1506 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



THE HONEY-TANKS UNDER MR 



ALEXANDER S EXTRACTING ROOM; EACH OF THESE TANKS WILL 

 HOLD FIVE TONS OF HONEY. 



ably granulates. I had one of these locations that, 

 in good seasons, never gave me over 75 to 150 lbs. 

 of honey per colony, while those away from the 

 coast would give me over double that amount. 

 In 1892 (a poor year) the coast bees secured plen- 

 ty of honey for the winter, as they had consider- 

 able old stores on hand in spring. The queens 

 were superseded by better stock. I put on extra 

 supers of fine woricer comb, and many of my 

 neighbors extracted some honey, some taking off 

 from one to two tons, to their sorrow afterward. 

 In the fall some had to feed back to keep the bees 

 from starvation. My bees were left with 50 to 

 150 or more pounds of honey per colony, and in 

 spring they came out rich and strong with vigor- 

 ous young bees. We had the usual foggy weath- 

 er and an unusually cool backward spring. The 

 bees got only enough to stimulite brood-rearing. 

 The results were, that all this great amount of 

 surplus leftover the previous fall made it possible 

 for the colonies to rear a tremendous force of 

 bees. In a few days we had clear weather, and 

 the honey just flowed in at the rate of over 300 

 lbs. per colony, on a range that previously pro- 

 duced from 75 to 150 lbs. of surplus per colony. 



MANY APIARIES MOVED. 



Over 40 carloads of bees were moved out of 

 Southern California last spring to better forage 

 in the alfalfa-fields on the eastern borders of the 

 State — a new section for honey-production. I 

 was informed that many places were overstocked 

 with bees, and yet it saved many of our friends 

 from great loss. 



WEATHER REPORT. 



We have reports of heavy rains and snow in 



Northern Arizona, lasting a number of days. If 

 this report is true, it will be followed by a wet 

 winter here. We are having an unusual amount 

 of cold cloudy weather for this time of year, and 

 but little rain for some time. Nov. 22 we had 

 about % inch of rain, and now (Nov. 24) it is 

 cold. Many are prophesying a wet winter and a 

 banner honey year for 1909; but we can tell bet- 

 ter when the honey is in the can. In this section, 

 most bees are in good condition for the winter. 

 I shall plan to have an abundance of young se- 

 lected queens coming on in early spring near the 

 coast, where the season is two months earlier 

 than in the mountains or best sage ranges. 

 Ventura, Cal. 



TRAVEL-STAIN. 



The Cause and Remedy; a Special Honey- 

 board Designed for Keeping the Surface 

 of the Comb Honey Clean. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



A few years ago I sent to Gleanings one or 

 two articles on the subject of travel-stain. Sev- 

 eral criticisms followed, in which the writers 

 seemed to regard my views on the subject as rath- 

 er wild or heterodox. I had something more to 

 say on the subject, but delayed doing so until I 

 had more fully studied the subject and made 

 some experiments I had in mind. Indeed, I left 

 unsaid the most important part — the prevention 

 of the trouble. 



As it has been several years since the subject 



