Bee-Keeping in Colorado. 



Many inquiries liave come to hand about 

 bee-keeping in Colorado, and in order to an- 

 swer tliem we quote the following from the 

 Pueblo Chieftain concerning bee-raising in 

 Colorado: 



Will bees thrive in Colorado? is a ques- 

 tion that has been asked by a great many 

 persons who were desirous of adding this 

 cheap and wholesome luxury to their places. 

 Neany everybody will say that bees cannot 

 live here — there are no flowers to speak of, 

 no clover or anything else that produces 

 honey, they say. Now these comments are 

 wrong and not based on facts. There are 

 several very successful apiaries in Fremont 

 county, but as we are only acquainted with 

 two persons owning apiaries, Messrs. Fra- 

 zier and Tongs, we can'not say how profita- 

 ble the others, probably a dozen in nnmber, 

 liave heretofore been, but judging from the 

 successful workings of these, the net yearly 

 profits must be considerable. 



It seems the editor visited both apiaries 

 and remarks as follows: 



We found upon examining the hives that 

 the lower apartments were full, and the up- 

 per ones two-thirds full, of as nice clear 

 white honey as was ever gathered from 

 white clover. We were somewhat aston- 

 ished to see such an abundance of honey 

 laid in at that time in the year, when the 

 surrounding country for miles was perfectly 

 void of vegetation, witii the exception of 

 butfalo grass and cactus, and as a matter of 

 course, our next question was — where did 

 the honey come from? and was informed by 

 several bee raisers that the much abused 

 cactus (both flat and bush) fui-nish a large 

 quantity. It is beyond the shadow of a 

 doubt that Colorado, especially the southern 

 portion of the State, possesses some very 

 decided advantages in regard to the winters 

 over tlie northern and western States for 

 bee-raising, and as honey keeps up (in Pue- 

 blo) to the old price of 2.5 cents per pound, 

 we do not see why it does not pay. 



' Notwithstanding we have so often re- 

 ferred to the matter— many (thoughtlessly, 

 no doubt,) still write correspondence on the 

 face of postal cards. This is not allowed by 

 the P. O. Department — and every such of- 

 fense against the Postal Laws costs us .5 

 cents. These amounts are small, but they 

 aggregate several dollars to us each month. 

 Will our friends please be careful not to do 

 so hereafter. 



5I^"Preserving fruit with extracted honey 

 instead of sugar, is superior in every way. 

 It is not so apt to sour and require a second 

 boiling. Pick the fruit, wash it and drain 

 off the water; then place it in a large kettle 

 or pan and add one-third as much honey as 

 here is fruit, boiling it until the taste of the 

 honey has evaporated. 



217 



1^ A correspondent recommends the 

 following for separating honey from 

 wax : " Put honey-comb and all into a 

 tin pail upon a moderately warm stove, 

 adding a tablespoonful of water to 

 each pound of honey. Stir occasion- 

 ally with a piece of wire until the con- 

 tents of the pan are in a liquid condi- 

 tion. Do not allow boiling to begin. — 

 Remove the pan from the tire and set 

 it aside to cool. The cake of wax, to 

 which all impurities will adhere, may 

 then be carefully lifted off with a 

 knife." 



1^ Friend Doolittle's fancy crate of 



honey, to which was awarded the Gold 



Medal in jSTew York, last fall, has been 



exhibited, as such, by Mr. W. M. Hoge, 



in London, Liverpool, and other cities 



of Great Britain, as well as the Paris 



Exposition. 



« ♦ > ♦ » 



i^The large podded milk- weed 

 almost invariably causes the death of 

 every bee alighting upon it. The bee 

 either adheres to the plant, or else 

 bears away a small scale sticking to its 

 feet, and cripples itself fatally in at- 

 tempting to remove the annoyance. 



Frog-eating Bees. — ^ow "Frog- 

 gy " stands at the bar on trial for vari- 

 ous thefts and robberies. My friends, 

 the bees have a serious charge to make 

 against him. One evening in July last 

 he steatliily crept up a slanting board 

 placed against a beehive, and with his 

 trap-like jaws caught the bees leaving 

 and entering the hive. Why the bees 

 did not charge him at the point of the 

 bayonet I do not know, except it was 

 his slimy coat of mail, on wliich they 

 coiild get no foothold. Anyhow, the 

 pet "Froggy " is not as innocent as he 

 looks. — Land and Water. 



Rats and Mice.— Several corres- 

 pondents write to announce the com- 

 plete extirpation of rats and mice from 

 tlieir cow-stalls and piggeries since the 

 adoption of this simple plan : A mix- 

 ture of two parts of well-bruised 

 common squills and three parts of 

 finely-chopped bacon is made into a 

 stiff mass, with as much meal as may 

 be required, and then made into small 

 cakes and baked ; these are put down 

 for the rats to ent.— English iStandard. 



