892 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15 



Send — ." The result is, the supply is 

 about all g-oue. These parties would not 

 have hesitated to pay 20 cts. a pound there 

 for such honey, and, in fact, it did cost 

 them about that. 



A few days ag^o a friend from a neigh- 

 boring town in this county was taking din- 

 ner with the writer. We had some of that 

 identical alsike honey on the table, and he 

 was as much pleased with it as were the 

 New York parties; but he was surprised at 

 its cheapness, 10 cts., and said he wonder- 

 ed why folks in his town would pay 25 and 

 30 cents a pound, as they do, for comb 

 honey, when 10 cents would get so much 

 more. He took a gallon. Each one can 

 make his own moral from this. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



In regard to unqueening too soon, Mr. 

 York says: 



Quite a number of beginners in bee-keeping make a 

 big mistake when, after they have ordered queens 

 from a dealer or breeder, they immediately kill the 

 queens of the colonies where they wish to iiitroduce 

 the new queens when they arrive. This is a risky and 

 unnecessary thing to do. Never destroy a reigning 

 queen until the qiieen sent for is received. Verv often 

 queens can not be sent by return mail, even if so ad- 

 vertised. A breeder may be able to send by return 

 mail almost invariably, but more than likely the bee- 

 keepei who has been so hasty as to kill the old queen 

 before the new one arrives is so unfortunate as to have 

 the mailing of his queei unavoidably delaj'ed several 

 days or a week. Even a queen-breeder can not con- 

 trol all circumstances at all times. So the safest way 

 is to wait until the new queen is on hand, then pro- 

 ceed to remove the old queen and introduce the new 

 one according to directions. 



The editor pleads for a careful discrimi- 

 nation in the use of the words "stand" and 

 "colony." He sa3's: 



A reputable journal has so many times used the 

 word " stand " when "colony " was meant that it can 

 hardly be otherwise understood that such use is ap- 

 proved. The word " stand " having a specific use in 

 bee-keeping as designating the thing upon which a 

 hive stands, its use in another sen.se serves just as 

 much for confusion as for variety. Is there any argu- 

 ment for the use of " stand " when colonv is meant, 

 that will not equally support the use of " hive " in the 

 same way ? 



While the word "sttind" may at times 

 be used for "hive," the word "swarm" 

 should certainly be applied only to a colony 

 of bees when swarming. As well might we 

 call a thousand men in the street 

 a "regiment" when they are 

 not organized as such. Yet here 

 comes a writer who speaks of 

 the bees he put into the cellar 

 Nov. 20 as good sivaniis, when he 

 never saw a swarm that month. 

 I feel sure that more than half 

 the writers on bees use ' ' swarm ' ' 

 for "colony;" and at times we 

 are utterly at a loss to tell which 

 word to use, as one might be as 

 good as the other. But the out- 

 side world will probably always 

 speak of a hive of bees as a 

 swarm; and in doing so it near- 

 ly follows the German custom of 

 using the word Schwarm loosely 



for any collection of bees; also the French 

 essaim and Spanish enjairibrc in the same 

 way. As illustrative of how the gentiles 

 get thinars mixed, I will mention that the 

 editor of a Coshocton, O., paper, a little 

 south of us, saw a hive of bees from the 

 Root Co., en route for the South, at their 

 station. He makes some ado over it, but 

 calls it a hive of queens. 



RAMBLE 194. 



A Visit with Mr. 0. W. Stearns, of San Joaquin Val- 

 ley, Cal.; How Mrs. S. Managed to Make the 

 Foundation^mill Work ; Continued from 

 Last issue. 



BV RAMBLER. 



When Mr. Stearns purchases as apiarj-, 

 if it is in a good location he usually sectires 

 the right to keep the bees there. Such a 

 purchase and such a right he secured from 

 Charle}'^ Williams, in Tulare Co. This 

 was an excellent bargain for Mr. Steiirns, 

 for. adjoining the apiarj', is an adobe hon- 

 ey-house, and a charming- place in which to 

 run an extractor on a hot day. The walls 

 are a foot thick, and the openings on the 

 four sides are covered with wire cloth, and 

 all can be used for doors or windows as de- 

 sired. The shake roof, instead of resting 

 on the walls, is elevated with studding some 

 18 inches above the walls, and that space 

 entirely around the building is covered with 

 wire cloth, giving plenty of air. The roof 

 terminates in a point, as shown in the pho- 

 to; and instead of a chimney, as you might 

 think from the appearance, that is a square 

 ventilating-hole through which the bees es- 

 cape, and it is at such an elevation that 

 robber bees never try to enter it. 



When I visited the apiary with my came- 

 ra there was only a portion of the family at 

 home; and the pig portion was so familiar 

 that a hatful of pears from the adjoining 



AN ADOBE HONEV-HOUSE. 



