x2, with the wood 

 run ng the other way and tin lapping down over 

 the inner tray and nailed to it. It would be nice to 

 have them painted so they could not rust. 



I will send samples to Novice, and he can report, 

 if he chooses, whether they are worth the trouble of 

 making'. The subjoined cuts will make all clear. 



FRIEND IIASTY'S MOUSE-TRAP. 



I judge that a larger size would be excellent as a 

 rat trap, although the possibility of its being sprung 

 by mice would make it necessary to look after it 

 often. It wouldn't catch the puppy, nor the chick- 

 ens, nor the children, nor yet lame the cat. The rat 

 is cunning, " thaf e of the world " that he is, but even 

 he can't hold out against the allurements of a free- 

 lunch parlor which, month in and month out, is, as 

 iEneas found the gates of Hades, open night and day. 



Richards, Lucas Co., O., Feb. 20, '80. E. E. Hasty. 



I entirely agree with you, friend II., in 

 thinking mice about the most disagreeable 

 pest we can have about the apiary, or any- 

 where else ; but I am not sure I shall like 

 your trap so very much more than the time- 

 honored wire, block mouse-trap that can be, 

 or should be for sale in almost every grocery 

 store for a " live-cent nickel." We have one 

 of the traps " sot " with the squash seeds 

 and nuts, but I am almost afraid (?) our 

 boys have caught the mice all off, even out 

 of the seed room and honey house. 



CALIFORNIA AS A BEE-KEEPING 

 STATE. 



ARTICLE NO. o. 



Mj DITOR OF GLEANINGS: -Here is one of the 

 i perils of California bee-keeping. Many of the 

 bee ranches are located in narrow canons or 

 gorges in the mountains, and we sometimes have 

 here, in the mountains, in the rainy seasons, what is 

 called a cloud-burst; if a heavy cloud happens to run 

 against a high mountain, the bottom gets knocked 

 out, or it gets tipped over, and then the water is 

 spilled out in a hurry. One of these cloud-bursts took 

 place in Santa Monica Canon, Los Angeles Co., the 

 last of 1879. It damaged Mr. Kilgore's ranch, in bees 

 and hives, to the amount of about $100. Mr. Cox had 

 his honey house, with 150t1tr>. of extracted honey, his 

 bees, cabin, empty hives, and all his effects swept 

 away and entirely destroyed. Mr. Sullivan lost 

 about 40 stands of bees, and a large number of emp- 

 ty hives. It also cleaned out and entirely destroyed 

 a valuable poultry ranch, and a wood ranch, and 

 then partly demolished a bath house on the beach. 



Evidences of these cloud-bursts can be seen all over 

 the country. They come down with such irresisti- 

 ble fury that nothing can stand in their way; large 

 live-oaks and sycamores are carried away like mere 

 playthings; and bowlders weighing tons are swept 

 along with terrific force. The stage coach was swept 

 away and one of the horses killed, at Santa Paula 

 Creek, in Ventura Co. The driver had to swim for 

 his life. A house and family were swept away in 

 Santa Barbara Co., and two persons drowned. Those 

 mountain streams sometimes rise to a terrible night 

 in a very few minutes, and they are just as likely to 

 have one of those wash-outs in a dry canon as in a 

 wet one. 



They have been praying for rain all over the 

 State, and in some localities they have just a little 

 overdone the thing. Here at Santa Ana, the or- 

 ange, lime, and lemon are ripening on the trees. 

 Trees are in bloom. Bees are at work on the wil- 

 lows, and other flowers, while, 40 miles away, we 

 can see the snow-capped mountains towering high 

 above the clouds; and still, on some clear days, so 

 pure is the atmosphere that they seem to be within 

 five miles of us. Bee-keepers are looking forward 

 to a favorable season, as there has been an abund- 

 ance of rain thus far. 



Now, an Eastern man coming in here, and select- 

 ing a site for a bee ranch, may find what he calls a 

 splendid locality, and he sets his apiary upon a 

 bench of land in some canon, and above the possi- 

 bility of the flood. He goes to work, and makes a 

 good road, perhaps partly in the bottom of the can- 

 on and partly dug out of the side of the mountain, 

 at quite an expense of labor, and perhaps money, 

 and he has that road either to make over or repair 

 every winter, and sometimes even three and four 

 times in the season. There are plenty of good sites 

 yet, however, where this risk of having. a cloud 

 tipped over on to your head, and your apiary de- 

 stroyed, or your road washed out or covered up with 

 bowlders and debris, can be avoided. So don't look 

 all the time on the dark side. 



The bee-keeper usually docs his own cooking, 

 washing, &c, at those ranches in the mountains, 

 and lives a sort of hermit life, at an expense (for 

 provisions) of from 40 to 60 cents per week. He has 

 his gun which furnishes him with fresh meat. Com- 

 mon cotton-tail and jack rabbits, and California and 

 mountain quail are very plenty. Occasionally he 

 gets a fat buck. California, squirrels, coons, wild 

 cats, coyotes, California lions, and sometimes a 

 grizzly bear also help to supply his larder if he 

 likes such meat. I do not "hanker arter" it myself. 



E. Gallup. 



Santa Ana, Los Angeles Co., Cal., Jan. 6, 1880. 



P. S— Mr. Geo. M. Dale, an honored bee-keeper 

 from Border Plains, Webster Co., Iowa, died here at 

 Santa Ana, on Dec. 30th, of ulceration of the stom- 

 ach. He had been failing for five years. He leaves 

 a wife and one child. They came here for his 

 health, but too late. E. G. 



Friend G., it seems you have not yet lost 

 your old habit of quaint jesting, but surely 

 you do not mean to intimate that, because 

 the people prayed earnestly for the rain they 

 needed, God caused those clourls to tip over 

 on their heads, washing away their apiaries, 

 roads, etc.? It seems to me just now, being 

 tired from handling so long heaps of letters, 

 that the hermit life you describe is exactly 

 what I do " hanker arter." 



