543 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1. 



thoritative, finds that they do not always go to- 

 gether. The board of supervisors of San Ber- 

 naidiiioCo. have instructed Mr. Herron to make 

 a complete study of the subject. I have also 

 purchased colonies, and shall watch the dis- 

 ease, and try remedies, in hopes to answer it. 



You think the warm climate may favor this 

 malady. We have never heard that the climate 

 of France and Italy, which is similar to that of 

 California, was deleterious to bees. In fact, we 

 have always supposed that a warm climate was 

 favorable to the honey-bee. Is it not probable 

 that this is some epidemic, like "epizootic," 

 that attacked the horses in 1872, or like the 

 grip,which has carried off so many people in the 

 last few years'? I hope this will prove to be the 

 case, and that we shall very soon be rid of it. 

 Even now I see signs that it is disappearing. 



Claremont, Cal., June 5. 1894. A. J. Cook. 



[Prof. Cook is doubtless correct regarding the 

 source of honey-dew ; at least, his position is 

 supported by nearly all the authorities in the 

 past. We hope he will make further researches, 

 as we should like to know more about this new 

 disease,— Ed.] 



The top usually came off in several pieces. 

 The hives being made of extremely splitable 

 redwood, the ground was soon well covered with 

 the fragments. If the old adage is true, that 

 a good workman is known by liis chips, I had 

 enough chips to claim the title. 



RAMBLE 111. 



By Rambler. 



N the morning 

 an inventory of 

 the amount of 

 work to do re- 

 vealed that 96 

 o f those 1 d 

 hives were to be 

 nailed up, saw- 

 ed ofT, calked 

 up, and bur- 

 laps nailed over 

 the tops. The 

 teams would all 

 be back the 

 next afternoon. 

 I therefore had a day and a half in which to 

 try to do the work. The greater share of the 

 old doors could be nailed on with but little 

 trouble; but for any refractory hivjs that 

 would not with ordinary coaxing come togeth- 

 er, a large pair of tongs was provided. IJy 

 clamping across the back of the hive, springing 

 the handles together, and holding them in 

 position with a ring, as shown in the cut, the 

 edges of the hive were squeezed up into proi)er 

 position to be nailed, liy the time I had given 

 the bees a dose of smoke, and banged several 

 nails into their hives, they were somewhat sur- 

 prised; and they were evidently more so when 

 I placed the hives horizontally on the ground, 

 rolling it over as I sawed around it. As the 

 Harbison frames are fitted into mortises, and 

 brace-combs are plentiful between the top-bars, 

 there was no movement of the frames under 

 such rough treatment. 



■IHl{ 





SAWING AND NAILING HARBISON HIVES BE- 

 FOKE BEMOVAL. 



Before night I had made good progress, and 

 was getting quite ansious to have the bees all 

 :!ady to load into the wagons when they re- 

 airned. Things had gone along very nicely 

 until toward night, when the clouds gathered 

 and it commenced to drizzle. I suppose that 

 nail I was driving was a little wet, and the 

 hammer ditto. A full blow at it glanced and 

 landed full on my thumb-nail. Oh how that 

 did hurt! how I did dance! how I did throw 

 that hammer! and how I did kick up a row 

 generally, there all alone, and said things I re- 

 pented of afterward ! That finished my nailing 

 hives, and it was a little provoking to tnink it 

 was the last hive and the last nail on the job, 

 and then to have driven so many successfully, 

 and hit the wrong nail at last, and that a 

 thumb- nail, and utterly ruin it! I ate my 

 supper with sourness of visage, with twinges of 

 pain, and under increasing rain. 



After building a big camp-fire I retired to the 

 flat for a rest; but I had not lain long on the 

 blankets before I made a discovery. ISIy roof 

 was leaking. ATi examination revealed the 

 fact that the wind had carried this roof clear 

 ovrr, and pitched the shakes the wrong way; 

 and. instead of shedding rain, it was an excel- 

 lent conductor of rain to the interior. The flat 

 had to be abandoned; and, making a sort of 

 chicken-coop arrangement with some boards in 

 front of the camp-fire, the blankets were moved 

 in and a passably comfortable night passed, 

 considering the painful condition of my thumb. 



The rain had suspended business in the morn- j 

 ing. leaving the tempcTatiire cool, and sky still 

 lowering; and through the day thiTe was now 

 and then a brief shower, and two or three 

 actual snowstorms. The snow was the kind 

 that is don(! up in round packages like homeo- 

 pathic pills. 



In relation to my day's work, suffice it to say 



