9S6 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 



by snow and ice, or I would take pains to keep the 

 snow away. A. E. Manum. 



Bristol. Vt. 



Friend M., I was greatly pleased to get 

 your excellent picture of an apiary in win- 

 ter, because it may give perhaps hundreds 

 of our readers, if not thousands, a glimpse 

 of something they have never seen. I am 

 very glad indeed to get the facts you give 

 us in regard to bee-hives covered with snow. 

 We notice in the picture there are ventilat- 

 ing-holes in the upper part of your hives. 

 Now. I should think this would afford air 

 enough. Of course, after a long confine- 

 ment it may be desirable to cut away the 

 snow, so as to give the bees a fly. My im- 

 pression is, however, that with the greater 

 part of our readers more harm than good 

 will result in tinkering with the hives in 

 winter. I am afraid it would turn out as it 

 did with the man you hired. In our locali- 

 ty we never had snow enough to do any 

 harm, in my opinion. We have such fre- 

 quent thaws that there is almost always a 

 space above the entrance, between the 

 hives and the snow, to let in air. and to let 

 the bees get out. I have often seen them 

 crawl up the side of the hive, take a fly, and 

 return in the same way. 



THE ALFALFA FIELDS OF ARIZONA, 

 ETC. 



BY J. H. ROOT. 



R~?J KO. A. I.:— In reading the report from the 

 Ljr Nevada man, Mr. Ball, I was somewhat sur- 

 pE] prised at some of his answers compared to 

 ■"^ alfalfa grown in this valley. I always sup- 

 posed it required warm weather to raise 

 good alfalfa, as here in the warm months it grows 

 very fast with proper care. Some cut it five times, 

 and some six and even seven times in one season; 

 but it can be cut five times, and then be pastured 

 from the last cutting until spring. It remains 

 green here all winter. Some are cutting now. I 

 see a great deal of it in bloom yet. The beauty of 

 this valley for bees is, there is no dew at night, and 

 the bees can go to work as soon as it is lieht, and 

 can work nearly every day in the year. They say 

 they can gather their living here during the whole 

 year, summer and winter. The bloom from an al- 

 falfa held is sweeter than any flower-garden I ever 

 saw. I suppose that is owing to there being so 

 much honey in the blossom. 



The honey here is different from that of Califor- 

 nia or the East. It is sweeter, and has more of a su- 

 gar taste in it, and is whiter. I never cared much 

 for honey East; but here I can eat it all the time. 



In this valley the water is run in between borders 

 about 100 feet apart, the distance depending upon 

 the lay of the land. If level they are further apart 

 than when rolling. They do not furrow here nearly 

 as often as they do in Nevada. 



The only one great objection to the bee-busines6 

 here is transportation on the supplies in, and the 

 honey out. There is no trouble in making honey, 

 and there is a railroad on foot now that will open 

 up the lumber district from the mountains and 

 give us a market out for all our hay, grain, poultry, 

 and dried fruits. 



I get fine alfalfa hay for my cow at $3.50 per ton, 

 when in the lumber region, less than 200 miles from 



here, il brings ¥30 per ton, and every thing else in 

 proportion. Times are awful dull here now, be- 

 cause the markets are hard to get to— that is, min- 

 ing and lumber camps; but the new railroad runs 

 to both. Now is the time to strike this valley, as 

 lands are cheap. I like it here much better than 

 Southern California, where lands were held at 

 from $150 to $400 per acre. Good land can be got 

 here by buying a " ritrht," from $450 to $1000 per 160 

 acres, and then water can be had for so much per 

 share, or part of a share, depending upon the canal. 

 The way the land is situated, some canals sell ten- 

 acre rights for $100. That includes so much water. 

 They calculate 100 inches here to water 160 acres. 

 Well, the more the country is irrigated here, the 

 more water there is from year to year. The water is 

 coming nearer the surface. The main canals are tak- 

 en out of Salt River, up near the mountains, and is 

 then run all around the valley in small ditches. With- 

 out water here there would be no living thing, as 

 the rains are very few. We have had only two 

 since I have been here. They were good ones, 

 though. 



I have not had a stove in the store yet, and have 

 been comfortable. We get good mesquite wood at 

 $2 50 per load. 



1 can not tell you as much about the bees as you 

 would find out from some of the bee-men. Alfalfa 

 for stock is the same as bread to us Hogs and 

 poultry will keep fat on it, and stock will eat every 

 particle of it as clean as though it were oats. 



Tempe, Arizona, Nov. 22, 18S9. Jesse. 



Many thanks, dear bBpther, for the impor- 

 tant facts in regard to the matter you fur- 

 nish us ; and we are now looking forward 

 to the time when I can make my second 

 trip to California, taking in Arizona. I say 

 " we,'' for I mean there will be two of us — 

 Mrs. Root and myself. 



CHAS. F. MUTH. 



AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF ONE OB' THE PIONEERS IN 

 THE BEE-BUSINESS. 



fRIEND ROOT:— Since you insist on a bio- 

 graphical sketch of my humble self, I shall 

 endeavor to give you a history of my exist- 

 ence in America in as few words as possible. 

 I was born and raised in Hesse-Cassel, Ger- 

 many. 1 arrived in Cincinnati in the spring of 1854, 

 about 20 years old. Here I found a situation as 

 salesman in one of the best groceries of the city, a 

 business to which I had been reared. A desire to 

 see the country, made me give up a very good situ- 

 ation after a stay of two years. I saw the orange- 

 groves, sugar and cotton plantations of the South; 

 and after my ambition was satisfied with a few 

 years' experience in the wild West, I returned to 

 Cincinnati; got married; filled a position as sales- 

 man in another grocery for nearly three years, till 

 I started my own business, in 1861, at 976 and 978 Cen- 

 tral Avenue, in our city. Two years afterward I 

 bought the property, built it up, and am living 

 there now. 



My career as bee-keeper commenced with the es- 

 tablishment of my business, in 1861, although bees 

 have been my hobby ever since I remember. 



The first five colonies of bees in patent)?) box 

 hives were placed on my roof in 1861. These patent 



