274 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



.1 L'NE 



CALIFORNIA AS A BEE-KEEPING 

 STATE. 



ARTICLE NO. 7. 



tT is raining to-day very freely. The past win' or 

 has been an extra favorable one for Southern 



"* California, as the rains have come just as near 

 right as they possibl3 T could have come. Farming as 

 well as bee-keeping depends mostly upon the 

 amount of rain. During last season we had a suffi- 

 cient amount or* rain to have insured quite a re- 

 spectable amount of honey, but the first part of the 

 season was cool, and when 1he weather did turn 

 warm we had the hot simoon, or East Wind, directly 

 from the Arizona desert. This wind is so hot and 

 dry that it withers nearly every green shrub or pin nt 

 as quickly as they would be withered or scorched by 

 a flame of fire. We have seen whole corn fields pre- 

 sent the appearance of having been scorched by 

 flames. Then again, we have seen a strip perhaps 

 two or three rods wide (more or less) killed dead, 

 while on ea^h side the corn was still green. We had 

 those hot winds last season just frequently enough 

 to dry up all our honey crop. Wo had the pleasure 

 of being caught in one of those East Winds or sand 

 storms as they are called. The whole atmosphere is 

 impregnated with sand so that it is impossible to 

 drive a team or see where you are going, so we laid 

 by in a small grove of timber. Mr. Wilkin had some 

 ISO stands of bees destroyed in a sand storm, by the 

 sand's drifting into the entrances and up among the 

 combs, and finally blocking up the entrance, and 

 thus smothering the bees. Those simoons are terri- 

 bly trying to a person's constitution. So you east- 

 ern bee-keepers can see some of the disadvantages 

 of bee-keeping in California. We only have the 

 sand storms in the valleys running east and west, 

 but the hot winds affect the whole country. I am 

 located now in a very desirable situation, above the 

 track of the sand storm and overlooking the Sespe 

 and Santa Clara valleys. 



Southern California has the advantage of all kinds 

 of climate, and that, too, within a very few miles. 

 An eastern man should live here about two years, 

 and perhaps longer, before he could suit himself in 

 a locality, and become sufficiently acquainted with 

 manners, customs, and all phases of California life 

 to make a selection for a home. I confess that, on 

 the whole, I am well pleased with California. The 

 country is comparatively new, and many things 

 about it that are wrong will be righted as the coun- 

 try grows older. Now, Mr. Editor, please excusethe 

 above and some of my other articles, as I find that 

 there is a general inquiry from many parts of the 

 East about California, and my object is to give as 

 near the truth as I possibly can, and at the snme 

 time answer the questions so that they will be inter- 

 esting to all. 



The past week I have been busy looking over the 

 bees, hiving swarms, superseding worthless queens, 

 etc. I find it poor policy to keep a poor queen at 

 any season of the year. Good stocks are swarming 

 and storing surplus in the supers. But, owing to 

 the past season's being so poor, every apiary that I 

 have heard from contains quite a proportion of su- 

 perannuated or worthless queens, and in many cases 

 the bees themselves are superseding their queens. 

 Still I prefer to raise my queens from selected stock, 

 so am taking the matter into my own hands. We do 

 not expect to commence extracting until May, and 



the object now is to increase all we can safely, and 

 get all into good working order by the time extract- 

 ing commences. In the majority of apiaries we 

 have a good supply of ready made comb, so we can 

 increase very rapidly by keeping all of our prolific 

 queens breeding up to their full capacity, and also 

 supplying our new swarms with ready made comb- 

 There will be but very few new hives required this 

 season, as there were so many made last season that 

 were not used, and, taking the country through, at 

 least 59 per cent of the old stocks have died. In this 

 apiary, we lost 30 out of 130; some lost as high as 75 

 per cent, and some lost none at all. E. Gallup. 

 Santa Paula, Cal., April 3, 1880. 



AN IMPROVEMENT IN WAX EXTRACT- 

 ORS. 



Sjrsj KIEND ROOT: I think it is time I should write 

 f\i you a letter, and send you one of my wax ex- 

 tractors. I have been manufacturing them 

 for the last three months, and have supplied all my 

 bee-keeping neighbors with them. The one I send 

 you is only a model. I put copper bottoms to the 

 larger ones to fit any sized stove. I have been 

 selling them at $2.25, which pays very well, and all 

 say they work like a charm. To use them, take off 

 the screw top, pour in some water, screw the top on 

 again, put in your wax, put the cover on, and then 

 hang something on the spout to catch the wax. A 

 small shallow bucket is what I use. Well, what I 

 wish to know is, what do you think about it? I have 

 been keeping bees for five or six years, and have 

 had a great deal to learn; but when I was bothered 

 about anything I would hunt up my back numbers 

 of Gleanings and find something to suit my case, 

 and then go ahead rejoicing. George Horning. 

 Elizabethtown, Ky, Feb. 16, 18S0. 



IIORNING'S AVAX EXTRACTOR. 



Above we give a cut of friend II. 's wax ex- 

 tractor. It is simply a tin can as shown, 

 with a cover fitting like the cover of a tin 

 pail. Inside is an inverted funnel, shown 

 by itself on the right. This funnel, at its 

 lower edge, is just large enough to slip into 

 the can, and is securely soldered to the sides 

 at a point just below the spout. It follows 

 then, that anything poured into the can will 

 all run out of the spout. Now the space be- 

 low the funnel is for generating steam, and 

 to pour in the water for this purpose we 

 have a screw cap at the top of the funnel. 

 At D, are holes, three in number; and, that 

 the wax may not fall through into the steam 

 generator, each one is covered with a hood. 

 The apparatus is completed by soldering a 

 ring of perforated tin just above the spout. 

 The machine is ingenious, and I hope friend 

 II. may sell a great many of them. 



