1888 



GLEANINGS IN liEE OULTUKE. 



845 



we hope and trust it Imppened all the same. 

 The selection of new partners which you de- 

 scribe, I suppose was letting go of one per- 

 son because he caught sight of another 

 whom he had wronged, and made haste to 

 beg his pardon and forgiveness likewise. 

 If a)l this was done up in 15 or 20 minutes, 

 so that no spite, prejudice, or unregenerated 

 heart was left in the background, then in- 

 deed it was a pretty good neighborhood in 

 the commencement. If you feel like shak- 

 ing hands with everybody, I suppose you, 

 too, have forgiven and have forgotten 

 every wrong that any one has perpetrated 

 against you. — We are very glad indeed that 

 you too "have found out about smartweed 

 honey. I suppose, however, it is hearts- 

 ease honey, to be accurate. The glimpse of 

 your home and all the family, given us by 

 our artist, is quite interesting. How I 

 should like to be one of the crowd comprised 

 of " Harry, Gyp, and I" I 



MRS. HILTON TELLS US OF HER TRIP 

 AMONG THE BEE-KEEPERS 



A VISIT AM()N(i THE ORANGES. 



jr^EAR MR. ROOT:— Here I am, over 200 miles 

 xl c|l from home, sweet home, in the land of 

 ^^J oranges, mockingrbirds, and irrigating-ditch- 

 "*^ es. The tirst are green yet; the second are 

 singing everywhere, and the third are fast- 

 flowing streams, about 6 feet wide and 4 deep, 

 with fresh-looking weeds and beautiful trees 

 on each side a good bit of the way. Of course, 

 this is the poorest time of the year to judge the 

 country by; but I can imagine how lovely it all looks 

 after the rains have freshened it all up; for to my 

 mind it is lovely now. The Valley (the Santa Ana), 

 is laid out in squares, and many of the roads are 

 lined with pine-trees. Imagine a drive of 6 miles, 

 shaded with the graceful pepper, stately gum, Eng- 

 lish waliiut, and Monterey cypress, the prettiest 

 cypress in tlic world. 



In our drive here we passed through Ventura Co. 

 At the Conoja Ranch we were treated to some lovely 

 water-white loney. It was gathered by bees at the 

 apiary of tlic Russell Bros., run by R. Holman. 

 They have 100 stands now. and got 7 tons of Imney 

 this year— pretty good for a dry year. .lust before 

 we got to the ranch we crossed the Guadalaska 

 Mountains, and there was a hive roosting on the 

 steep mountain-side. The bees seemed to be busy. 

 After passing across the San Fernando Valley we 

 came to a pass in the mountains called the Cahuen- 

 ga Pass; and there at the highest part of the pass 

 was an apiary. We had not time to hunt up the 

 owner and ask questions, so we can not give any in- 

 formation. At Cataliasas Station, in Ventui-a Co., 

 the bees were roaring in the live-oak trees. 



Since we have been here we went on a hunt for 

 honey in the Santa Argo Canon, but we did not get 

 any. The bee-man had sold out and was gone, and 

 the other apiary was fi miles further on— too far for 

 us to go that day. We heard ol' a man near C)live 

 Heights who had Vioney, so we called on him yester- 

 day. He was living in the fruit-bolt, and could not 

 keep bees, but he amused himself occasionally by 

 taking a trip into the inountains beyond his house. 

 He had found a cave lately, from which he got hon- 

 ey enough to fill three "i-gallon cans full of nice 



amber honey. He did not disturb the bees any 

 more than he could help, and he left them about 20 

 lbs. He thought he might want to visit them again. 



Monday, my brother-in-law was out among the 

 fig-trees, and a lai'ge swarm passed slowly over his 

 head. We would have tried to stop them if he had 

 been going to stay here. I may write again if I 

 learn any thing more about bees during our trip 

 home. We shall start in a few days. 



Orange, Cal., Oct. 13, 1888. Mks. J. Hilton. 



You say the oranges are green, my good 

 friend. Then perhaps by the time I get there 

 they will be ripe. Won't it be grand to see 

 rii»e oranges growing on the trees? I shall 

 be somewliat interested in the mocking- 

 birds, but not near as much as in those 

 irrigating-ditches. I have been fearing that, 

 by the time I get there, the irrigating time 

 will be over. Well, if it is, then I shall be 

 on hand when the first rains commence, and 

 that will be glorious, I am sure. I wonder 

 if the people of California rejoice when a 

 good shower comes, as we do after we have 

 liad a dry spell. If you went to Ventura 

 County, 1 wonder why you didn't call on 

 friend Wilkin. And 1 suppose, too, I shall 

 have the pleasure of not only seeing but 

 d mbing to the summit of a real "live"' 

 mountain. I wonder if the Californians will 

 sinile at my simplicity as the Xew Yorkers 

 did when I visited their city. You did not 

 tell us whether those fig-trees really bore figs. 

 By all means, tell us more of your "trip. 



ARE QUEENS IN JURED BY SHIPPING 



OUII KUIRNI) Cn.AS. DADANT RECONSIDERS THE 

 SUBJECT. 



TN compliance with your request, page T-TO, ask- 

 j^f ing the bee-keepers who have purchased 

 ^t queens largely, to give the results of their ex- 

 ■*• perience on the above subject, I will say that, 

 dui'ing several seasons, we have received, 

 from Italy, twenty-six queens every week, from 

 the first of June to the first of September, intro- 

 duced most of them in our hives, to be shipped as 

 ordered; and that, although most of them were tak- 

 en from full colonies in the height of the breeding 

 season, we do not remember of having had com- 

 plaints from our customers as to the prolihcness of 

 their queens. Our shipper, Fiorini, to whom we 

 used to pay good prices, was very careful to send 

 only young and prolific queens. 



(^)ueens lay more or less, according to the quanti- 

 ty of food offered them by the bees. When the 

 weather turns suddenly cold, the bees cease to 

 nurse them, and they cease laying as soon as their 

 matured eggs have dropped. The eggs, which are 

 but partly developed in the ovaries, remain till 

 they have an opportunity to grow and to slip into 

 the oviduct. As such sudden stops are of frequent 

 occurrence during the life of a (jueen, they have 

 no influence on her subsequent proliflcness. 



As to queens losing most of their proliflctiess 

 when sent by mail, I may say that one of our 

 neighbors having brought, near our home apiary, 

 about forty colonies of black bees, in box hives full 

 of drones, nearly all of our young queens were 

 impurely impregnated. To mend such a state of 

 aftaiis we ordered, from our friend Viallon, flfty 

 queens to replace our mismated ones. Every one 



