MAY 1. 10 IS 



below tlio conib tliat reinaiiipcl to hold a 

 shortened bottoii!-l)ar in jilaee as in the 

 illustration. On two bottom-bars shortened 

 to fit into a frame she placed wooden cell 

 Clips and pressed a little wax-cup into each. 

 1 put in the royal jelly and tlie larva^. 

 placed the sticks in the combs and wra]>]i('il 

 all up carefully to 

 keep the lemjierature 

 even on the way to the 

 hives. The Motiier ])ul 

 a frame each in the 

 lirood - chambers of 

 (■•_>.") and F'iO. and the 

 tii'st day's work was 

 tinished. 



In Ausi'ust, when llu> 

 job was nearly done, 

 we felt that we had 

 proven that it could 

 l)e done by one woniai. 

 who would not for a 

 mom.ent be called 

 stronff. After we had 

 been on the ranch 

 about two weeks she 

 and the Mother work- 

 ed tosfether with half a day's helji from ]\lr. 

 Hicks in killing- queens. Then the Teacher 

 and the Mother left the ranch, and after 

 that the School Girl did the campAvork, 

 some irrigating:, and the beework alone un- 

 der my directions. Of course she could not 

 give the bees full time. So I think we 

 averaged one woman in the bees for about 

 two months. 



The Teacher is one of those benighted 

 persons who do not like bee>. She worked 

 for one day with the ^lother killing queens; 

 but her motions were jerky, and that made 

 the bees insufferably eross. The next day 

 she started work on her own hook; but after 

 opening- three hives and finding only one 

 queen she left the apiary in great haste, 

 followed by a cloud of angry bees. After 

 that she devoted herself to the campwork, 

 lo getting the Mother's wardrobe ready for 

 her vacation trip, and to irrigating: the 

 young nrang:e-trees. Referring to the last- 

 named work, which was done with a hoe and 

 a hose, she said she did not mind " heavy 

 ]>lowing." but could not stand beestings. 

 The Mother, who is past fifty, and bothered 

 with " nerves," found that her trouble was 

 much better than when doing- housework 

 with a number of peojile around talking to 

 her. The School Girl, who is in iier later 

 "teens." found the work lonesome; and so 

 di/Tering ilispositioiis make the same task 

 unbearable, pleasant, or just tolorable. 



T am forbidden to tell all of our mistakes 

 and accidents, but perhaps some of our 



experiences, discoveiies, and lessons learned 

 will be of interest. 



DILUTING ROYAL JELLY WITH WATKR. 



Mr. Hicks suggested that we dilute tlie 

 royal jelly with water, mixing it thoroughly 

 until it was thin and smooth like tiiat wliich 

 the bees give to verv young larvfe. He said 



^tick of rolls prepared for the hive. 



that he had had much gi'eater success in 

 getting cells accepted after he stumbled 

 upon that idea. With our dry climate the 

 small quantity of jelly that we put into a 

 cell dries out a great deal during the few 

 minutes that it takes to get a stick of cells 

 ready and into the hive. So w-e followed 

 the suggestion; and one day while prepai-- 

 ing- royal jelly T cam.e upon some that had 

 dried down into a hard amber-colored lump. 

 Without giving it much thought I dropped 

 it into the glass of water I had standing 

 near, and went on with my work. Present- 

 ly 1 glanced at the water, and was surprised 

 to see that the once hard amber royal jelly 

 had increased in size two or three times 

 over and that it was no longer amber-color- 

 ed but Avhite. It was so soft, too, that I 

 had some difficulty in fishing it out of the 

 glass ; and as it looked just like fresh royal 

 jelly T stirred it in with the rest. Xo bad 

 effects were observed. Several times after 

 that T baited sticks of cells entirely with 

 jelly that had dried hard, been softened 

 again in water, and worked smooth. These 

 cells were accepted exactly as well as those 

 started with fresh jelly from an unsealed 

 cell. We valued that discovery because we 

 never could bring ourselves to tearing doAvn 

 one of our own nicely started artificial cells 

 just for the I'oyal jelly when I lie frcsii arti- 

 (de was scarce. 



Once we tried transfeniug larv;r without 

 royal jelly: but they looked very much 

 dried before we got them into the hive, and, 



