1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



23 



g-ive much for a single specimen of what 

 grows in Arizona as free as ragweeds in 

 the East. I attempted to take a photo, but 

 this, too, is disappointing. However, I 

 show you the result. The palms show very 

 indistinctly; but one can get some faint im- 

 pression of the approach to the Bromell 

 Brothers' home. 



Well, on arriving there I found them in 

 the rear, stacking hay. A sister. Miss 

 Alice Bromell was driving the horse while 

 the boys, Albert and Fred, were attending 

 the stacker. Miss Alice, evidently fearing 

 I might show her up in Gleanings, disap- 

 peiired, for I had my kodak in hand, and 

 probably looked as if I might do some ko- 

 daking before I left the premises. The ap- 

 pearance did not belie the intent. The 

 sight was so novel and interesting that I 

 proposed to take in some permanent re- 

 minder of how farming is carried on in Ar- 

 izona, and I did, and luckily for Miss Bro- 

 mell. The alfalfa hay on the wagon is sta- 

 tioned near the stacker, or what we might 

 call a light derrick. A grappling-hook 

 having four prongs, and in some cases only 

 three, grabs hold of almost a cartload at 

 once. The attendant who drives the horse 

 starts him forward, and immediately the 

 rope traveling over the tackling lifts the 

 load, elevates it to the proper height, and 

 then by means of another small rope the 

 spar or side arm is drawn around until the 

 load stands exactly over the spot where it is 

 to be dropped on the stack. A man on top 

 scatters it evenly, and then is ready to take 

 care of the next bunch of hay. It takes 

 three people to operate it, but these three, 

 with the horse, can do the work of a dozen 

 or so of hand-pitchers, and so much more 

 easily. 



The climate in Arizona is so dry and 

 warm, and there is so little rainfall, barns 

 are not needed.* It is, therefore, not neces- 

 sary, or not so much so, to make the stack 

 shed water as with us in fhe East. The 

 alfalfa is piled up until it reaches the height 

 of IS or 20 feet, and then is left to stand till 

 used. The hay, when stacked, is of a 

 beautiful light-green color, and remains so 

 for a year or more, or until it is used, except 

 the portion that is exposed to the direct rays 

 of the sun, which bleaches it somewhat. 



The stacker shown in the illustration 

 seems to be a simple home-made machine; 

 but whether shop or home-made, no one in 

 the West would think of trying to stack hay 

 in the old-fashioned way — in fact, it would 

 be simply impossible. Stacks such as we 

 have in the East would be altogether too 

 small; and, besides, the hay would bleach 

 too much. These large mounds economize 

 room, and at the same time keep the hay in 

 much better condition for stock when it is 

 needed. 



I also took some views of the Bromell 

 Brothers' apiary; but as they were so much 

 like all the rest of the Arizona yards I do 

 not reproduce thein here. 



* This is true of all the alfalfa-growing regions in the 

 West that I visited. 



/. .S". W., Miss. — As to how to get the hon- 

 ey out of the supers into the brood-nests, I 

 would state that the task is not an easy one 

 — that is, if you expect the bees to carry it 

 below. If you rake over the surfaces of 

 the sealed combs with a wire brush, caus- 

 ing the combs to "bleed," the bees may do 

 something in the way of carrying the hon- 

 ey down. But a far better way is to take 

 those same combs, extract them, and sell 

 the honey; then feed sugar syrup in the 

 regular way to give the bees the requisite 

 amount of stores. As to the combs, it would 

 be advisable to set them on top of some 

 strong colonies, where they may be cleaned 

 up by the bees, and at the same time be 

 protected from the ravages of the moth. 

 But I would advise letting the bees clean 

 them and then put them in hives or supers 

 that are both bee and moth proof; or you 

 can store them in a room, fumigating them 

 with bisulphide of carbon, or with sulphur, 

 then shutting the room tight. We use eight- 

 frame hives at the Home of the Honey-bees; 

 but in the South, where extracted honey is 

 produced, the ten-frame size is generally 

 preferred. 



DEAD BROOD NOT CAUSED BY SULPHURIC 

 ACID. 



J. B. C, La. — With reference to the mat- 

 ter of sulphuric acid and our instructions 

 regarding its use, I have to saj' that you 

 are laboring under a misapprehension when 

 you suppose that the acid used in refining 

 wax for foundation kills brood. Sulphuric 

 acid is very inuch heavier than water — 

 so heavy, indeed, that the water will set- 

 tle down to the bottom of the tank that is in- 

 tended to be used for the refining of wax. 

 If you are familiar with chemistry you will 

 know that the specific gravity of the acid is 

 considerably greater than that of water. 

 If we put 10 per cent acid in water, then 

 throw in cakes of wax, turning on the 

 steam or heating the wax, acid and water 

 will all mingle together. Our instructions 

 are, after the wax is thoroughly melted, to 

 cover up the barrel or tank and allow the 

 whole mass to cool slowly. All the free 

 wax, of course, rises to the top; the water 

 settles to the bottom, and in turn the acid 

 settles to the very bottom of the tank or un- 

 der the water. The water and the acid do 

 not make a chemical mixture, but what is 

 termed a mechanical mixture, and will, 

 therefore, separate when at rest by their 

 difl^erence in specific gravity; therefore the 

 acid does not remain in the water, as you 

 supposed, in a way to affect the foundation 

 or the wax. Thousands of pounds of our 

 foundation are used all over the United 

 States, in .hundreds of localities where 

 there is no foul brood at all. 



