1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



13 



the brood out without ruining- the colony, 

 therefore we passed it as good. I wish, 

 however, to make a minority report that all 

 such hives should be burned; for a bee- 

 keeper who will tolerate such hives in his 

 apiary ought to be burned — I mean the 

 hive, of course, not the man. The photo 

 shows the board at work, Mr. Payne point- 

 ing- his linger at that square hole in the top 

 of a box hive, and the inspector holding- a 

 piece of comb that had to be cut out. They 

 are all deeply interested. 



Well, I am now about to leave Central 

 California; and before doing- so I wish to 

 note the fact that E. R. Root halted from 

 his mad 6000-mile (more or less) rush, and 

 made Mr. McCubbin and myself a visit. I 

 was at the station to welcome our distin- 

 g-uished visitor; and of all the odd sorts 

 that got off the train he was one of them. 

 A big- g-rip, three cameras, and a new-fan- 

 g-Ied tripod. Then our g-uest had been 

 slinging" ink at such a rate that his hands 

 and face were more or less picturesque. 

 Mr. McCubbin, with his old white horse, 

 soon deposited him safely under his roof, 

 where a scrubbing-up could be accomplish- 

 ed. I well remember what Bro. Hutchin- 

 son said about Editor Root and his affabil- 

 ity as a leading characteristic; but there 

 must be a mistake about it, for we found 

 that his leading trait is the consumption of 

 apricots. This excellent fruit was rich and 

 ripe at that time; and every time a crate 

 was placed in the room it would be emptied 

 in no time. Mr. McCubbin informed me 

 confidentially that he would keep ye editor 

 supplied, even if it took a leg; and he was 

 as good as his word. He always had a full 

 crate to replace the empty one. Mr. McCub- 

 bin is now planning to plant a large apri- 

 cot-orchard. He reasons that, if all of the 

 Roots are such lovers of apricots, he would 

 prepare to supply them b}' the carload; so, 

 look out, Rootville. 



I was greatly pestered by the editor's 

 persistent habit of snapping his three ko- 

 daks at me. , I am usually a sober fellow; 

 but you must forgive me if I did smile a 

 little while he was indulging in his habit. 



Well, we had a happy time, didn't we, 

 Mr. Editor? May 3'our shadow never grow 

 less. Remember, Mr. McCubbin will soon 

 be raising apricots by the carload. 



But the best of friends must part, and our 

 happy incidents must close. The scenes 

 must shift, and I find myself again in love- 

 ly Los Angeles. 



The first consideration upon mj' return 

 south was my own apiary. I had left it in 

 charge of two young men, Arthur and Earl 

 Shafiner. When we leave our goods and 

 chattels in the hands of others it sometimes 

 happens that said goods have a mysterious 

 way of going to the bad; but I found the 

 opposite condition in my apiary, and I could 

 not help reinarking, in Bible language, 

 "Well done, good and faithful j-oung men." 

 I predict that the brothers will step up 

 higher in the bee business. I regret that 

 the aforesaid editor did not take time to 



make their acquaintance, and examine^ a 

 modern up-to-date apiary. r."C-'3 



One of the chief up-to-date appliances in 

 my apiary is known as a jouncer, and it 

 receives the unqualified approval of the 

 brothers. Some four or five years ago I de- 

 scribed, with pen and pencil, my first 

 jouncer, and it was a very crude affair com- 

 pared with the one in use at present. The 

 photos show the device and how to use it. 

 It will be observed that it is made very 

 strong, made mostly of tough fir, an I put 

 together with bolts, and a cloth tray is ad- 

 justed under the hive to be jounced. When 

 it is desired to jounce the bees from a super 

 it is adjusted as in photo No. 1, and the 

 whole jounced against the ground. The 

 sudden jar, or a few of them, send the bees 

 all into the tray. The latter can be remov- 

 ed as shown in Fig. No. 2, and the bees 

 dumped on the top of the frames of the colony. 

 In order to cushion the lower ends of the 

 corner posts of the jouncer they are cham- 

 fered off to a point. As there are no stones 

 in the apiary, when the jouncer strikes the 

 ground the jounce is broken just enough to 

 prevent the combs from breaking. Arthur 

 Shaffner is operating the "masheen." 

 The benefits derived from this method of 

 getting bees oft' the combs are all in the 

 line of rapid manipulation. In the Anier. 

 Bee Journal not many months ago, Mr. 

 Davenport caught on to this idea and ap- 

 plied it to the common L. hive. The best 

 success, however, is attained with a shal- 

 low brood-chamber; and the only objection 

 that the brothers and I have to it is, when 

 there is much thin honey it slops out upon 

 the bees; but, of course, it is b:st to wait 

 until the honey is thick. It is very hard to 

 make people believe that anj- new way is 

 better than their way; but as my former 

 good seed sown brought forth some good re- 

 sults, I sow again, and ag lin watch re- 

 sults. Whether bee-keepers use the Ram- 

 bler's jouncer or not, I hope the bee-keepers 

 will discard the old obsolele use of a brush. 

 Bees can be shaken off the combs clean 

 enough. In Central California but few 

 brushes are used. 



I have great hopes fir the shallow ex- 

 tracting-super. Mr. Davenport says the 

 jouncing principle is worth $50 a year to 

 him, even with the standard frames. Now, 

 I would give SSO for a method that will en- 

 able me to extract a whole shallow super 

 without removing tne frames. Can it ever 

 be done? is the query of the Rambler. 



[I agree with yu most heartily that it is 

 not wise to tempor.ze with foul brood. Cut- 

 ting out here an 1 there diseased cells and 

 quarantining ci rtain combs and certain 

 colonies is a ve' s' dangerous procedure, and 

 should be conr e.nned by all intelligent and 

 progressive b e-keepers. But saj% Ram- 

 bler, Inspecti-.- Bowen should know that it 

 is very dango ous to run those steel points 

 down into tli ■ ground to disinfect them. He 

 can not ren cr them harmless by so doing. 

 Any scienti;-.t who is at all fanailiar with 



