I HE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



and, with a supply of pails and tubs, 

 the men set our on their expedition. 



They were gone all day, ami along 

 toward sundown a sorry looking pro- 

 n came over the hill ami made its 

 way to the employes' headquarters. 



They had tapped the mine, there 

 could he no question about that. They 

 were sticky with honey from head to 

 foot. Hair and beard dripped with it. 

 like unto the appearance of Aaron 

 when he was anointed, even so that the 

 oil ran ail overhim and down to his feet. 



Their clothes were liberally plaster- 

 ed with a mixture of honey and mud, 

 there was honey everywhere. But the 

 tubs and buckets were full of honey 

 as well, for a rich lead had indeed 

 been struck. 



The men, it appeared, had found a 

 crevice in the rocks whence issued a 

 constant stream of bees and from this 

 they judged that there must be a large 

 quantity of honey in the recesses of 

 the cliff. The opening used by the 

 bees was too small to admit of the pass- 

 age of a human being and after care- 

 fully examining the place a tunnel 

 was commenced a little way from the 

 entrance and after this had been run 

 the right distance an upraise was put 

 in which by good luck struck the ledge 

 of honey in its center. After a hot 

 contest with the bees several hundred 

 pounds of comb honey were taken out 

 and the tunnel was closed up. Several 

 times since additional supplies of the 

 sweet material have been taken from 

 the cave. — San Francisco Chronicle. 



Extracted honey, if sealed air tight, 

 is best stored in a cellar. 



Ilow 'I'd INTRODUCE \ QUEEK BEE. 



Before the new queen is introduced 

 the colony should have been queenless 

 three days (72 hours). The next 

 move is to destroy all queen-cells. 



Insert the cage the <pieen is mailed 

 in in one corner of one of the brood- 

 frames. Then use fumigator and 

 smoke the bees a very little with tobacco. 



Do not blow too much smoke in at 

 one time. Spend about fifteen min- 

 utes in the operation. During this 

 time give the colon)- on occasional puff 

 from the pipe. If the bees are so af- 

 fected that they tumble down and roll 

 out at the entrance, cease smoking 

 them. The idea is u give just enough 

 smoke to .-cent the bees and queen 

 alike. 



Do this work about sunset. The 

 bees will release the queen by eating 

 out the food. — Alley, 



Cook's "Bee-Keeper's Guide," 460 

 pages, (revised,) reduced to SI. 00. 



1IOW' SHALL WE PREPARE OUR BEES I "i; 



WINTER ? 



It is believed by many eminent api- 

 arists that were it not for the fact, that 

 on an average, fully one-half of our bees 

 are lost here in the North, in wintering 

 and the balance so depleted in num- 

 bers that the first and most abundant 

 harvest is consumed by the bees, in 

 strengthening up to the ''working 

 point". Honey might be profitably rais- 

 ed and sold at a figure so low as to 

 cause its adulteration to cease, and 

 honey become agaiu as it was anciently, 

 the principal sweet used by the masses. 



Much of the honey produced in Cali- 

 fornia nets the producer but six cents 

 per pound, yet the business is profitable 

 even at these low figures. 



The secret of success in California is 

 more in the fact that very few bees 

 are lost in winter, and there is a suffi- 



