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turned after extracting, and the others 

 stored away until needed for fall 

 honey, or otliervvise. 



If i find frames of brood, I often use 

 them to build up nuclei, or increase 

 by hivinp; bees with a virgin queen on 

 the Doolittle-swarming-box plan, and 

 add brood for several days as fast as 

 they can care for it, till the hive and 

 upper story are full. 



Probably the best way to get rid of 

 the bees in the extracting-room, is to 

 put a cone of wire-screen in the upper 

 corners of tlie windows. 



With the foregoing method I hardly 

 ever have a swarm, and manage out- 

 apiaries without having any one to as- 

 sist, as there are not enough swarms 

 to paj' to liave some one to watch 

 them. 



Blooniington, Ills. 



BEE-KEEPING 



III Wandering Apiaries on int. 

 Sierra IVevada, Spain. 



Tratislated for the American Bee Journal 



BY REV. STEPHEN ROESE. 



Mount Sierra Nevada, in Spain, is 

 located 1U,500 feet above tlie level of 

 the sea. Bee-keepers in that country, 

 after the early spring houey-tlovv is 

 over, do generally experience a dearth 

 of honey, for during the hot summer 

 months there is seldom a rainfall, and 

 bee-keepers are often obliged to feed 

 back their early spring honey crop, to 

 save their bees from starvation ; and 

 during this season the wax-moth causes 

 terrible destruction in the apiaries. 



During the honey-dearth in the 

 plains, Mount Sierra Nevada is covered 

 with rich honey-yielding flowers, es- 

 pecially on the northern slope, whicli 

 is eovered with fruit-trees of all de- 

 scriptions. The deep valley of Rio- 

 Monacliil is often rich with honey-dew, 

 which extends downward to the plain 

 of Granada. On this plain, from 

 Dehesa to San Geronimo, during the 

 summer mouths, from 12,000 to 14,000 

 sheep find abundant pasturage, besides 

 many liundreds of horses. This north- 

 ern slope is constantly moistened liy 

 the gradually melting of the everlast- 

 ing snows on the summit of the moun- 

 tain. This juicy pasture is rich with 

 endless blooming flowers. 



The transportation of the hives is 

 eftected l5j- the use of mules. Each 

 animal carries one on each side, up 

 the narrow, winding path, with oc- 

 casional halting under an orange or 

 olive tree, from June until October 15 ; 

 at this time, usuallj', the first snow 

 falls. The apiaries remain on Mount 

 Sierra Nevada, and on their return, 

 at this date, for the Granada plains. 



the mountain apiarist comes laden 

 richly with nectar sweets, while api- 

 aries left on the plain are moth-eaten, 

 and on the verge of starvation. 



Mount Sierra Nevada, on account of 

 its charming scenery, is visited by 

 many naturalists, artists, and scientists, 

 and it will lienceforth be visited by 

 apiarists eacli season. 



PASTOR WEYGANDT'S BEE-LECTURE. 



The new theory of Pastor Weygandt, 

 of Flacht, Germany, of applying arti- 

 ficial heat for the purpose of creating 

 an even temperatiu-e in winter reposi- 

 tories, has been fully illustrated dur- 

 ing his four days' course of free lec- 

 tures at Flacht, Germany. Sixty 

 prominent bee-keepers from all parts 

 of Germ»ny, Switzerland, and Luxem- 

 bourg, were seated at the feet of this 

 eminent Gamaliel, and were aston- 

 ished and surprised at the flow of 

 charming language and revelation of 

 mj'steries in apiculture. 



This eminent master of the art 

 seems to revolutionize the Continent, 

 and even his enemies cannot gainsay 

 the facts set forth by him. 



On April 8, 1890, is the day agreed 

 upon, for the delivery of another ten 

 days' lecture on modern bee-keeping. 

 A programme of exercises is in pro- 

 gress, and will be published in due 

 time. Applicants for attendance were 

 to inform the faculty not later than 

 the last of February. 



It is not strange that some connect- 

 ing link in successful bee-keeping 

 should be missing, in consequence of 

 the total ignorance of the art of bee- 

 keeping during the Dark Ages. 



Maiden Rock, Wis. 



CALIFORNIA. 



Sonoma County as a Bee-Keep- 

 ing Locality. 



Written for theAinerican Bee Journal 



BY D. B. WIER. 



I gave a little sketch of Sonoma and 

 adjoining counties in California's 

 adaptability for bee-culture, on page 

 711 of the American Bee Journal for 

 1889. It brought me letters of in- 

 quiry from nearly every State in the 

 Union, and several from Europe, 

 nearly all of which enclosed stamps 

 for reply. I answered all quite fully, 

 reserving some for special answer 

 through the Bee Journal on pertinent 

 points that none, or very few, seemed 

 to understand. 



The most prominent of these not-un- 

 derstood points that explanations were 

 asked for by many, may be summed 

 up in these two questions : 



First, "How can bees store honey, 

 as a rule, every month in tlie year ? 

 Trees and plants do not bloom in win- 

 ter." 



Second, "If you have no rains for 

 four or five months in the year, trees 

 and plants certainly cannot bloom to- 

 ward the end of such a drouth ?" 



These are very reasonable questions 

 to ask by those not familiar with a re- 

 gion of warm, moist (often wet, or 

 very wet, like this one) winters and 

 dry summers. Nature adapts plants 

 and animals to their environment. 

 Many trees and plants in this climate 

 bloom and grow only in the winter ; 

 many of our native trees and plants 

 begin to grow so soon as the fall rains 

 give tliem moisture, and then are soon 

 in bloom. Some of our trees and 

 shrubs start into growth — usually 

 blooming first — in November and De- 

 cember ; many more in January and 

 February ; others, not until March and 

 April. Hundreds of species of trees 

 and plants are now in bloom (Feb. 12); 

 some of these are very rich in honey, 

 and every day for the past three weeks 

 has been bright and warm — the mer- 

 cury being from 65° to 75° in the 

 shade, enabling bees to work at least 

 six hours each day. 



The manzanita, and laurel, which 

 grow in the hills and mountains, are, 

 in different locations, in bloom during 

 the entire winter, and the first-named 

 — one of the very best honey-produc- 

 ing plants in the world — is in bloom 

 on diSerent exposures and elevations 

 in the mountain canyons, froiu Novem- 

 ber until June. The wild currants 

 and gooseberries are now in bloom, 

 and will so continue for months, as 

 well as countless other shrubs and 

 plants. By the first of April the whole 

 country is one vast flower-garden. 

 Hill, valley and mountain are every- 

 where carpeted with flowers of every 

 hue. This much for winter and spring 

 flowers for honey. 



Then, on the other hand, in the dry 

 season here, we have thousands of 

 plants that revel, and grow and 

 bloom in the hot, dry season, and 

 plenty of plants between these two 

 extremes. Near the end of the dry 

 season, when our sun is the hottest, 

 and the soil is the driest, our stubble- 

 fields will be seen a mass of golden or 

 purple flowers. Perhaps it is true that 

 near the end of the dry season the bee 

 can find the fewest good honey-plants 

 in bloom ; but in the valleys they find 

 plent)- that yield very poor honey for 

 us, but I believe it is good enough for 

 winter stores for the bees, if they 

 need any. The plants producing the 

 bad-tasting honey, mostly belong to 

 the composite — such as May-weed 

 (dog-fennel, etc.), and here in the 

 valley, the ubiquitious "tar-weed," 



