428 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



July 5 



home-made honey caramel has the advantage 

 of being pure. 



One pint honey; 1 lb. sugar; scant gill of 

 cream. 



Boil until it makes a soft ball when drop- 

 ped into water. Stir in a teaspoonful of va- 

 nilla, and pour it into a shallow buttered pan 

 to the depth of about half an inch. When 

 cool enough to prevent its sticking to the 

 knife, cut into inch squares. If chocolate 

 caramels are desired, use a tablespoonful of 

 melted chocoUte instead of the vanilla, stir- 

 ring it in just before pouring into the buter- 

 ed pan. 



To make honey popcorn balls, boil a pint 

 of honey in an iron frying-pan until it is quite 

 t.iick, and then stir in the popped corn. 

 When cool, mold into balls. 



Asa substitute for tea or coffef for children 

 there is nothing better than honey tea — a very 

 simple tea made by adding a tablespoonful 

 of honey to a cup of hot water. If not sweet 

 enough to suit ihe taste of the child, add 

 more honey. 



Washington, D. C. 



DEE-KEEPING FOR WOMEN. 

 A New Accession to the Ranks. 



BY MISS MABEL VANDERGRIF. 



V/ith a pc rfect understanding of the heights 

 to which 1 have attained, I now take the lib- 

 erty, some may call it tlie pi esumption, of 

 int. odufing mystlf to the readers of Glean- 

 ings us a California bee k eper. 



A utely aware of my own limi'ations, I 

 hasten to confess tliat all I know as yi t con- 

 ce ning a bee is that one t nd gathers, or may 

 be expec.e.t to gather, houi y, while the oth- 

 er e id stings, oi-, at least, may be expected 

 to do so. It is now two monihs since 1 left 

 New York ciiyfor the good of my health; and 

 it is one month ago smce, arriving in Cali- 

 fornia, I immediately became an apiarist for 

 my financial well being. .\. rancher, a native 

 sOii, sold me three hi\es. I was then advis- 

 ed to purchase queens. Now, in New York 

 ciiy one may select from three brands of eggs 

 — strictly fi esh, fi esh, and just eggs. It now 

 appears that the California bee-market is 

 stocked with three brands of queens — select- 

 ed, tested and just queens. 



Bifore being somewhat in the position of 

 the donkey that died of starvation between 

 two heaps of hay because it could not make 

 up its mind from which heap to take its first 

 mouthful, 1 was f.rtunate enough to meet a 

 sagacious (though lathtr prifane French 

 bee expert. From the latter authority I ac- 

 cepted tiiree Italian tested selected queens. 

 And th s Frenchman, probably on Sis Hop- 

 kins' p inciple tliat "it pays nothing to do 

 nothing for nothing for nobody," accepted 

 my $15.00. 



My health has wonderfully improved — 

 thanks to the California climate. Green al- 

 falfa COVETS all the bottom lands of tliis val- 

 ley, green sage bru.-h covers all of the sur- 

 r^^unding l.i.is, and I however green as yet 



as regards the niceties of apiculture, expect 

 speedily to notice an improvement in my fi- 

 nancial condition — thanks to my California 

 bees. 



Hope has been defined as a belief in a fu- 

 ture event, and the fature event in which I 

 have a thorough belief is the advent of tons 

 of honey. 



Readers of this publication may expect to 

 be made aware very soon of the success of 

 IVIabel Vandergrif, Bee-keeper. 



Escondido, Cal. 



[We shall be pleased to hear from our cor- 

 respondent again. We hope thather "hope" 

 will be a reality. — Ed.] 



TRAVEL-STAIN. 



The Crane Honey-board for its Preven- 

 tion Means More Uniform Work 

 in the Supers. 



BY J. E. CRANE. 



I have just received a letter from Mr. King, 

 of Texas (who formerly worked for Mr. Har- 

 bison ) , showing that the style of honey-board 

 which was so nicely illustrated in the Dec. 

 15th issue, page 1507, is no new thing, since 

 Mr. HarbisDU used one almost or quite iden- 

 tical, some thirty years ago, for an entirely 

 different purpose. As 1 have put on the 

 boards rather late, or when the combs were 

 ready to seal, their value for the purpose 

 Mr. Harbison used them for was not so pro- 

 nounced; still I have noticed that, where 

 these boards were used, the supers were fill- 

 ed more perfectly, especially if put on soon 

 enough. These boards may prove of consid- 

 erable value for this purpose. The testimony 

 of such a man as Mr. Harbison, as to the bees 

 storing as much honey with such boards be- 

 low the supers as without, is of value. 



Middlebury, Vt., Jan. 1. 



[The following is the letter of Mr. King re- 

 ferred to. — Ed.] 



Dear Mr. Crane: — Your article on honey- 

 boards, page 1507, Dec. 15, brings to mind 

 some of my experience over thirty years ago. 

 I was then working for Mr. J. S. Harbison, 

 of California, who was operating three or 

 four thousand colonies. (Jn all his hives he 

 used a honey-board with no openings except 

 on each side. To get to the sections the bees 

 had to pass up between the outside comb 

 and the side of the hive. I thought he was 

 losing honey by not having easier access to 

 the sections, but he insisted not. His object 

 in using such a beard was not to prevent 

 travel sra'n, but to get the outside sections 

 better fin shed, and it served that purpose 

 pc rfectly. As you may know, his two-pound 

 sections were fastened together with a 

 wooden strap, making a solid box of eight 

 sections, and it was (juite necessary to have 

 the end sections well finished. I wonder if 

 he was not the real originator of our modern 

 section box. If he was not the first to use a 

 box with a single comb, I think he was the 

 first to give them the name of "section box " 



