1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



275 



average grocer, when a certain article figures 

 to a balfcent, to give himself the benefit of 

 that amount. If he makes a mistake, as some 

 of them do, he is liable to cheat his customer 

 out of two or three cents. Selling by the 

 piece when sections are carefully graded will, 

 I believe, give theaveragecustomer more hon- 

 est value for his money than selling by the 

 weight. — Ed.] 'i 



A FEW YE.4RS AGO I asked in GLEANINGS 



whether there was any objection to having 

 bottom-bars as wide as top-bars, as I hesitated 

 about using them. No one raised any objec- 

 tion, but now that I have in nearly all my 

 hives bottom-bars 1 >s wide, S. T Pettit and 

 ye editor say they're all wrong. Well, I think 

 I've tried them long enough to know how 

 they work in ihis locality. To Bro. Pettit, I 

 say tha*^ his objection that they choke with 

 dead bees is valid, although I don't know that 

 I've suffered from that cause ; but I don't 

 think I ever hurt a bee or a queen by lifting 

 or replacing a frame. To ye editor I say that, 

 with 1 ys bottom-bars, I can show combs beau- 

 tifully built down to the bottom — -he may re- 

 member that he saw them — and with }:^ bot- 

 tom-bars they are not so good. But I took a 

 different plan with the wide bottom-bars. 

 [Yes, I remember your showing me those wide 

 bottom-bars ; and I remember, too, that you 

 succeeded in getting your combs clear down 

 to them by the use of splints ; but in the item 

 on this point in our last issue I was thinking 

 of the average bee-keeper, a class to whom 

 the manufacturer has to cater rather than to 

 the special ones who will take time to work 

 out all these various little problems. — Ed.] 



RAMBLER. 



BY ARTHIIH 



"»«^Ast^seA£afle^tt^fe^^2gfts^iisA5: 



^ICKir^TGS 



'^AOM OUM NEIGHBORS FIELDS. 



There dwells a Ram Ici, lank and long, 

 Beside the raging sea ; 



He roams and sing-; from morn till night- 

 No bee more hliihe than he. 



And this the burden of his song 

 Forever seems to be : 

 " I rarab'.e here and ramble there, 

 And tell of what I see." 



"Thou'rt welcome, friend," cries Innocence 

 "Come in and feast with me; 

 We'll chat of bees and traps and things 



That full of wonder be." 

 He talks and talks, and shows his traps 



Which Ramb:er likes to see, 



But sees with eyes brimful of mirth 



Rich fun there's sure to be. 



The Rambler smiles and passes on 



With songs across the lea. 

 "I love my wheel, I love this life, 



I love the busy bee; 

 I love, 'bove all, confiding man 



Who, while I take my tea. 

 Tells me of things he wots not of, 



That's copy unto me." 



We love him 'spite his ancient clothes, 



With trousers bagged at knee, 

 And camera and umbrella too, 



And eyes so full of glee. 

 l,ong mav he ramble 'mongst us all, 



And flirt with busy bee ; 

 But let Dame Nature quite alone, 



For fickle jade is she. 



Providence, March 5, 1901. 



Don't kill the pretty bumble-bees 



That hum around the barn ; 

 They'll bring the price of clover down, 



But ne'er a person harm. 



\i< 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 

 In speaking of the Cyprian bees, the Twen- 

 tieth Century Farmer says: 



The next breed of bees imported came from the 

 island of Cyprus. They are called Cypiians, a name 

 not always used for bees. The Cyprians hold the 

 world's record for the amount of honey gathered by 

 one colony in a single seas-on. Mr. Doolittle, of New 

 York State, a well-known apiarist, took 1000 pounds 

 of extracted honey from one colony of Cvprian bees 

 one year. They have one serious fault — they are very 

 nervous, and will defend their stores of honey to the 

 death. They can not be subdued by smoke. When 

 aroused the only way to conquer them is with a mild 

 dose of chloroform. On account of their disposition 

 they have not become popular. 



Mr. Doolittle says, concerning this: 



The above reminds me of the man who puked up 

 three black crows, of ancient time, while the truth 

 was that ' he threw'up something as black as a crow, 

 and told his neighbor .'■o." 



My greatest yield of extracted honey from a single 

 colony of bets was in 1S77. when one colony gave me 

 the large yield of 51)0 pounds, besides producing 

 enough to winter on- or about 35 pounds more. So 

 that the total galheied l)y this colony was not far 

 fiom t)00 pounds, all told — that is, above what they 

 consumed while gathering, or during the summer 

 months. But this was before anyCypiian bees were 

 imported into this country, the bees doing the gath- 

 erine of this 600 pounds being those best of all bees, 

 all things considered — the Italians. 



Does that "Twentieth Century " bear the 

 ear-marks of A. D. or B. C. ? 



>b 



Roof apiaries are coming on top — naturally. 

 Mr. York gives a fine view of one in Chicago, 

 belonging to G. E. Purple. The latter says: 



The roof as a place to keep bees has its advantages 

 as wt-11 as disadvantage*. Things in its favor are that 

 the bees are up out of the way. and theie is no fear of 

 their disturbing any one (I have never heard any 

 complaints against mine). The roof being: nearly 

 level, and covered with clean gravel, there is nothing 

 to hinder the bees, and when they swarm it is easy to 

 find the queen. (I clip all my queens.) 



In 1899 Mr. Purple secured about 3200 lbs. 

 of extracted honey in this way, probably all 

 taken from the little dooryards of that great 

 city. 



\lu 



Some time ago the Yazoo region in Missis- 

 sippi had a boom for bee-keepers. Mr. Dan- 

 iel Wurth says of it : 



The Ya zoo Valley, in Mississippi, is a very unhealthy 

 part of the country. I was sick there all summer with 

 chills. It is also a very poor honey locality, as it rains 

 too much. My advice to bte-keepers is to stay away 

 from there. The great bee-keeper who was the cause 

 of my moving there has rendered his 250 colonies into 

 wax. About once in six or seven years they have a 

 grod honey-flow from the willows along the Missis- 

 sippi River, and there are only a few places where 

 that is plentiful. 



