1902 



GLEANINGS IN^BEE CULTURE. 



193 



MIKE WALL AND SOME OF HIS DOOLITTLE 

 QUEEN-CELLS. 



who, through his own independent exer- 

 tions, a7}d without a dollar of help froui any 

 one, is the owner of 500 colonies — colonies 

 that he has made pay for themselves. Since 

 I left Arizona I have learned that his crop 

 for last season was 44,000 pounds from 400 

 colonies, spring count, or an average of 110 

 pounds per colony. If there is another 

 young man in all the United States who 

 has made that record before he luas of a^e 

 — yes, if there is another one in all the 

 world — we have never heard of it. I am 

 glad to introduce Mr. Chambers again to 

 our readers. 



Lest I might create a wild rush to go to 

 Arizona and do likewise, I will state that 

 all the irrigated parts of the State, so far 

 as I know, are very much overstocked with 

 bees and bee-keepers. The j'ellow butter- 

 tiies, the tendency to cut alfalfa before it 

 comes into bloom, the occasional failure of 

 water, the hot climate, rattlesnakes, mos- 

 quitoes that are awful — all these and more, 

 should be taken into consideration. 



There are many other bee-keepers whom 

 I should like to introduce to you; but as I 

 have got .something like 4000 miles ahead of 

 me, and have not even yet got into Califor- 

 nia, I shall have to bring my Arizona series 

 to a close. 



But I will mention that there are Stahl 

 and Hough, who own about 1200 colonies 

 which they put out on shares. There is 

 John Nippert, the owner and user of a shal- 

 low hive and frame. I secured what I sup- 

 posed to be a good picture of him; but he 



complained that it made him look so old 

 that he wished me not to use it. But Mr. 

 Nippert is a successful bee-keeper, and hi.'^ 

 little hive and frame have been pretty 

 widely scattered throughout the Valle}'. 

 He is a believer in the principle of han- 

 dling hives instead of frames, and is very 

 successful in carrying out his idea, for he 

 runs between five and six hundred colonies 

 on that plan. 



YELLOW BUTTERFLIES AND ALFALFA. 



During some seasons of the year these 

 are quite a pest, both to the alfala-grower 

 and to the bee-keeper. Mr. Chambers ex- 

 plained to me that they would sometimes 

 be so thick on a field that it would be fair- 

 I3' 3'ellow with them. They destroy the 

 blossoms, with the result that no honey 

 will be given off from that field or anj' 

 field where they swarm, for they appear to 

 go in swarms. 



HONEV-PLANTS OF THE SALT RIVER VAL- 

 LEY, ARIZONA. 



The list of honey-plants that supply the 

 brood-nest and bring the bees up into good 

 shape for honey-plants are the following: 

 First there is the wild currant in Decem- 



