624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CHLTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



in the business. I was readj^ to take this oppor- 

 tunity when it was tendered ine. 



The principal honey-plants of the country 

 are the famous alfalfa, clover, and mesquite. 

 which correspond to the white clover and bass- 

 wood of the East. Perhaps I can give the b<'St 

 idea of the honey n^sources by describing the 

 honey-flow as it came last year. Early in Feb- 

 ruai'y. pollen began to come from the alder 

 which grows in the river bottom. Unlike an 

 Eastern climate, the days of February are gen- 

 erally uniformly pleasant, and warm enough 

 for bees to fly well, though the niglits are cold 

 and fi'osty. Thei'e is seldom a week of weather 

 during the entire year sev^ere enough to conflue 

 bees to tln'ir hives; but still there is often a 

 range of .50° between noon and midnight tem- 

 perature. Following the alder comes the " fil- 

 leree."" or alfllaria. a California plant which is 

 fast taking possession of this country. This 

 plant, like bvickwheat. yields honey only a few 

 hours in the morning, and it is a beautiful sight 

 to see the hills and mesas (tablelands) take on 

 a pink tinge for a few hours on those bright 

 warm mornings. In places the little pink flow- 

 ers cover hundreds of acres like a bright pink 

 carpet, while a delicate pink tinge can be no- 

 ticed clear to the top of the surrounding moun- 

 tain, though the flowers are not as abundant 

 on the hills as in the valley. As the flowers 

 Ijegin to close about 10 o'clock, the color fades; 

 and by noon all is green or gray again. 



Sometimes at this season of year there are 

 patches of bright yellow poppies nnd other wild 

 flowers, and of blue wild flox. upon the carpet 

 of green and pink: and the fruit bloom which 

 comes at this time of year gives still another 

 color, making the valley, when viewed from 

 the surrounding hills, a most beautiful sight, 

 and in striking'contrast with my first view of 

 it. The honey which comes at this time of 

 year is dark, and of little value as surplus: but 

 coining as it does where there is but a small 

 working force of honey-gatherers, and a large 

 quantity of brood to care for. it is used about as 

 fast as gathered. By the first of April, strong 

 colonies begin to show signs of swarming; and 

 bv the 15th of this month swarming is in full 

 blast. 



In February, mesquite and cafs-claw begin 

 to bloom, and then begins our white-honey har- 

 vest; and I think some of the honey which 

 came from these shrubs in the season of 1889 

 was by far the nicest honey I have ever tasted. 

 It was as clear as sugar syrup, very thick, and 

 of a delicate flavor. The mesquite shrub (pro- 

 nounced ines-kcet) has a very wide range as re- 

 gards its time of blooming, for I have seen bees 

 working on it constantly from April till August. 



Early in May the alfalfa begins to bloom; 

 but there it yields but little until the plant is 

 in full blooiu. and about ready to cut. I am 

 not pr<'parefl to gush upon the merits of this as 

 a honey-plant: for, from my experience, it is 

 not a great yielder. and the honey is almost 

 amber in color. The flavor is not as flue as I 

 had been led to expect, by reports from other 

 localities. 



Mr. Jordan's apiary was located within bee- 

 range of 1(X)0 aci'es of alfalfa. Perhai)S some 

 one may say that it was not hot enough: but 

 when the mercury gets up to 114° in the shade, 

 it's hot enough for me — plenty. I have no 

 dou'bt but that it will yield large quantities of 

 honey under favorable circumstances: but just 

 what are favorable conditions I don't think is 

 known yet. I am inclined to think that locali- 

 ty and circumstances have a great effect upon 

 the quality of honey secreted by this plant. 



In June" we get some honey from a shrub 

 called i>nIo verde (green pole), which grows on 

 the surrounding hills. AfU-r this thei'e is usu- 



ally but little honey gathered from any source 

 except the different crops of alfalfa: but last 

 season was an exception to the rule, for the 

 bounteous summer rains, which began about 

 July Isl. brought us a I'ank giowth of a pecu- 

 liar weed of the mint family, the namr of which 

 I have been unable to learn. This yielded 

 quite a quantity of honey, w liich in quality was 

 dark and strong, but it sei vcd to keep the bees 

 out of mischief. 



During the late summer and fall months the 

 bees gatheri'd a little honey from a plant simi- 

 lar to the MoilieO. Large honey-plant, which 

 grows in the sandy river-bottom. 



Though there was only about two weeks dur- 

 ing the entire season, from February until Oc- 

 tober, during which the bees were idle enough 

 to rob. yet our average yield was only 1()() lbs. 

 per colony, over two- thirds of which was ex- 

 tracted; so you can see that the honey came 

 very slowly. It came too slowly for the produc- 

 tion of a nice article of comb honey, a fact 

 which I learned bv dear experience. 



Brecksville. ().. Julv 18. L. W. Bkll. 



S"WARMING-LADDER. 



STRIMI'L S DKVICE. 



Swarms usually alight low. so that the ordi- 

 nary swarming implements previously described 

 will reach them from the ground. But there 

 are times when they will settle on pretty high 

 limbs. It is then that a ladder is called into 

 requisition. If it will not reach the swarm it 

 will at least land the climber among the upper 

 limbs, so that he can step from one liiub to the 

 other, and finally reach the bees. But it is dif- 

 ficult to stand an ordinary ladder against a limb 

 of a tree so that it will be secure for climbing, 

 on account of the unevenuHs;- of the limbs. A 

 Bohemian by the name of I!. Strimpl. of Schet- 

 schan, Bohemia, sent us a drawing of a ladder 





STHIMPL S SWARMIXO-LADDER. 



that can be lodged— that is. the upper part of 

 it — securely on some limb above. The ffdlow- 

 ing engraving illustrates its principle of appli- 

 cation. 



The two side arms, or forks, prevent the lad- 

 der from revolving; and it will be observed 



