164 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mak. 



the manufacture of "pure" honey. Syrup made 

 of the proper consistency and color— an easy under- 

 taking'— with enough of this oil added to give it fla- 

 vor, an article in all appearance, smell, and taste, so 

 closely representing' honey as to fool the most ex- 

 pert, and thus at a cost not to exceed 3 or 4 cents 

 per pound to the manufacturer, this bog-us honey 

 is sold in this market as straight, pure strained 

 honey. 



Now, friend E., why didn't you tell us what 

 paper you found the clipping in V We gather 

 from the reading on the other side that it 

 is a temperance paper, and the temperance 

 paper seems to indicate that some Demo- 

 cratic paper first started the lie. I hope all 

 good Democrats will help us to hunt up and 

 straighten out our Democratic brethren. It 

 is pretty clearly evidert that some wicked 

 sinner in the shape of a reporter is writing 

 these things up ; and the publishers of the 

 papers he sends them to are foolish enough 

 to believe them, and perhaps pay him for 

 his sensational scares. Another thing, this 

 statement is a slur on the character of all 

 womankind. Think of a woman buying 

 attar of roses to humbug the public ! Then, 

 again, the statement shows falsehood on the 

 face of it. The idea that attar of roses, 

 added to syrup of the proper consistency, 

 should make it smell and taste so like honey 

 as to " fool " an expert ! No doubt th^re 

 were fools around about that time, but I am 

 sure it was not one of the fair sex, nor was 

 it the general public at large that were fool- 

 ed or humbugged by any such mixture. 

 Now, friend E., may we trouble you to take 

 this, or to send it to the editors of the paper 

 from which you made the clipping, or the 

 Democratic paper that first published it? 

 Let us trace them back to the fountain- 

 head, and get at the seat of the mischief if 

 we can. 



CARRYING BEES INTO THE CELLAR. 



I. FREEBORN'S METHOD. 



'E think we have a simple device for carry- 

 ing- bees into the cellar that will rather 

 surpass friend Miller's rope. It is what we 

 call a hand-barrow, made of two boards 

 about 6 ft. long- and 1 ft. wide, worked 

 down to handles at each end, of the right size to be 

 convenient to take hold of with the hand, some- 



not want them; and, also, we can keep the hives 

 level while taking them in. This is quite a consid- 

 eration when recently fed, as the added frames 

 would likely be loose. 



We noticed here the same thing that our friend 

 Miller did at his place— that the bees did not fre- 

 quent the grapes the past season nearly as much 

 as usual. We think one reason for this lies in the 

 fact that it was a very dry year, and fine for grapes. 

 The weather was so favorable that very few crack- 

 ed or burst their skins. May was a very cold 

 month, and no doubt killed off a large per cent of 

 the queens, or mother-wasps, making that insect 

 very scarce, to the benefit of the grape crop. The 

 little round holes spoken of, made with such regu- 

 larity in the grapes, we have lately attributed to a 

 little brown sparrow. We have not seen them in 

 the act, but have frequently frightened them from 

 the vines. On examination we found grapes fresh- 

 ly punctured. It seems to have been done by some- 

 thing with quite a long bill, and strength to use it. 



Ithaca, Richland Co., Wis. S. I. Freeborn. 



thing like this. To these we nail cross-pieces, mak- 

 ing our barrow of a convenient width to set the 

 hives on crosswise. This will hold three hives, but 

 the number can be gauged by the weight of the 

 hives and the strength of those carrying them. 

 Some of the advantages of this kind of a barrow 

 are, that, having the weight on the hands and arms, 

 enables one to humor the motion, and prevent sud- 

 den jars that we could not prevent with the hive 

 held firmly against the body, as we have to where 

 we carry a hive alone. Its advantages over the 

 wheelbarrow are, that it jars less, and you can get 

 in and out of places that you could not with the 

 wheelbarrow, and that, in the event of bees crawl- 

 ing out, they are not so apt to annoy us by crawl- 

 ing up our sleeves and other places where we do 



MY VISIT TO CALIFORNIA, AND SOME 

 OF MY MISTAKES. 



A. I. ROOT TAKEN TO TASK BY HIS FRIENDS. 



R. ROOT:— You owe a big apology to the bee- 

 men of Santa Barbara. After I and others 

 gave you an invitation to come here you 

 sent a note accepting our invitation. I put 

 right into the city, saw two of the promi- 

 nent men in the business, told them to work the 

 thing up for your reception, spoke to one of the al- 

 dermen to take you by the hand, and show you 

 around the city, to see our fine public buildings, 

 water and electric works, etc. I went home, filled 

 our larder with the good things of this life, hired 

 an invalid (for I was busy) for one month to see 

 that the cart and buggy were well oiled, and the 

 horses well fed, so that, at a moment's notice, you 

 could be run out to any point of interest ; kept the 

 best room in the house tidied up, and even the or- 

 gan tuned up, all for your reception, and only to 

 come to Ventura, and then turn back, when one 

 hour's ride (4 bits) and an apology would have been 

 satisfactory. My reason for not writing sooner is, 

 I was so mad I was afraid I might say something 

 unbecoming. I could not bear the looks of the pa- 

 per, as it would bring the thing up to my mind so 

 vividly. J. N. Gilchrist. 



El Monteeito, Santa Barbara Co., Cal., Feb. 24, '89. 



Now. old friend, I am about as mad as a bee-man 

 ever gets, I guess. You have been to California, 

 and did not come to see me. Well, did I ever! I sat 

 up two nights, and slept three days with my boots 

 on, expecting you to come, but you did not. But I 

 am glad jou had a good time, and returned safe 

 home to your family and business. 



Dehesa, San Diego Co., Cal. A. W. Osburn. 



Dear friends, if it would do any good I 

 would sit down and have a good cry over 

 m> blunder in not meeting either of you. 

 You see, I had no comprehension of what 

 an awful big country California is. Besides, 

 when I started away I was a good deal dis- 

 turbed and perhaps somewhat excited. I 



