656 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1 



cover. I do not find any discoloration of 

 the combs, and have no trouble in bleaching- 

 the honey. However, my success may be 

 owing, to some extent, to our dry climate. 

 I cover the top and sides of my bleaching-- 

 house with cloth, as I can not get too much 

 sunlight. I find here that honey is safe 

 from the heat until it gets above 90 degrees. 



We shall have little honey here. 



Pala, Cal., July 2. A. E. White. 



OUR 



HOMES, 



BY A. I. R O OT. 



HOW TO CIRCUMVENT A COLONY OF BAD 

 ROBBERS. 



Please tell me what I shall do with a 

 colony that is robbing the other hives. The 

 robber hive is heavy with honey, and is a 

 strong colony. It robbed me of four hives. 

 On the 25th of May it tried to rob the fifth, 

 and I raised the hive off from the bottom- 

 board. That did not help, so I opened the 

 top and that did no good. It was still rob- 

 bing away, so the best thing I knew was 

 to take the hive that was being robbed into 

 the cellar. This colony I examined first, 

 and the queen is all right. She is a year 

 old. H. B. Stumpe. 



Bailey ville, 111., May 28. 



[My advice would be for j^ou to swap 

 places with the robbed colony and the one 

 that is doing the robbing. Then see what 

 will happen. We tried that some years 

 ago in a case almost identically the same 

 as yours, and the effect on the robbers was 

 fairly magical— at least for the time being. 

 —Ed.] 



old coffee-sacks for smoker fuel ; a 



NEW USE FOR THE GERMAN WAX-PRESS. 



I find old coffee-sacks in pieces just big 

 enough to fill a smoker the very best mate- 

 rial I have tried in 30 years in the use of 

 smokers. I find my German wax-press par 

 excellence in cooking beans and corn in 

 cans to preserve for future use, and am sat- 

 isfied it will be the very thing for canning 

 tomatoes and other fruit. It holds 24 quart 

 tin cans at one time. J. B. Rapp. 



Owensville, O., July 18. 



[Some one has before suggested the value 

 of old coftee-sacks for smoker fuel. There 

 is nothing better for good strong pungent 

 smoke, unless it is propolized cloths or 

 quilts that have outlived or outworn their 

 usefulness. But your idea of using the 

 German wax-press for cooking beans and 

 corn in cans is unique. I never thought of 

 it before. Such a machine would be very 

 useful in most households. I will have my 

 wife try it. — Ed.] 



a report FROM DR. J. L. GANDY. 



Rain continues, and honey prospects un- 

 changed. This means a poor crop in Ne- 

 braska. I also have reports from Colorado, 

 saying it was an off year there, but did not 

 give the reason. Were it not for catnip and 

 sweet clover I should now have to feed. 



J. L. Gandy. 



Humboldt, Neb., July 18. 



And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the 

 ground, and breathed into his nostrils tne breath of 

 life; and man became a living soul. — Gen. 2: 7. 



The text above has just attracted my at- 

 tention because of 1he part of the sentence 

 that reads, "and breathed into his nostrils 

 the breath of life." God gave life, and God 

 is now giving life to humanity with ever}' 

 breath. We each and all depend on God 

 for the next breath of air we take. After 

 one has had his breath cut oft' so that it 

 seems doubtful if he shall draw another 

 one, he can then realize as he never did be- 

 fore what a gift is the air we breathe, and 

 being permitted to breathe it. 



We gather from the text that man was 

 not yet a "living soul" until God himself 

 breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. 

 Dear reader, I am afraid there are many 

 of us who can hardly be called "living 

 souls," just because we are not getting this 

 breath of life in the fullness God intended 

 we should have it; and with this preface I 

 want to talk about purer air or better air 

 than most of us have every day of our lives. 

 T. B. Terry, in his recent health talks in 

 the Practical Farmer, has had much to say 

 about pure air. He has discovered, like 

 myself, that it is a pretty hard matter to 

 ventilate any room so it will be, in point of 

 ventilation, equal to being right outdoors. 

 He comes pretty near it, however, by hav- 

 ing his study a good-sized room, with plen- 

 ty of windows, and then taking the win- 

 dows clear out, both upper and lower sash, 

 and putting a frame covered with wire 

 screen in place of the sash. Mr. T. has 

 passed through some experience with fail- 

 ing health, like myself, that has, perhaps, 

 made him more sensitive to the effects of 

 bad air than people usually are. I have 

 sometimes thought we might almost thank 

 God for these struggles against disease 

 when they lead us to study his laws, and 

 drive us to him in praj'er for wisdom and 

 understanding in such matters. Mr. T. 

 tried taking his writing material out under 

 the shade of the trees in the yard; but in- 

 sects bothered him so that he fovind it ad- 

 visable to make his room in the house as 

 near like outdoors as possible. It will re- 

 pay anyone interested in the matter to read 

 all he has to say about the way he has ac- 

 complished it, or come very near it. 



I have told you that my life here in the 

 woods is mostly outdoors, and that our cab- 

 in is like Terry's study and sleeping-rooms 

 — almost the same as outdoors. Our floor 

 is still so that we can have the air come 

 right up through it, when desired, and Ter- 

 ry has had his home made over, to some ex- 

 tent, so he can have a draft from the lower 

 rooms clear up to the attic. I am still hav- 

 ing days, or parts of days, when my strength 

 (or something) gives out, and the remedy is 



