1896. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



and that in apiaries free from disease the yellow jessamine 

 does no harm. 



The object of this article is to challenge the attention of 

 bee-keepers to the subject of alleged poisonous honey. Is 

 there satisfactory proof to be had from any quarter that in 

 this country — North, South East or West — the instinct of the 

 bee cannot be relied on to defend itself against poisonous 

 plants'? Columbia, Miss. 



[The leaf referred to by Mr. Ford we did not find. Pos- 

 sibly it was lost, or perhaps he forgot to enclose it as intended. 

 We should be glad to hear from any or all who can speak 

 from experience on this subject. — Editors.] 



^ 



No. 2 Experiences, Impressions and Reflec- 

 tions After Five Years of Bee-Keeping 

 in California. 



BY RAMBLER. 



LContinued from page 1B7.1 



I had not been long in the vicinity before I discovered an 

 apiary of 170 colonies, that I secured to work on shares. I 

 preferred at this time to work an apiary rather than to buy, 

 for the very good reason that I did not have loose money 

 enough to buy with. I wished, furthermore, to test the cli- 

 mate, the honey-resources, and various features of the coun- 

 try before I settled down permanently. 



The apiary was a typical California outfit — the hives upon 

 a gentle slope close to a rugged mountain, the chief features 

 of which was the absence of trees, and the presence of im- 

 mense granite boulders. On the lower side of the apiary was 

 an 8x12 extracting-cabin, and some ten yards below it an im- 

 mense galvanized-iron honey-tank, that would easily hold six 

 tons of honey. The wind had free course here, and old, 

 empty extracting-supers and empty tin honey-cans had been 

 whisked around promiscuously amongst the hives and sur- 

 rounding bushes. 



The honey-extractor was an old, wooden four-frame affair 

 — such were made here several years ago — antiquated but ef- 

 ective. There was a cover for it, but some one had left it on 

 the floor. In the bottom of the extractor was about six inches 

 of candied honey, in which were several dead mice and a gray 

 ground-squirrel — all well submerged and well preserved. In 

 some of the promiscuous tin cans was a good supply of honey ; 

 the screw caps had been left off, or taken off by some prowler, 

 and the bees having access to the contents, proceeded to drown 

 themselves by the quart, or until no more bees could get into 

 the cans. 



The big tank had also been left with a defective cover, 

 and a good bait of honey in the bottom ; in this I found over 

 two bushels of dead bees, and a few mice ; larger victims could 

 not get through the crevices above, or they surely would have 

 been there. 



The owner of the apiary was interested in a furniture 

 store in Riverside, and amongst the various boxes in which 

 furniture is crated, there is much good lumber ; this lumber- 

 pile, the furniture wagon and horse, were put to my disposal, 

 and out of the lumber, some boards rough, some smooth, some 

 thick, some thin, a few wide, and many narrow, I obtained 

 enough to build a lean-to adjoining the extracting-cabin. This 

 work lasted several days, and when completed I had a room 

 8x12 to live in ; and to make things homelike I adjusted a 

 matress to a home-made bedstead, and brought out several 

 conveniences. I could not circulate around much in that 

 house. The household goods took up considerable room, and 

 then that portion near the eaves was not elevated enough for 

 a tall man to stretch himself in perpendicularly ; but I had 

 all out-doors before me, and plenty of sunshine, and so my 

 confined quarters were tolerable. 



As this was my first experience in baching, I could not cut 

 myself loose at once from social privileges, and, in addition to 

 my bachelor quarters in the apiary, I rented a room in town, 

 and spent Sundays and other portions of the week when not 

 busy in the apiary, in town. 



The apiary was five miles from Riverside, and in the ab- 

 sence of a horse I performed the journeys to and fro on foot. 



Besides building the cabin, the remaining portions of Jan- 

 uary and February were spent in regulating things, and ex- 

 amining the condition of the bees. The odds and ends of cans 

 had been piled at one side in the brush, where they could not 

 tumble before the wind. The extractor and tank had been 

 cleaned and scaled, and on the latter I fitted a frame hinged 



in the middle and covered with wire-cloth — this allowed access, 

 and kept out bees and vermin. 



The first thing that dawns upon the stomach of the fresh 

 bachelor, is the lack of a knack in cooking. He has seen pots 

 and kettles and skillets on the stove at home, and has seen 

 them filled and emptied, and if any instructions in cooking 

 have been given at such times the instructions went into one 

 ear and out at the other. Cooking upon a two-wick oil-stove 

 has various phases of discouragement, and in the absence of 

 milk and eggs the pancakes will persist in being soggy. So 

 canned victuals are used, and good bread — thanks to a bakery 

 and a tight tin can in which to keep the bread from drying 

 up. As Sancho Panza blessed the man that invented sleep, so 

 I shouted several times with unction, " Blessed is the man 

 that invented bread and butter !" 



My bad cooking led me to make several journeys to get a 

 square meal at the restaurant. But it is a dull scholar that 

 cannot learn, and afterward, with a nice little stove, I became 

 so proficient as to call forth remarks of admiration from some 

 of the leading benedicts on this coast. 



My various walks to town were not altogether uninterest- 

 ing, for in February, when a good portion of the East is 

 struggling in snow, here many-hued flowers began to appear. 

 AlBllaree is the first little blossom that appears in January, 

 and more plentiful in February. It is a plant of low habit, 

 and a very small pink blossom, with only four tiny sepals, and 

 scarcely a half-inch in diameter. After abundant rains these 

 blossoms carpet the ground, the bees securing enough honey 

 from them to greatly invigorate brood-rearing. 



The absence of rain at this time, and the depredations of 

 a large herd of sheep, kept down the growth so that the bees 

 found but little honey. 



There is another plant — a modest bush, bearing the anti- 

 quated name of " old man " — the little racemes of dull yellow 

 blossoms, yield a great amount of pollen which the bees 

 greedily gather, and the failure of the alfillaree is not alto- 

 gether a calamity. 



In a great many apiaries in this State, and especially in 

 this one, the bees had to do considerable rustling to find water. 

 This valuable liquid was a mile away. I believe it is an un- 

 solved problem how far bees will go for water, or how small 

 an amount will tend to the prosperity of the colouy, but I do 

 know that at times 150 colonies will get away with nearly a 

 half barrel of water in a day. This being a fact, it must de- 

 crease the honey-yield of any apiary when a large force is 

 diverted from honey-gathering to the gatheringof water. Such 

 localities are occupied because they are exceptionally good 

 honey-localities, and the manager of the apiary has to follow 

 the example of the bees and haul water for domestic pur- 

 poses. When a team was not handy my vehicle was an old, 

 rickety wheelbarrow, and two five-gallon honey-cans; and I 

 wish to remark that it is no pastime to wheel water a mile 

 when the air is full of gnats and flies, anxious to lap the sweat 

 from the laborer's brow when both hands are employed on the 

 handles of the wheelbarrow. If the operation is performed in 

 the early morning or evening, when flies are not out in force, 

 the operator's face or neck will com-nence to itch in an un- 

 accountable manner, and the wheelbarrow is allowed to rest 

 while the troubled parts are attended to. 



I have a profound sympathy for bees remote from water, 

 and though the flies and the itch do not bother them, high 

 winds greatly impede their work, and at such times they are 

 crazy for every drop of water exposed near the apiary. Some 

 bee-keepers are provident enough to haul water for their bees 

 in the height of the honey season, but it is always the owner 

 and his team. I never knew a person working an apiary on 

 shares, with only a companionable wheelbarrow, to do such a 

 thing. 



In February the flowers begin to spring up in greater 

 profusion, and my walks from town, while tiresome to the 

 lower limbs, are a never-ending source of pleasure to the head. 

 The California lark, with his bright yellow corselet, ever 

 happy, and perched upon a sage-stalk or a chemise bush, pours 

 forth his set piece of music, and upon my approach flits ahead 

 with a song in his throat and secures another perch. Thus 

 over and over again his song is rehearsed, but ever pleasant 

 because from a thing of life and companionship in a desert 

 place. But if the lark is prone to repeat his melody to the 

 verge of monotony, the mocking-bird is the opposite in his 

 ever-changing and never-ending warbles. Even in the night 

 his subdued chattering and whistles are heard as he perches 

 near the nest of his mate, and lends encouragement to her ma- 

 ternal duties. It is the height of pleasure at any time to 

 " listen to the mocking-bird " — 



" winged mimic of the woods I thou motley fool ! 

 Who shall thy g-ay buffoonery describe ? 

 Thine ever-ready notes of ridicule 



