COS 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



HOW BEES WORK IN THE OPEN AIR 

 IN CALirORNIA. 



A PICTURE SENT US BY THR KINDNESS OF 

 FRIEND HILI.IKR. 



'E huve frequently had reports of Ijees 

 building combs in trees or among 

 l)ushes, and living for several months, 

 even where rainstorms are frequent. 

 We have also been told, that in Cali- 

 fornia and other countries wlicre no rain 

 falls for a long period, and comparatively 

 little in the rainy season, that they would 

 live the year round in no hivi's except the 

 protection afforded by such combs as they 

 could build, and by their own clustering, 

 shedding the rain with their wings turned 

 like shingles. Below we give a picture of 

 such a hive. 



A CALIFORNIA BEE-STORY. 



SWARMS r.OING INTO 

 IFORNIA. 



nOUSES IN CAL- 



A^COLONY OF BEES LIVING AND l'K(JSPERING WITHOUT 



The following is all the description we 

 have with the picture : 



I mail yoti a stereoscopic view of a swarm of bees 

 at work in the open air, which is no very nncommon 

 sight hero. They are hybrids. H. H. Hit.i.ter. 



Pasadena, Los Angeles Co., Cal., .lime 9, 188G. 



We think our engravers have done a ])r(^t- 

 ty line piece of work in copying so faithfidly 

 the work of the camera. 



^lAY liave told you about my brother 

 who lives on a ranch near 8au Diego, 

 Cal. Well, this brother has never ta- 

 ken much to bees, but lately he has got 

 a notion of trying them, lie gives us 

 some of his experience in the following; al- 

 so the bee-story alluded to in our head : 



Bro. Amc:— hast .Tanuary I bought 4 stands of 

 bees for $10. As they were in common box Invcs I 

 ti-ansferred them in February, the weather being 

 so warm the combs all ran together, and, I think, 

 destroyed all the queens but one; and after swarm- 

 ing the hive lost its queen, I think, as it is not 

 doing any thing. I put a hive up by the barn, put 

 ten frames in with fdn., and in a few days it was 

 full of bees. I moved it down to the 

 yard, and now they have the frames all 

 capped, and part of the sections filled 

 and capped. I fitted up another hive 

 in the yard as above, and got them full 

 of bees the same as those at the barn. 

 'J'he old original swarm is not doing 

 any thing. Had I better have a good 

 queen? 



T imagine the bees here are mostly 

 hybrids, although mine show three 

 yellow bands. During May and June 

 there were swarms passing over al- 

 most every day, and some of my 

 neighbors have a good deal of trouble 

 in keeping bees out of their houses. 

 They have asked me what to do to 

 get rid of them. 



One Capt. Keen, from New Orleans, 

 left his house here vacant one sea- 

 son; and when he came back he said 

 he IK it iced his house was settling, and 

 he thought it strange, as he had a 

 good brick underpinning. Finally he 

 went up into the garret, and found it 

 full of bees and honey, and he says he 

 has sent off for teams, there not be- 

 ing enough in this neighborhood, and 

 has taken off 50 tons of honey to San 

 Diego, and has got only a very small 

 part of the whole yet. He says he has 

 glutted the market, so now honey is 

 down to 3 cts. a pound. 



The above corresponds with one of 

 his stories. He says he tells them in 

 New Orleans about California beets. 

 Where the beets are taken out of the 

 ground, he says, we have to build a 

 fence around the hole to keep the stock 

 from falling in. 

 ^•: Joking aside, the country around is 

 full of bees. I know of several places 

 where they ai'e in caves on the hilb. If I had been 

 at home, so I could have attended to them, 1 have 

 no doubt I could have had ten stands. Mine are 

 very cross, but I rather like them. I think, as you 

 say, bees ai-e very good-natured. 



There is a near neighbor of mine, Mr. Little, who 

 keeps 2.50 stands in common boxes, with a stick 

 across and bo.\ on top; and when the top box is 

 full he empties the contents in a solar extractor, 

 and sells wax and honey. I am told he got fSOO 



