194 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



ber. Next comes the cottonwood about the 

 15th of Januarj'. These are the lar;L,^e 

 shade-trees I have spoken about that grow 

 so luxuriantl}' along' the ditches. Follow- 

 ing these about the first of February is the 

 willow. This continues till March. Next 

 there is the yellow sweet clover, or sour 

 clover, as it is called in Arizona. This is 

 followed by the first crop of alfalfa, coming 

 on about the 10th of April. But from this 

 first crop comparatively little honey is 

 yielded. 



The plants that begin to yield surplus 

 now come on, among which is first the mes- 

 quite, something that grows in Texas, 

 New Mexico, and Arizona — in fact, all 

 through this portion of the United States on 

 the semi-desert lands. Mesquile in Arizo- 

 na blooms about the first of May, and lasts 

 some twenty days. Next comes on catclaw, 

 about the 15th of May, and continues till 

 the last of June. This is followed by the 

 second crop of alfalfa, and froin this the 

 greater part of the honey comes. Close on 

 to this is the third crop of alfalfa, for there 

 are three cuttings of this hay in Arizona. 

 The alfalfa yield all together lasts till about 

 the last of July, after which very little sur- 

 plus is secured, although there are liglit 

 flows following, keeping the bees in good 

 condition, and rendering feeding unneces- 

 sary. 



In our next issue I will take j^ou to the 

 hottest place in the United States, and the 

 most deserted of all deserts, and then we 

 will take a big long jump over into Califor- 

 nia. 



BEE-STINQS NOT A CURE FOR RHEUMATISM. 

 Difference in Locality. 



BY DELOS WOOD. 



It is quite a common thing for the bee- 

 journals to publish articles in favor of 

 stings for the cure of rheumatism, and these 

 articles are copied far and wide bj- the lo- 

 cal press; but I have failed to see a single 

 article refuting the statement. I contracted 

 rheumatism in the army during the Civil 

 War, and since that time I have worked 

 every season in the apiary, having from 25 

 to 700 colonies under my care. Some of 

 them would sting equal to Rambler's, and 

 he intimated his would attack a hot stove- 

 pipe. I have had hundreds of stings, day 

 after daj', for weeks at a time, but no relief 

 from rheumatism at an_y time. 



A friend of mine who was badly crippled 

 with the disease told me he had tied strings 

 around the bottom of his pants, and then 

 put a cupful of bees from his crossest colo- 

 nics inside his pants, and worked in the 

 apiary for hours with them stinging him, 

 but got no relief from it. 



Gleanings saj's that the poison from 

 Apis ynellifica is used largely in homeopa- 

 thic practice. This case was the homeopa- 

 thic remedy in allopathic doses. 



Many things ;ire laid to locality; but this 

 can not be, for my friend <'ind myself have 

 kept bees in Indiana as well as California. 

 Is it not owing to a difi^^ercnce in the disease 

 itself? We are both atfiicted with c ronic 

 inuscular rheumatism. There is no swell- 

 ing nor inflammation. Possibly these 

 cases reported as cured by the stings may 

 be the inflammatory form. Who can tell 

 us? 



Some things are largely due to locality; 

 and in locating an apiary it is necessary 

 not only to know that flowering plants 

 abound but also that they produce honej' 

 in that localit}'. 



Ventura Co., Cal., boasts of its lima-bean 

 lioney; but along the coast of Santa Barba- 

 i-a Co. a colony of bees would starve in the 

 center of hundreds of acres of beans. 

 There is not a drop of honey in them. In 

 Colorado and in many places in California, 

 alfalfa yields honey in abundance; but in 

 this locality. I have never seen a bee on it. 



vSanta Barbara, Cal. 



A PRETTY SUBURBAN APIARY. 

 Hives Alade with (he Barnes faw. 



BY W. V. TURNER. 



Mr. Root: — The picture I send you is not 

 just to my liking, but the best I had at 

 h^ind. The artist was in somewhat of a 

 hurry, and did not give me time to fix up or 

 arrange things for the picture as I had 

 wished, knowing that, if it got into Glean- 

 ings, it would by viewed by many a criti- 

 cal eye. 



My success I owe largely to Gleanings 

 and the ABC book, having received the 

 first voluines of the former when issued as 

 a quarterly. 



Our home is at the extreme left. The 

 home of our only son, Charles L., is at the 

 extreme right. He and his family are in 

 the automobile, coming down street from 

 the west. His wife and oldest daughter, 

 Carrie, are standing it front of our house. 

 Fifty-five stands of bees are on this lot, but 

 not all shown. Shop and honey-house is 

 just outside of the picture, near the solar 

 extractor. 



By the side of your humble servant stands 

 the Daisy wheelbarrow bought of A. I. 

 Root years ago, and still doing good ser- 

 vice. If 3'ou look closely _vou can see a bee- 

 brush and smoker hanging on a comb-box. 

 I use the wheelbarrow for carrying combs 

 to and from the hone\'-house. I use the 

 eight- frame L. hives, and have tried the 

 various kinds of tops as made by the Root 

 Co., and like the ventilated gable cover 

 best of anj'. 



I have made with the Barnes combined 

 machine 80 hives and supers besides 50 win- 

 ter cases ; but unless one is far from the 

 s lurce of supply, '^r ne.ir cheap hmiber, 

 there is little or nothing saved if one's time 

 is worth any thing. 



