682 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



be quite an advantage. I feel sure that its 

 simplicity and cheapness of construction 

 will commend themselves to the practical 

 apiarist. It can be very easily folded up 

 into a nice little bundle, so as to take as lit- 

 tle space as possible when the apiarist gathers 

 together his implements for a trip to one of 

 his out-apiaries.— As to the underwear, I 

 (Puniest) use an ordinary undershirt, half 

 wool and half cotton. You see I assume the 

 dignity of a white shirt, because I am among 

 the bees only a part of the time. If I were 

 among the bees the entire season I should 

 wear a colored cotton shirt over the under- 

 shirt. By the way, friend Miller, I have 

 been wondering if you have begun wearing 

 woolen shirts for summer work among the 

 bees; and, if so, how you liked them. 



A SHOBT LETTER FROM ITALY. 



ALSO SOMETHING FURTHER IN REGARD TO MR. 

 WM. M. HOGE. 



TF not mistaken, in June 1st Gleanings you ask- 

 j^ ed about Mr. Hoge, a California bee-keeper. 

 ^f Well, I made his acquaintance in 1884 in Lon- 

 -*■ don. I mail you the pamphlet he had distribut- 

 ed that year at the Health Exhibition, London, 

 to advertise his honey; but some one who went to 

 call for him in 188.5 wrote to me here at home that 

 his office was shut up, and that people had said that 

 he was broken up. That is the last news I had of 

 that gentleman. Inclosed please find also a cut 

 from the Standard of the same year, which speaks, 

 or, better, mentions, Mr. Hog-e. F. Malory. 



Luserna, San Giovanni, Italy, July 31, 1888. 



Many thanks, friend M., for your kind 

 words and kind letter ; also for the little 

 pamphlet you send us, published by Mr. 

 Iloge. I will explain to our readers, that this 

 pamphlet is a very attractive book of 25 

 pages, with illuminated cover, and contains 

 the pictures alluded to in our editorial (see p. 

 864), Hoge's California Hoarhound Apiary. 

 The pictures give a vast amount of infor- 

 mation, and the book also contains much on 

 bee culture, written in an exceedingly in- 

 teresting and attractive style. But the sad- 

 dest thing about it is, that poor friend Hoge 

 seems to think falsehood more effective in 

 building up a business than plain solid 

 truth. As an illustration, he has taken a 

 picture from our ABC book, representing 

 a California apiary. It is the one where 

 some boys are eating watermelons, on a long 

 semicircle of hives, with the bees for a fore- 

 ground. The real title of the picture in the 

 ABC book is " Cogswell's Apiary, Los 

 Angeles, California," edition of 1886. Now, 

 friend Iloge has taken this very picture — 

 perhaps copied by photo-engraving, and la- 

 beled it '' Hoarhound Apiary." The whole 

 book is an advertisement of his hoarhound 

 honey. The description intimates that he 

 has control or charge of 12,000 colonies of 

 bees, and that 120 hands are employed to 

 operate the hives. No wonder the poor fel- 

 low was shortly afterward broken up, as 

 friend Malory tells us. The finest talents 

 the 'world ever saw, with any amount of 

 capital to start with, could only end in ship- 

 wreck where falsehood is used for a founda- 

 tion stone. 



ARRANGEMENT OF HIVES UNDER 

 SHADE-TREES. 



carniolans and veils. 



T|p S there is a good deal being said just now, or 

 ^Ik has been recently, on the subject of bee- 

 ^r veils, and illustrations of sundry bee-yards 

 ■^^*- appearing in Gleanings; and as you are a 

 stickler for plain substantial things, and an 

 enemy of much fussing and machinery, I think my 

 style of bee-yard would please you, and especially 

 those who have to work out in the broiling sun 

 stooping over hives. 



Dr. Miller's idea of trees in the bee-yard is on the 

 right line for both comfort and convenience, if 

 properly systematized. Broad-topped, low-branch- 

 ing trees are best; and if the bee-keeper happens 

 to have such on his lawn or yard, he can utili?e 

 them at once. A broad-topped, low-branching 

 apple-tree is probably best. If a bee-yard were be- 

 ing laid out for the purpose of having trees for 

 shade, the trees should be planted fifty feet apart 

 in the row; and the rows, if more than one, fifty 

 feet from each other, the trees planted quincunx. 



TO LAY OUT the YARD. 



Suppose the tree's furthest point of branches is 

 ten feet from the trunk. Double a strong cord 

 round the trunk, which will reach as far as the 

 outer tip of the branches, and, with a sharpened 

 stick, describe a circle round the tree. Divide the 

 circle into five or six feet sections, or the distance 

 you wish your hives to stand apart. They may be 

 placed closer than when in long straight rows. 

 Place the front of the alighting-boards on this cir- 

 cle at the distance determined upon apart, facing 

 out. The morning and afternoon sun will strike 

 the hives, and in the heat of the day they will all be 

 in the shade, just when they need shade. The bee- 

 keeper can work all day in the shade, while the 

 bees fly outward, neither interfering with the 

 actions of the other. In the spring, before the 

 trees leave out, the hives will be in the sun the en- 

 tire day, as they ought to be. A tree of the above 

 size would accommodate 10 hives on 6-ft. spaces, or 

 12 on .5-feet spaces. 



bee-veils. 



Those who have occasion to use veils a great 

 deal should by all means have Carniolan queens. 

 These bees to handle are almost as safe as though 

 they were stingless. The bee-keeper can open the 

 hives, shake the bees on the ground if he likes, 

 blow them off the combs with his breath, and they 

 will stand it all good-naturedly, making no attempt 

 to fly or sting, and this without using smoke, veil, 

 or gloves, and when there is a dearth of honey too. 

 In honey gathering merits, the Carniolan is equal 

 to the Italian. They are a black, or dark race, but 

 readily distinguished from the German bee, being 

 of a dark steel gray, with white hairy rings, and 

 very transparent wings. The best remedy for the 

 veil nuisance is the bee that seldom or never re- 

 quires a veil. My bees are Italians, but they will 

 not be after this season. E. E. Ewing. 



Rising Sun, Md. 



Friend E.,your ideas in regard to shade 

 are good, and, so far as I know, original. 

 An orcliard answers very nicely when the 

 trees are very small ; but when tliey get large, 

 the bees are often deprived of the sun when 

 they need it. Your plan, however, of having 

 the trees 50 feet apart, I should think might 



