546 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jl'LY 1. 



At this point Cranky intiMTupted, saying, 

 with eagerness, " But. if you please, it's differ- 

 ent with four than with three. Can't you get 

 four closer together by putting them in a 

 square, that is, four together? You see, it gives 

 only one space between, instead of two, as you 

 have it." 



" Yes, but the one space Is bigger than th(^ 

 other two put together, smarty." said the pert 

 miss, and she fanned Cranky with-her left wing 

 in a rather tantalizing manner. 



"Thai's easily said," said Experience; "but 

 how do you know it is so? Can you prove it?" 



"No, but it looks so," said the pert raiss, 

 somewhat crestfallen. 



"Looks are often very deceiving," was the 

 reply. " Let us see if we can't determine which 

 four take up the most I'oom. You see that the 

 two measure just the same from right to left, 

 for what the first ones gain at one end by being 

 slanting, they lose at the other. Measuring the 

 other way, you will see plainly that they mea- 

 sure the least; so. placing them square doesn't 

 gain any thing, but loses." 



"Of course," said the pert miss, looking very 

 much reassured. 



"I think, then," continued her elder sister, 

 " that we may consider it settled that there is 

 no better way, and we may continue indefinite- 

 ly adding to the number, only taking care that, 

 as each one is added, it shall touch two adja- 

 cent balls. The next question is, How shall this 

 space between the balls, or the cells, if you 

 please, be filled up?" 



"Oh! just fill it all up with wax, and leave 

 the cells round. That will be so sweet," said 

 the same giddy miss that wanted five-sided 

 cells. 



" Yes, it would be wondrously sweet to make 

 all that extra wax," said another. 



"Well, then," said the giddy miss, "just 

 make the cells round, and leave the spaces fill- 

 ed with air." 



"That," said another, "would still take more 

 wax than a single wall; and, besides, think 

 what a comfortable hiding-place that space 

 would be for youug worms." 



" Y'ou are leaving out of account something 

 still more important." said Experience. " A 

 perfectly round cell, entirely filled up with the 

 baby-bee, would have no place left for air to 

 get in for it to breathe, unless it should be 

 trained to breathe like a human baby, through 

 its mouth, and you know that all well-regulat- 

 ed baby-bees have their breathing-places on 

 their sides. To get at what will take the least 

 wax. just start at the middle point of the space, 

 and build a straight wall to the three points 

 where the balls touch. In other words, make a 

 line tangent to the two balls at their point of 

 contact." 



" Why, that brings us right back to the hate- 

 ful old six-sided cells," said the giddy miss. 



"Exactly so," said Experience. "We now 

 have remaining the problem how best to make 

 the septum. Just fasten together in a flat slab 

 eight or ten balls, and then a second slab of 

 them in the same way. Now place one slab on 

 the other, so they will sit, each ball exactly on 

 the other. You see that you could not make 

 the two take up any more room unless you 

 raise the upper slab so it doesn't touch the low- 

 er slab at all. Now push the upper slab along 

 a little, and you see it slides down of its own 

 accord till each of the upper balls rests exactly 

 over the center of the space below. It is evi- 

 dent that theie can be no way in which it can 

 be placed to sink any lower, or, in other words, 

 to take up less room. We are confronted again 

 with much the same condition as we had be- 

 fore, a condition in which it will take a great 

 deal of wax to fill in between; and it is clear 



that there is no better way to meet the dillicul- 

 ty than to do much as we did before, and make 

 a little wall tangent to the two balls at each 

 point where the two come in contact. You see 

 that makes three such walls at the bottom of 

 each cell, for each ball touches three of the 

 balls in the other slab." 



" Just then the queen came around and said, 

 " What are you about there any way ? Do you 

 want me to cover the bottom-board with e^gs 

 while you're fooling there ?" 



" That's so; we ai'e fooling, and that's a 

 fact," said one of the workers who had been 

 listening to the explanations very attentively. 

 " Come on. and let's make up for lost time. Say, 

 girls, this is a better hive than the old one. Do 

 you see the end-bars fit close together, and you 

 remember how the cold air came in between 

 the end-bars last winter? What's that old fool 

 dreaming about, sitting out there by the hives 

 anyhow?" C. C. Miller. 



Marengo. 111., June. 1891. 



A VISIT TO L. E. MERCER. 



CALIFOUNIA YIELDS. 



A short time since, after a ride of 37 miles. I 

 found myself at Castac, this State, where the 

 Santa Clara River begins flowing on through 

 the famous valley of like name, in Ventura 

 County, to the ocean. On alighting from the 

 train I found Mr. L. E. Mercer, of Ventura, 

 awaiting me. 



A drive of four miles up Castac Valley, then 

 half a mile up one of the numerous picturesque 

 canyons, brought us to Mr. Mercer's mountain 

 home and location of his home apiary, the 

 foundation of which at one time composed the 

 greater portion of Mr. Wilkins" famous Sespe 

 apiary, which Mr. Mercei' bought, moving it to 

 its present location. As a matter of interest to 

 your readers, I will give a few details of Cali- 

 fornia bee-keeping, with Mr. Mercer as the sub- 

 ject. 



Mr. L. E. Mercer's bee-keeping experience 

 began in 1871. at Oriop. 111. He came here in 

 1883. locating at Ventura. The whole family, 

 composed of Mr. and Mrs. Mercer, and four en- 

 ergetic sons, are all practical bee-keepers (the 

 new daughter-in-law being the only exception), 

 as the following record of the past seven years 

 is conclusive. 



Product of 1884 40,000 lbs. 



" 188.5 A failure 



" " 188(5 24,000 " 



" " 1887 A failure 



" 1888 .30,000 " 



" 1889 42,000 " 



" 1890 (58,000 " 



The greater portion ^vas extracted honey. 

 Last year's report includes 14,000 lbs. of comb 

 honey. He has received an average price of .*> 

 cents for extracted. He prefers the L. frame 

 for extracting; for comb honey, a 16Kx(5i^ 

 frame, suitable for the T super. He has teste(3 

 the Hoft'man and many others, but considers 

 the ordinary hanging frame, for this section, 

 preferable to any other. His honey-house for 

 extracting is a model of ingenuity, and is so 

 arranged that the cases containing the combs 

 are run in on rollers to the uncapping-can, ad- 

 joining which is a large six-frame reversible 

 extractor, to the left of which is anothei' set of 

 rollers which carry the combs out again as fast 

 as they are taken from the extractor. The 

 honey from the latter runs into a three-inch 

 pipe, about 2(X) feet long, emptying into a 

 twelve-ton receiving-tank; besides which he 

 has several of the following capacity: Two of 

 7 tons each; three of 3 tons each; one of 2 tons. 



