158 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Louth's improved hive for section boxes, 

 the best yet out for this country, fl.95. 



Section boxes for surplus honey, 13 

 ceuts each. 



Cases, 22 each to hold 4 section boxes, 

 can be ha'd in any quantity. 



3d. Plenty of work to be had during 

 haying and harvest threshing, &c , at 

 from $2 to $3 per day and board. We 

 can raise any amount of broom-corn or 

 any other corn you wish to plant. I 

 should think broom making could be 

 made to pay here as they are worth from 

 40 cents to $1 each, according to quality. 

 There has been no broom-corn raised 

 here for market yet, that I know of. 



4tli. We think fruit raising and bee- 

 culture our "best hold" here. We raise 

 apples, peaches, plums, apricots, quinces, 

 figs, almonds, walnuts, oranges, lemons, 

 blackberries and strawberries. Of grapes, 

 we can beat the world. I have the White 

 Muscat, Fleming, Tokay, Rose Peru, 

 Hamburg and Mission, or native Califor- 

 nia grapes. We also raise pumpkins, 

 squashes, melons of all kinds, beets, 

 beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and in 

 fact, a nything wliicli will grow anywhere 

 from the Equator to the Arctic Circle. 

 5th. This country is good for men with 

 much or little means. 



6th. Country new and inhabitants scat- 

 tering, but coming in pretty fast. I am 

 12 miles from coast ; from post office 5 

 miles ; have no school now, but expect to 

 have this summer in the new Granger's 

 hall, wliicli I am now building near the 

 post office. 



7th. Don't know of any improved land 

 with buildings for sale, unimproved from 

 !^ to $10 per acre. Government land for 

 the taking up. 



8th. The same land needs irrigating for 

 summer crops, not for grain or grass. 

 Bees make honey nearly all or all the 

 year round. 



9th. Cost of clothing about 25 per cent, 

 above eastern prices. Flour $5.50 to 

 $0.50 per barrel. Beef 5 to (3 cents. Will 

 not pay to ship anything but bedding and 

 clothes. 



10th. Society good. 



llth. Climate healthiest in the world. 

 No cholera that I ever heard of. Veiy 

 few poisonous reptiles. Once in a while 

 a rattle snake may appear. I have killed 

 4 or five in the yard since I have lived 

 here. 



12th. Rough lumber, red wood and pine, 

 at $2().()() per tliousand feet. Common red 

 wood phuied ou one side, $28.00 to $30.00. 

 Rustic, $45.00. Matclied pine llooring 

 and ceiling, $;;5.00. Surfaced red wood, 

 $40.00. Bee hive lumber, .^30.00. Nails, 



$5.50 per keg for 8ds. Doors, $2.25 to 

 $4.00. Windows, $3.25 to $6.00. 



13th. Hauling can be done for $10.00 

 per thousand feet. Climate so mild that 

 a very cheap house will answer. Never 

 any snow and but little frost. Never 

 cold enough to need a coat on, except at 

 night or when it rains. 



Pruniiig Bees. 



Most apiarians would be benefitted 

 vastly by having the combs lifted out of 

 each hive just before they gather any 

 quantity of honey to fill the combs and 

 give them a thorough examination; some 

 have too much drone comb which should 

 be cut out; others have ill-shaped or 

 crooked combs, which may be straightened 

 or cut out. Brood combs after being in 

 use a few years, get filled up with cocoons 

 so as to reduce the size of the cell and re- 

 quire more labor of the bees to keep them 

 in order than to make new ones. We 

 have extracted out of one cell forty-four 

 cocoons or bee shrouds, which was 

 evidence that forty-four bees had been 

 raised in this cell ; such combs should be 

 rejected, but not on account of being 

 black or of a dark color. 



The dressing up of the combs of a 

 stock of bees, if properly done, will 

 encourage and infuse new industry into 

 them. We have known colonies that were 

 doing little or no good, which, by pruning, 

 were made to pay a large per cent. The 

 combs of each colony should be examin- 

 ed, at least once a year; a careful inspec- 

 tion will do a prosperous colony no harm, 

 while it will aid the defective ones. — 

 Sel. 



Bee Pasturage. 



The right time to sow buckwheat for 

 bee pasture is about the first of July. If 

 sown then, it not only forms the best pas- 

 turage for the bees, but usually yields a 

 good crop of seed. It is one of our best 

 honey-producing plants. The proper quan- 

 tity to sow to the acre is one peck, although 

 some prefer to sow two pecks. I raise it 

 largely, and succeed best by sowing only 

 one peck to the acre. The number of 

 acres required for thirty colonies of bees 

 will be about four, if it is a good season 

 for securing honey. I have known one 

 acre of buckwheat to furnish food enough 

 for bees, so that 800 pounds of honey and 

 85 bushels of grain were made from 

 it. This was, however, an unusually 

 favorable season. Five acres are the 

 least that should be sown for the, number 



