18it4 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Referring to tho, noxt to the last paragraph, 

 we have only to say that the report was receiv- 

 ed; but the tesiinioiiials. instead of having 

 names and addresses, were simply designated 

 by nnmber, and, as such, they have no value; 

 and even in the article you cive names but no 

 addresses. If you will furnish the original 

 manuscripts we will either publish them or re- 

 fer to them as genuine.] E. R. R. 



CALIFORNIA ECHOES. 



ers may try their hands at this difficult prob- 

 lem, I will give the address of the geiitli-man 

 who wants the tiueens in April. It is II. Tiick- 

 ey, Bishops, Inyo Co., Cal. 



By Rambler. 



Several bee-keepers at the California State 

 Convention said they had seen bees carry wax 

 in their pollen-baskets. 



There were several bald-headed bee-keepers 

 at the convention. I noted that, in every in- 

 stance, they were married men. 



Bachelor bee-keepers must all be adepts at 

 cooking, from the many cooking-recipes I get 

 from them. I extend a bushel of thanks for the 

 kindly aid. 



Honey sometimes ferments and gets sour. It 

 must be very unripe, though, to have the whole 

 mass ferment. The sour surface can. many 

 times, be poured otf when the greater part in 

 the bottom of the can is good honey. 



The more some people get stung, the more 

 dangerous the effect ; but with the majority 

 the effect goes the other way, and the effect 

 becomes harmless. I recently found a bee- 

 keeper who said it swelled on him only during 

 dog-days. 



Whitewash makes a very good coating for 

 bee-hives, and, if mixed according to the Mex- 

 ican plan, it will last three or four years. The 

 above plan is to mix with the whitewash a mu- 

 cilaginous substance from a certain species of 

 cactus. This applied to their adobe houses 

 lasts many years. 



It has been ascertained that the size of na- 

 tive Californians is an improvpment over the 

 original stock. The length of lile is also pro- 

 longed. It is attributed to the mixing of the 

 blood of many races, and the purity of the air 

 breathed. The same will perhaps be the result 

 on animals and bee.s. 



There is still some discussion in relation to 8 

 or 10 frame hives. The comb honey man gener- 

 ally prefers the 8 frame, while the extracted 

 man prefers the lO-franie. The way to get a 

 uniform all-purpose hive that can be expanded 

 and contracted is to use the shallow brood- 

 chamber, making it a 10-frame chamber. 



That little matter of shipping queens to Inyo 

 Co.. Cal.. has another item of difficulty in the 

 fact that the man wants virgin queens, and 

 virgin queens are not so hardy to ship as fertile 

 queens ; in fact, I don't believe they are as 

 hardy as a worker-bee. The shipment has to 

 go a long roundaboui way. and through a 

 wintry belt of our climate. That qu<'i'n-breed- 



SMOKING BEES WHILE MOVING THEM. 



Question.— Don't you think it would be a 

 good idea to give some smoke occasionally on 

 the road, when moving bees, to keep them 

 quiet? Would it not help to keep them from 

 melting the combs? I had several melt last 

 year while moving a distance of four miles. I 

 expect to move more this year. 



An.'<wer. — If I am correct, combs melt down. 

 while moving bees, only from the heat they 

 create in their confined condition; and if this 

 is so, the only thing which will overcome the 

 difficulty is ventilation sufficient to allow this 

 heat to pass out of the hive. I do not know 

 that smoke has any effect in keeping bees quiet, 

 only so far as flying out and stinging is con- 

 cerned. W^hen bees are frlghtent^d in any way. 

 either by smoke, moving, or otherwise, they fill 

 themselves with honey, and, when thus filled, 

 they are not inclined to fly or sting, but they 

 are inclined to run off their combs on foot, so 

 that they may get away from their combs, 

 seeming to realize that, unless they do gooff 

 the combs, they will melt down and be obliged 

 to disgorge over the combs and themselves the 

 honey taken, when a general ferment takes 

 place, and the whole colony becomes extinct by 

 stickiness and literal suffocation from heat and 

 moisture. Smoke can not possibly be any rem- 

 edy for this trouble; for, the more smoke used, 

 the sooner suffocation would naturally take 

 place. But plenty of ventilation allows. the 

 heat, created by the bees in their efforts to get 

 off their combs, to escape from the hive, and 

 thus we not only allow the heat to escape, but 

 quiet the bees as well, as each i)ee can breathe 

 free and easy, so that there i> no danger of suf- 

 focation. Bees can be moved a few miles in a 

 cool or cold day. in early spring, when not very 

 strong in numbers, without any precaution 

 more than closing the entrance, so that the in- 

 side of the hive is entirely dark, and I have 

 moved bees from two to three miles in this way 

 on cool days in June, when the bees were near- 

 ly strong enough to swarm; but I would advise 

 no one to undertake it unless using a spring 

 wagon and much caution so as not to arouse 

 the bees in loading them. The only proper way 

 is to have a rim fitting the top of the hive, 

 three inches deep, having wire cloth on one side 

 of it, which can be quickly fastened to the top 

 of the hive, wire-cloth side up. Remove the 

 covering to the top of the hive; adjust thi 



