c)04 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



Six or eight thicknesses of cheese-cloth work- 

 ed better than two or three. Why ? Because 

 the rim of the crock was uneven; and, when 

 placed on the plate, a single thickness of cloth 

 would do little toward filling the crack where it 

 was largest; whereas, six thicknesses would fill 

 it. If the rim of the crock were perfectly true 

 and smooth, the case v/ould be different. I fill- 

 ed a tumbler with sugar and water, put a single 

 thickness of thin cotton cloth over it, then in- 

 verted it over a smooth tin dish. How fast do 

 you suppose the syrup came through ? Not a 

 drop came, and I don't think it would if it had 

 stood a year. If you tie a single thickness of 

 cheese-cloth over a crock, then invert it over a 

 plate, it will work all right providing the rim 

 of the crock be just even enough and uneven 

 enough. In general, it would let the water out 

 too fast without giving the sugar time to dis- 

 solve; but in that case, if you put enough bees- 

 wax under the edge of the crock to make the 

 syrup come out slow enough. I think you'd find 

 it all right. 



You said, Ernest, that sugar adhered to the 

 proper bottom of the crock. What made you 

 let it do that? Just give the whole thing a 

 few shakes after inverting. In using the crock 

 feeder, the cloth under the sugar plays no part, 

 only that part that comes in actual contact 

 with both crock and plate, and it would work 

 all the same if the middle part of the cloth were 

 all cut away. 



It is quite possible that there is a double ad- 

 vantage in having the syrup come through 

 slowly; and we who have been priding our- 

 selves on having a feeder with which we could 

 give 2^ lbs. in as many hours may yet change 

 our views. It may be that the bees need longer 

 time to put the right amount of formic acid 

 into their feed. 



Marengo, 111. 



[For the percolating feeders on the hive, it is 

 immaterial whether cheese- cloth, old flannel 

 \ or new flannel be used. We get good results 

 with all of them; but it does make a hig differ- 

 ence, when percolating syrup by the 15. Tavlor 

 plan, described in Gi.kanings recently (p. 803). 

 As there expfained. old fiannel is decidedly bet- 

 ter than the new. 



Regarding the crocks, we found that they 

 were better than inverted sap-pails, because 

 of the very fact that their (the crocks') tops 

 would be more or less irregular, while the pails 

 would fit so closely as to make the feeding very 

 slow. We got better results by discarding even 

 the plates, and using boards: and if they are 

 warped a little, all the better. On these the 

 pails would give as good results as the crocks. 



Yes, the sugar did adhere to the bottom of 



the crocks; but shaking, or, rather, a good 



thorough stirring, did not seem to prevent the 



■ slight residue of sugar entirely, although it 



tended greatly to reduce the amount. 



Some have asked what was the principle 

 upon which the percolating feeders work. I 

 think you have given the philosophy of it. so 

 that evei-y one may understand it; but it may 

 be well to add, that the percolators work on the 

 atmospheric principle. In that respect they 

 are similar to the Hains and E. France, or what 



is sometimes called, incorrectly, the Hill feed- 

 er.— Ed. 1 



ITEMS FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



STORMS OF BEK-MOTHS. 



By J. P. I:<)arl. 



Friend Root:— When the poetess wrote,— 



Leaves havf tlieir time to fiill, 



And floweis to wither, at tlie north wind's breath,. 



she was not writing of the oaks of Southern 

 California. The oak here is an evergreen — al- 

 ways green. There is no set time for the leaves 

 to fall. In fact, when a leaf gets old the young 

 ones push it out of the way, just as the young 

 bees crowd the old ones out of the hive at 

 swarming time. But with the oak this goes on 

 all the time, winter and summer, so that the 

 oak-forest is a perpetual green. Has all this 

 any -thing to do with bee-keeping? Oh, yes! 

 very much indeed. The manzanita, willow, 

 and oak, in the order named, build up our colo- 

 nies and prepare them for the harvests that-, 

 come only when mountain and valley are cov- 

 ered with the purple-white bloom of the black 

 sage. But, listen, all ye sages, philosophers, 

 and entomologists of the East, and I will give 

 you a problem to solve that was never submit- 

 ted to you before. I would solve it myself with- 

 out troubling you. but it is about the only thing 

 I don't understand. 



Early this spring — remember, the trees are 

 always green, and that our spring often begins 

 as early as Jan. 1 — clouds upon clouds of bee- 

 moths came down upon our oak- forests. Now, 

 don't say they were not bee-moths. I know the 

 gentleman well. I have slept with him and 

 eaten at his board— or the place where he board- 

 ed. I have played hide-and-seek with him for 

 twelve years. He did the hiding and I the seek- 

 ing. Know him! Yes. I know him as well as I 

 do my brother. In fact, he has stuck closer to- 

 me than a brother. Well, he came numerously 

 and promiscuously— in clouds that whitened the 

 air; in storms that swept over brake and bush; 

 in cyclones that settled down into a calm only 

 when it reached an oak-grove. Here they went 

 to work. Every leaf was stripped from the 

 trees, and the bloom too, if it had appeared. 

 Many trees they left as bare as your oak-trees- 

 in winter. Others they did not touch at all. 

 On some trees they left the bloom, and these 

 now have acorns nearly ripe, and not a leaf on 

 the tree. But the most of the trees that they 

 touched they stripped clean of leaf and bloom. 

 The same thing occurred in 188.5 — another dry 

 year, just like this. 



FRAMES, EIGHT VS. TEN. 



Am I a prophet or the son of a prophet ? Did 

 I foreseelhe great war that is now raging in re- 

 gard to eight or ten frames? If not, how did I 

 get on the fence twelve years ago, hugging to 

 my heart nine frames, so that I now can fall 

 into the arms of the victorious party? Come to 



