186 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar 1 



west side of the valley ; but that is fifty miles 

 from us. Here in the valley we have a good 

 fruit-bloom. After that there is a precarious 

 yield from yellow sweet clover, which grows 

 plentifully along the ditches ; then there is an 

 alkali weed, also sweet clover just getting a 

 footing ; also wild sunflower and a camphor- 

 weed which come up by the hundred acres in 

 our grain-fields, and give a good flow of hon- 

 ey until into October. Well, here we are. 

 This is what I call my twenty-acre ranch, and 

 it was my home until after my wife died. You 

 will observe that the apiary is pleasantly lo- 

 cated under the peach-trees, and here is the 

 cabin you can occupy. One end is a honey- 

 house and the other a living-room. Your 

 work-shop can be under those fig-trees. You 

 can hardly imagine what a grateful shade 

 those fig-trees make when the mercury gets 

 up to 115 or 120° in the shade." 



"Whew, Mr. McCubbin ! but I am afraid 

 I shall melt if the sun pours down caloric at 

 that rate. Then see here ; it seems to me that 

 this extracting-house is some distance from 



work the bees ; do as you like ; if you prefer 

 to lift your honey in concentrated form in 

 cans, then that is the proper way. All I ask 

 is to have the work well done. The condi- 

 tions are not as to the how.'''' 



" I notice, Mr. McCubbin, that you have 

 cards tacked upon the hives. How do you 

 use them? " 



"You observe, Mr. Rambler, that when I 

 am working with the bees I note down upon 

 the card the conditions as they arise during 

 the season. At the close of the honey -yield I 

 transfer the record on the cards to my perma- 

 nent record-book. Now, I can turn to my 

 record and tell the condition of any colony, 

 and the amount of honey it has produced, and 

 its value. For instance, here is hive 63, 1889. 

 The first ruled columns are for the dates when 

 the caps were put on and when full ; then 

 space for comments, then more columns for 

 weight and grades of extracted and comb hon- 

 ey, and the value. I was producing comb 

 honey mostly when this record was kept, and 

 had three grades : fancy, No. 1, No. 2, and 



m'cubbin's peach orchard apiaky. 



the apiary ; and do you have to wheel all of 

 the honey in here, lift it up these steps and 

 into this close dark room ? Why, I believe it 

 is a tenth of a mile out to the far side of the 

 apiary." 



"That's the way we do it, Rambler. You 

 see we work on Aikin's plan — take the combs 

 home to extract." 



"Yes, yes ! I see, Mr. McCubbin ; but your 

 plan is worse than Aikin's — he uses a horse, 

 while you make a horse of yourself ; and, 

 land o' Goshen ! what a heavy wheelbarrow 

 this is ! vSay, my friend, if you want a wheel- 

 barrow, light and well made, send to The A. 

 I. Root Co. for a Daisy. It is just the thing 

 for an apiary. I speak from experience, for I 

 have one in my up co-date apiary down south. 

 But, really, Mr. McCubbin, I believe if you 

 have no objections — yes, and I believe even 

 if you do have objections — I shall build one 

 of our cheap Southern California extracting- 

 houses right out under the shade of one of 

 those peach-trees, and right among the bees." 



" All right, Rambler. You are the one to 



the record for extracted honey was whether it 

 was taken from the cap or brood-chamber. If 

 a colony was unusually cross through the en- 

 tire season, the queen was marked for super- 

 sedure ; and you will see by this record that 

 the season runs clear into October. You will 

 also note that the record gives a better general 

 yield in 1896 than in 1889." 



"Well, Bro. McCubbin, you have your rec- 

 ord worked down fine. My plan is to lump 

 the whole crop, and then strike an average for 

 each colony. There are always a few that will 

 show a better record than the rest, and these 

 I always reserve to breed from." 



" Yes, Rambler ; every man has his way of 

 doing things, and we will not quarrel over 

 methods as long as you get the honey. When 

 you come here to live in this combination hon- 

 ey-house and residence you can look every 

 thing over at your leisure. And now we will 

 go to the out-apiary, three and a half miles 

 further along. Come, Bruce and Grace, hus- 

 tle into the wagon with Rambler and we will 

 be off." 



