1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



869 



of these strips tog^ether, lapped one edg'e 

 over the other on the sewing-machine, with 

 long stitches. After ironing them with a 

 hot iron they make fine mats. There is a 

 paraffine finish on them that is just the 

 -thing. 



When I am through I put the old frames 

 in a hive at the other end of the yard, and 

 leave a little opening for the bees to get at 

 them to clean them up. On the cover of the 

 hive with the transferred combs, I set the 

 "basin of honey and scraps, and over all I 

 turn the cover that I used in cutting comb. 

 In this way the bees will clean every thing 

 up in good order, and with no robbing. 



Sometimes the bottom-bar of the D. frame 

 seems to be bowed out when I lift up the 

 frame. I used to take it out and cut off a 

 little more, but now I just press on the bar 

 till it comes down all right. The comb is 

 in better, and it squeezes the honey only by 

 the top-bar, which doesn't matter. 



Mrs. C. a. S. 



BITTER honey; BRUSHED SWARMS IN THE 

 SOUTH. 



In looking over j'our Sept. 15th number I 

 notice your answers to my questions in re- 

 gard to the bitter- weed honey, and it seems 

 you have gotten the wrong idea about its be- 

 ing good for the bees during winter. It 

 would be all right for them for winter stores 

 provided we needed it, for it is a beautiful 

 thick honey, but has the bitter taste, which 

 is unpleasant. 



In regard to brushed swarms I might add 

 that I have tried them here with success. 

 Here the bees swarm about April 15th, 

 which is just at the beginning of a good 

 honey-flow of about two to three weeks' du- 

 ration, and a swarm hived at just this time 

 usually gathers about two supers of comb 

 honey. After this flow is over we have an- 

 other interval of nearly a month during 

 which there is a light flow, and then comes 

 a fairly good flow, lasting about a month, 

 when the bitter honey starts to coming in, 

 and all good honey has to be taken off. 

 Our bees never swarm here later than April 

 2Sth, and never during a heavy flow. Judg- 

 ing from what I read, I suppose they are 

 entirely different from the Northern locali- 

 ties. 



Under the conditions named I have found 

 it very desirable to swarm all of the bees 

 that are strong colonies just at the begin- 

 ning of the honey-flow. My plan has been 

 about as follows: Prepare the new hive, 

 and place it in the location of the parent 

 colony. Smoke the bees a little, and remove 

 the super from the old hive to the new one, 

 and then shake the bees from all but one of 

 the frames, on the ground in front of the 

 hew hive, seeing that the queen goes with 

 them. This plan leaves enough bees to take 

 care of the brood in the old colony, which 

 should be placed alongside of the new col- 

 ony, facing at right angles, and in ten 

 days it may be moved and used in making 

 up new colonies, and all of the field bees 

 will go to the new colony. In preparing 



the brood-nest for the new colony I think I 

 got best results where I used only six brood- 

 frames the first week or ten days, and let 

 all the frames be filled with full sheets of 

 foundation except one, which should con- 

 tain drawn-out combs. I tried one colony 

 with all foundation, and the sections had 

 combs partly drawn out, and the queen took 

 up her abode in the super long enough to 

 deposit eggs in several sections. When I 

 used one frame of drawn comb in the brood- 

 nest this trouble was avoided. My reason 

 for using full sheets of foundation is that, 

 in my opinion, the bees are not as well pre- 

 pared for wax-building in brushed swarms 

 as when they swarm naturall3\ 



This plan has one advantage for me — I 

 can swarm all of my bees when I have 

 time, while if I waited for them to do it I 

 could not possibly attend to them. 

 .Hazlehurst, Miss. J. S. Wise. 



THE ALKALI LANDS OF CALIFORNIA. 



Friend Ernest: — Your Notes of Travel are 

 always interesting, and always show a 

 strong desire to state facts exactly as they 

 are. Sometimes it seems you have been 

 mistaken — have forgotten or been misin-' 

 formed. Those little ( ?) willow-trees on the 

 Flory ranch illustrate this fact. Those 

 ten-year-old trees were good shade-trees in 

 1889; and Mr. Flcry's old ram got much 

 solid "amusement" by bumping his head 

 against the trees, then perhaps a foot in 

 diameter. As the land is rich and well 

 watered they have made good growth since 

 that time. 



Your remarks on alkali are very clear 

 for a tenderfoot. While Traver was never 

 more than a third or a half the town that 

 you speak of, it strongly illustrates what 

 guesswork farming sometimes brings on 

 surface thinkers. Our State University, 

 Berkeley, Cal., can examine the ground 

 and tell in advance how such land will 

 turn out. Part of this county (Stanislaus) 

 has enough alkali salts to ruin it complete- 

 ly when the " hardpan " is dissolved by 

 irrigation, while we have some land that 

 will last. Scientific tests are necessary in 

 some cases, while in others experience and 

 horse sense are sufficient guides. 



W. A. H. GiLSTRAP. 



Modesto, Cal., Sept. 9. 



WHY BEFS SOMETIMES KILL THEIR YOUNG. 



On page 778 the question was raised, 

 "Why do bees sometimes carry out the 

 young before they are hatched?" 



I have such a case, and in looking the 

 hive over found that they had hardly half a 

 dozen cells of honey by the 15th of June. I 

 put two sections of honey in a super, and. 

 after uncapping a few cells, found that the 

 process of carrjdng out young bees was 

 stopped. 



Several more that began to act in this 

 way were stopped merelj^ bj' feeding, so I 

 made up my mind that the bees do this 

 when short of stores. C. K. Carter. 



Eagle Grove, la., Sept. 22. 



