1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



G71 



rains are concerned, Cuba is almost the direct op- 

 posite of California. There, not a drop falls for 

 several months during- the summer, and no large 

 quantity during the winter. Here, rains come and 

 Hoods descend, I might almost say daily, during the 

 six hottest months in the year, and the wish is for 

 less irrigation instead of more. 



Yes, friend Hoot, Gleanings comes to a spot 

 right here where bees gather honey every month 

 in the year. Last summer, during the short period, 

 notwithstanding our 40(1 colonies in one locality, 

 nearly :!0 of our colonies gathered their own sup- 

 plies, sufficient to keep brood-rearing going in at 

 least 8 or 10 frames each, and gave from 15 to 5 lbs. 

 of surplus honey each mouth to their weaker 

 neighbors. With a small apiary of, say, 50 to 100 

 colonies, 1 have no doubt but that a small amount 

 of honey could be extracted every month in the 

 year. Bees fairly roar on blossoms of the " royal 

 palm" for half an hour each morning during this 

 the shortest season for honey during the year. 



Cuba contains nearly 4(1,000 square miles— some 

 6000 more than does the State of Ohio; and from all 

 I can learn, 1 judge that nearly or quite all of the 

 island will average as good for honey as does this 

 locality, some places better. As we can calculate 

 on a steady annual yield here of from 40,000 to 60,000 

 lbs., a few moments' calculation will show any one 

 what an immense factor in the world's markets 

 Cuban honey would become were all trade restric- 

 tions removed. It will be well for our people to 

 ponder these facts whenever the question comes 

 up of removing our protective duties. 



Havana, Cuba, July 31, 1880. O. O. Poppleton. 



MOKE ABOUT THAT BEE -DISEASE IN 

 CALIFORNIA. 



SOME GOOD HINTS FROM ONE OF LARGE EXPERI- 

 ENCE. 



T N the issue of July 15th, page 5S3, Mr. VV. A. Web- 

 |jf Bter warns the Ventura Co. bee-keepers of the 

 t|[ new bee disease. I am sorry to say that we 

 -*• have had it here for several years, but it has 

 caused noseriou9 apprehensions until recently. 

 There are but three apiaries in the county that 

 have suffered much loss from it as yet. I know of 

 no colonies dying out eutirely from it, except in 

 those three apiaries; but they have lost several 

 hundred colonies. 



This disease appears every spring and summer, 

 in a very few hives in nearly every apiary in the 

 county; but it has caused no serious alarm until 

 recently. The bees usually get over it themselves; 

 but we do not get much honey from the hives that 

 are so affected. A friend on the Ojai has been ex- 

 perimenting a little with the swarms that were thus 

 diseased. He took the queen out and replaced her 

 with another from a healthy hive. The disease en- 

 tirely disappeared; and by putting the queen from 

 the diseased hive into a hive that was per- 

 fectly healthy, it also became diseased in a very 

 short time. This experiment was tried on only one 

 or two hives in the same apiary. 1 will try to have 

 others try the same experiment, and report. 1 have 

 none so affected, or I would try the plan myself. 



THE HONEY CROP A FAILURE. 



The honey crop has been almost a failure here — 

 only about 150 tons of honey in the county. That 

 much, 150 tons, or 15 carloads, is a good deal of 



honey, but we often have in this county 600 tons. 

 Our crop is 32,000 lbs. Honey is selling here in 

 Ventura to-day at 6J4 cts., in 60 lb. tins. 



OUT-APIARIES, AND MOVING BEES IN CALIFORNIA. 



1 have just read C. C. Miller's " Out-Apiaries No. 

 XI." with interest. In California we do a great 

 deal of moving bees. In the spring of 1888 I moved 

 two carloads of bees to the Costac (near Newhall). 

 One load was the apiary that I bought of It. Wilkin, 

 on tbeSespc-tbe one that you have shown in the 

 ARC. The other was one of my own that I moved 

 from Ventura. The entire lot was moved without 

 accident, but I do not always get off so well, for I 

 have had many pretty narrow escapes for myself 

 and team. 



SUGGESTIONS ON MOVING BEES. 



If friend Miller will pardon me, I should like to 

 make a few suggestions. First, always have the 

 bolt or wrench that holds the doubletrees to the 

 tongue loose, so that it can be jerked out instantly. 

 Second, be sure that the neck-yoke is so arranged 

 that it will slip off the tongue without catching, so 

 that, in case of an accident, you can jerk out the 

 bolt with one hand, hold the doubletree with the 

 other, and get the horses away from the wagon 

 right speedily. Third, if you drive four or six 

 horses, as we do here, always have the leaders at- 

 tached to the tongue with hooks, so that you can 

 unhook the leaders and drive them out of the way 

 without having to stop to unhitch all of the tugs. 

 Fourth, use snaps on the lines, and everywhere pos- 

 sible, especially on the holdback straps on the thills, 

 if you use a one-horse wagon. 



Two years ago I was moving an apiary. We used 

 six horses, and had about 85 hives on the front wag- 

 on, and about 60 on the trail wagon. One of the 

 hives on the front wagon burst with the weight of 

 so many hives on top of it. They were piled up 

 six high. The hive burst so that nearly all of the 

 bees got out; but we got the six horses unhitched 

 and out of the way without any of them getting 

 stung, and had no assistance but a boy 24 years old. 

 What a scrape we should have had if we had not 

 taken the above-mentioned precautions. Since I 

 have been in California I have moved over 2000 

 hives of bees, and have had no serious accident. 

 But I used to get into all kinds of scrapes when I 

 first commenced to move bees. When Dr. Miller 

 comes to California to move bees he will have to 

 put the combs lengthwise instead of crosswise of 

 the wagon, to get over our roads without having a 

 general smashup. L. E. Mercer. 



San Buena Ventura, Cal., July 24, 1889. 



Thanks for your additional information, 

 friend M. The more I think it over, and 

 compare symptoms, the more I am inclined 

 to the opinion that this California bee-dis- 

 ease is something similar to the nameless 

 bee disease described in the A B C book. 

 The latter is always cured by the removal 

 of the queen, so far as we have ever known ; 

 and you say that, in one or two instances 

 already tried, the peculiar disease which has 

 visited you in California yields to a similar 

 treatment. I have written to friend Web- 

 ster, asking him to send a few of the affect- 

 ed bees to Prof. Cook, who will doubtless 

 give us further information in regard to it ; 

 also whether he considers it the same as the 

 ordinary nameless bee-disease. Your sug- 

 gestions on moving bees are good ; and 



