12 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1. 



Florida, and here are two large ones to go to 

 Australia. Is this an extra day with you, or do 

 you have this to do every day?" 



" Well, this is about an average day's work. 

 I have but 18 queens to mail to-morrow. I have 

 to cage them the day before, as a rule. I have 

 mailed over 2.5 a number of days, and have 

 mailed 45 two days, and one day 61. These 

 were young queens, taken from my nuclei. 

 That day was spent wholly working at the nu- 

 clei. It is now nearly 1 o'clock, and I think 

 we'd better have our lunch. I will first go and 

 feed the horse, and get some water." 



" Your wife said she put in some coffee with 

 the lunch." 



" Oh what a thoughtful woman she is! That, 

 however, is more especially for your use, as she 

 knows I am not fond of cold coffee. 



"Luntli over, I will now examine the sections 

 to see if all is right. Here are two in this clamp 

 from which the foundation has dropped down. 

 I will stick it back in place by pressing the edge 

 of the foundation on to the section with my 

 knife, by heating the blade on the smoker. 

 Here is a hive that must be out of level, because 

 the bees are fastening the lower edge of the 

 foundation in the sections to the separators. I 

 will get the level and put this hive to rights at 

 once. There, it was as I expected — quite a lit- 

 tle out of level. Here is a colony, the bees of 

 which have their sections nearly ready to cap, 

 and I think I will tier them up. I would not do 

 so for a day or two if I could be here at that 

 time; but as I shall not be here for a week, I 

 fear they may need more room before that time, 

 if this pleasant weather continues. You can 

 see, Mr. Daggett, I have to manage differently 

 with out-apiaries that I visit only once a wtck 

 than I would had I only one apiiiry. There, 

 this part of the work is done, and I will now 

 run in the 20 virgin queens we found haichid 

 this morning. I will get the nursory-cages 

 right out here, and we will commence at tliis 

 corner of the yard. If you will hold this cage- 

 frame for me I will make quick work of it. 

 Lefs see— it is 20 minutes of 5 o'clock. Now I 

 will show you a tine trick. There, I take a 

 nursery-cage containing a virgin queen, laist^ 

 one Cdrner of the enameled cloth so as to ex- 

 pose \14 inches of the ;?4 space between sections. 

 Now 1 place the cage over this opening, wire 

 slidt! down, and draw the slide, and at once tht^ 

 queen goes down among the bees, where she is 

 welcomed. Now I make a record of this intro- 

 duction, and now we will go to the next queen- 

 less colony, and soon through. We have in- 

 troduced the 20 queens in H) minutes." 



"Well, Manum, I am surprised at these new 

 plans. You seem to have all the conveniences 

 for doing the work among the bees that one 

 could ask for; and now I do not wonder so much 

 as 1 did that you can care for so many bees 

 wiilioul help." 



'"Now, Mr. Diiggett. my work in this yard is 



done for to-day, and we will return home. To- 

 morrow we will go to the Williams yard, where 

 I am conducting some experiments in which 

 you may be interested." A. E. Manum. 



Bristol, Vt. 



-^mk — • — M^ 



RAMBLE 99. 

 THE CIIINO VALLEY BEET-SUGAK FACTORY. 



It was quite early for the Rambler to get up; 

 and, besides, there was a heavy fog that morn- 

 ing that added to the disagreeable features of 

 early rising; but long before the break of day 

 Mr. Clark gave the summons, "Hurrah for 

 Chino!" and the summons had to be obeyed. I 



J-/urrah! for China! 



had hardly become reconciled to the i<iea of 

 having my peaceful morning dreams suddenly 

 dispelled, when a few of the neighbors and 

 their wives began to put in an appearance; 

 and the burden of each man's remarks was, 

 that his wife had not slept, nor had she allowed 

 any one else in the house to sleep, since mid- 

 night. It seemed certain, thut. if the wives 

 could have had their way. they would have 

 been in Chino by break of day, rousing people 

 up at that place. " How far is it to Chino, any 

 way?" remarked one of the party. The definite 

 reply was given, that it was a right smart dis- 

 tance; another said that it was six looks and a 

 half. That seemed a satisfactory answer, and 

 we were soon taking our looks around the 

 mountain; but inasmuch as the fog still inter- 

 fered it took a great many looks to get even a 

 short distance. I?y persistent inquiry, however, 

 I found that it was about 20 miles, and our 

 three load(^d wagons made quite a procession as 

 we proceeded on our way. 



The first portion of our journey passed us to 

 the rear of West Riverside, a thriving new col- 

 ony, and where, during the past year, a thou- 

 sand acres of while sage and other honey- 

 producing plants have been plowed under, 

 spoiling a large area of bee-pasturage. Work- 



