1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



819 



working upon dandelions. In this locality 

 there will be but little surplus honey. Col- 

 onies will have plenty of stores for winter 

 without feeding. Mrs. L. Harrison. 



Peoria, 111. 



SUCCESSFUL USE OF PROPOLIZED CLOTH IN 

 smokers; NO DRONE COMB BUILT FROM 



starters if colony has a young 

 oueen. 



On page 739 Mrs. L. Harrison sounds a 

 note of warning against using propolized 

 cloth in smokers. I have been using it for 

 over twenty years, when I could get it, and 

 have yet to see the first case of robbing re- 

 sulting from its use. There is, however, 

 danger if the cloth, as is sometimes the 

 case, has considerable wax on it, that, when 

 burning, may promote robbing. 



S. Farrington's question. No. 4, page 741, 

 may be safely answered in the negative if 

 the starters are given to a swarm with a 

 young queen. I have had numbers of 

 swarms that had only wired frames with 

 starters given them. The frames were 

 built out on the wires so evenly that they 

 could not have been told from combs built 

 from full sheets of foundation, and not more 

 store comb than would be found if full 

 sheets had been given. H. Fitz Hart. 



Wetumpka, Ala. 



EUCALYPTUS; AN ANSWER TO M. P. WEEKS' 

 QUESTION, PAGE 744. 



The Eucalyptus Globulus is a large tree, 

 a native of Australia. In 1860 M. Ramel 

 induced the Prefect of the Seine to cultivate 

 it on a large scale in Paris, and since that 

 time it has been largely introduced into 

 Europe, Algeria, South Africa, and South- 

 ern California. In some of the locations 

 planted, forests are growing and spread- 

 ing. It is stated that it will absorb and 

 evaporate ten times its weight of water in 

 24 hours, and numerous examples are giv- 

 en in which swamps in Europe and Algeria 

 have been rapidly converted into dry ground. 

 Its growth is about live times as great as 

 that of our ordinary trees. 



I do not think it possible to grow it in 

 Western Colorado, as the government tried 

 to reclaim the Potomac flats with it; but it 

 would not grow in this latitude, it being 

 too cold. J. R. Hagan. 



Washington, D. C. 



GETTING ALKALI OUT OF THE SOIL; CAN IT 

 BE DONE? 



In your Notes of Travel in California you 

 speak of alkali land. How would it do to 

 lay drain pipes in such soils, flood the 

 ground as in irrigating, and leach out or 

 wash out the alkali? Has this ever been 

 tried? What would this cost per acre? 



Covina, Cal. C. Wanty. 



[I do not know whether the plan you pro- 

 pose would work or not, but I feel doubtful. 

 There is so much alkali in the hardpan be- 

 neath the top soil that water serves only to 



bring it to the surface. I know that alkali- 

 patches in Nebraska, at least in some parts 

 of it, have been redeemed by sowing alfal- 

 fa on them. If it will once take root the 

 roots will bore through the hardpan, and 

 when heavy rains come the holes will allow 

 the excess of tilkali to drain out. But the 

 alkali in Nebraska is quite diflerent from 

 that in Central California, I understand. 



Perhaps some friend located in the alka- 

 li regions of California will be kind enough 

 to answer our correspondent. — Ed.] 



A HOUSE-APIARY HALF UNDER GROUND. 



I contemplate building a home in a sub- 

 urb of Chicago with the view of placing 

 an apiary in the cellar, of brick, 21x24 ft. 

 by 3 ft. above and 3 ft. below ground. I 

 have read your article in the ABC under 

 "House Apiary." Please advise me as to 

 the practicability of my idea, and give me 

 any further suggestion you deem advisable. 



Chicago, 111. W. G. Rice. 



[I would not advise putting a house api- 

 ary partly under ground, as it would make 

 the room for bees too cool and damp during 

 the summer. Your better way would be to 

 put the bees in a special building above 

 ground; or, perhaps, better still, put them 

 in the back yard provided you have room 

 for them. If you have neither room for the 

 building nor for a little bee-yard, try the 

 underground or half-underground house- 

 apiary, and let us know how you succeed. 

 —Ed.] 



condition of HONEY CROP IN KANSAS. 



With US the crop is, from present indica- 

 tions, only moderate — not so large as last 

 year. My heaviest yield so far is 75 lbs. 

 for a colony, so you see we have nothing to 

 boast of. The last crop of alfalfa is just in 

 bloom, and the fall flowers are coming on, 

 so there may 3'et be some increase. The 

 other crops of alfalfa yielded very little 

 honey because of too much rain. Bees are 

 doing well. The hives are full of brood 

 and bees, and, with good weather, would 

 make a good showing. 



Chas. L. Simmons. 



Strong City, Kan., Aug. 29. 



BEES not working ON CATNIP IN WIS- 

 CONSIN. 



No season here for honey. My crop is 

 about 1500 lbs. from 100 stands. 



Since reading Dr. Gaudy's article I have 

 been watching the wild catnip here, and 

 have failed to find any thing but bumble- 

 bees working on it. C. A. Thompson. 



Downing, Wis.. Sept. 5. 



J. W. UTTER'S YIELD IN DANZ. SECTIONS. 



I have taken 3500 boxes of honey in nice 

 white Danzenbaker boxes. I had 100 hives 

 of bees, now 200. The bees Jtre gathering 

 honey now, being mostly from buckwheat, 

 heartsease, wild flower, and goldenrod. 

 J. WiSNER Utter, 



Amity, N. Y., Aug. 22. 



