GLEAXIXGS 1^- BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 



them, and still he has an excellent range. Cows are 

 worth only from 80 to 103 dollars each hei-e; beef, 

 12'/i cts. live weig-ht; egg-s, 36 cts. per dozen; hogs, 5 

 cts. live weight, and in half a day he could fence 

 across the canyon and then turn in calves at from 7 

 to 10 dollars per head, and let them grow to cows or 

 beef without any further trouble. Such is life in 

 California. This last man cries hard times; has 

 been in the country ten years, and has never yet 

 set out a tree of any description, nor a grapevine; 

 buys all of his vegetables, etc., and still he is quite 

 an energetic man; for if he can, by climbing over 

 the mountains, and carrying a heavy ritie, succeed 

 in killing a fat deer once in a while, it is a great 

 success. E. Galu'p. 



Santa Ana, Cal., Dec. 8, l>^Si. 



Friend G.. we liave been very much inter- 

 ested indeed in gettino^a word from yon once 

 more. I was a little disappointed" when I 

 got to the end of yonr story, to iind ont that 

 the man who had done so well was not 

 named E. (iallnp; and then I thought may 

 he that last man was going to tnrn ont to be 

 yon ; l)iit I soon saw I was mistalven there. 

 "Xow let ns know what you are doing, old 

 friend. Why don't you liave a big bee- 

 ranch, and give us something in every num- 

 ber, as y()u used to do in the old A'. P>. J.' 

 ^Vhy. fiiend Doolittle (jiiotes you now every 

 little while, and yet you are letting all the 

 skill and wisdom yoii possess in regard to 

 l)ees, waste its sweetness on the away-ofC 

 California desert air, are you not V Is the 

 doctoring business so good out there that 

 you can not have just a few bees, old friend? 



this way you need keep the combs exposed but a 

 very few moments, and then you can transfer in 

 your room without bother from the tees. I have 

 found this the best plan, among all I have tried. 

 Mechanic Kails, Me., Dec. 4, 1881. .1. B. Mason. 



!U 



TRANSFEERING. 



SO.ME HINTS FROM FRIEND M.VSON. 



fHE tools recjuired to do this remarkable Job 

 are a hand-saw to saw off the cross sticks, a 

 hammer, a cold-chisel, and a common case- 

 knife. We also want a ball of linen twine 

 and some woolen cloth. We now take our 

 new hive, supplied with three frames of empty 

 combs or foundation. Sometimes, when convenient, 

 we use one frame of brood drawn from some other 

 hive, l>ut this is not essential. 



We now go to the stand of the colony we wish to 

 operate upon, smoke the bees, saw otf the cross- 

 sticks, and with the hammer and chisel cut the nails 

 so as to get off one side of the hive. We now place 

 some woolen cloth in a box, and cut out the combs 

 with the ease-knife, brushing the bees all directly 

 into the new hive, which should sit now on the 

 stand of the old one. As the comhs are cut out 

 and the bees are i)rushed off, a i)iece of the cloth 

 should be laid between each comb; the old hive 

 should be carried away, and the bo.v of brood-combs 

 carried to the house, put in a warm room, if cold, or 

 into tlie shop, and then transferred into thefraincs. 

 For fastening in combs I find linen twine far tli(? 

 best. Cut off four strings, two long enough to go 

 around the frame endwise, and two widthwise; lay 

 down these strings, and on top of them the frame. 

 Fit in the coml),and tie it in with these strings, then 

 bring the frame to an upright position; and if any 

 more string is wanted to secure it, use il. When 

 the combs ai-e all fastened in, eai-ry them to the col- 

 ony, and shake the bees from the frames left for 

 them to cluster on, and give them their combs. In 



THE SCIENTIFIC BEE KEEPER. 



THK .M.\N wm) KNEW .\I.r, ABOLT BEES. 



ES," said he, " bee-keeping is now reduced 



to a science; and all that we have to do 



is to make this science a study, just as 



we study surveying or civil engineering, 



i and we are bound to succeed. 1 know all 



j about bees; I used to keep them years ago, and 



I I've read Quinby's bee-book, and to me bee-keeping 



: is a science— no more, no less; I say, give a man 



[ bees, and give him also the science of bee-keeping, 



1 and he will make money. Now, in my experience 



— -" But I waited to hear no more; I was cookijig 



dinner, and he was one of the folks who will neither 



come in nor go away, but will keep one standing on 



tenter-hooks in the door all day, and he was so 



deaf that all my words were lost on him. He had 



bought a colony of bees of me a few days before, 



and he had come now to see about them. 



That evening about dark he came for them. The 

 day had been hot, and the portico was full of bees. 

 j I told him to wait till morning. " No," said he, "I'll 

 take them now; I'm not afraid of bees; I'll let 

 I every bee in that hive sting me, if any one will pay 

 me for the bees; all that a man reeds is to under- 

 stand the science of—" He had his sheet spread 

 ' down by this time, and he took hold of the hive, 

 one hand at the back, the other at tlie top of the 

 portico in front, when a handful of bees seemed to 

 sting him all at once. He dropped the hive, execut- 

 ed a war-dance, and yelled " Jerushal .lerusha! " 

 : He wore linen pants, and the bees climbed up on 

 j the inside, and stung him right and left; and at 

 j every spear-thrust he jumped clear off the ground, 

 and yelled " Jerusha! " 



I suppose "Jerusha " is his patron saint, from the 

 way he called on her in his affliction. When the 

 bees got to putting in their best licks he did not 

 have time for the whole word, so he said"Je— " 

 (with a slap and jump) for one sting, "— ru— " (slap- 

 jump) for another, and "— sha" (jump-slap) for the 

 third; then he seemed to lose all account of sylla- 

 bles, and he danced a Highland fling, and uttered a 

 perfect chorus of " Jerushas." Our whole family 

 were gathered aroimd, and thci' held their sides, 

 and laughed, while the boys rolled on the grass. 

 and screamed, and oiiUed for some one to fan them 

 and rock them. 



Well, they tied the l)ees up in the sheet, swung 

 them on a pole, and carried them home; and next 

 day they sent for me about ten o'clock, to come 

 there and cover up those bees. 1 found the hive 

 oiien, the cover lying some ten feet away, and no 

 scientific bee-kecpei- in sight; all the family had 

 business in the lower pasture, or the cow-lot; and 

 when I got in speaking distance of them they said 

 that my scientific bee-keeper was in tlie cellar, with 

 the door locked, so that none of the rest could get 

 in, and they were obliged to take to the woods. I 

 straightened the frames, i)Ut on the covers, and 

 left them in the care of the " scientific bee-keeper " 

 who had read Quinby. Mafiai.a B. CHAonorK, 

 Vermont, 111. 



