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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



precautions to be taken and some things to be 

 done for our little pets ere they enter upon the 

 season of rain, frosts, and enforced idleness. 



The tirst thing to be done is, to see that each 

 colony has an abundance of honey. Twenty 

 pounds is plenty, not only for wintering but for 

 springing; and where the supers are taken off, 

 some pounds less than that amount will be suf- 

 ficient. 



The next requisite is, to see that the hive is a 

 snug one; that is. that there are no chinks by 

 which cold air can enter and warm air leave 

 the hive, especially near the top: then reduce 

 the entrance so that only one or two bees can go 

 in at a time, and all the precautions necessary 

 for safe wintering have been taken. Very sim- 

 ple; yet, for lack of them, thousands of colonies 

 are lost every winter. 



Most apiaries run for extracted honey are left 

 with the supers on during the winter. My ex- 

 perience is, that it is much better to take them 

 off, as the stocks build up faster in the spring, 

 and swarm earlier. I leave the extracting- 

 combs in the supers, spreading them so that no 

 two touch, piling the supers three or four high, 

 placing a tight cover over them to keep out the 

 rain, and then I pile on rocks to hold the whole 

 fast against the winds. There is no trouble 

 from moths until April, at which time I replace 

 the supers on the hive. Mice, however, will 

 ruin the combs if they can get at them. 



My estimate of twenty pounds of honey, or 

 even less, for wintering, may seem too small a 

 quantity to those who have read in the text- 

 books that thirty pounds is about the right 

 amount. But remember that the instructions 

 given in the books are for northern climates, 

 where for six or seven months the bees will have 

 no other food than that thirty pounds. But 

 here in California our bees can gather honey 

 every month in the year, if the weather is fa- 

 vorable. In localities where nianzanita is plen- 

 tiful I have seen enough gathered from that 

 source in January to make (juite a showing in 

 the hive; and thetillaree (spelled incorrectly, but 

 I believe in Anglicizing all foreign words) in g^ll 

 parts of California, excepting the deserts and 

 snow-clad mountain -tops, furnishes considera- 

 ble honey by Feb. ISth; and when near the sea, 

 or in other warm localities, some two weeks 

 earlier than this. 



With me, November and December are the 

 only months in which the bees gather practic- 

 ally nothing; but it may be different with apia- 

 ries located but a few miles away: for in this 

 mountainous country the climate, and. conse- 

 quently, the vegetation, differ with the alti- 

 tudes. Nearness to the ocean has also its ef- 

 fects on the climate. At the town of San Bu- 

 enaventura, which overlooks the Pacific, win- 

 ters in which any frost is noticeahlo are the 

 exception, and the busy little bee leathers hon- 

 ey all winter long from the strawberi'y-plants 

 blossoming in the Chinamen s truck-gardens. 

 Again, at Cowhanger Pass (a corruption of the 

 Spanish word "Cahuenga," pronounced luih- 

 wain-(jah). which is high up in the mountains, 

 but located in what scientists call the Thermal 

 Belt, there is never frost, and tomato- vines grow 

 with the luxuriance of Jack's beanstalk— an 

 historical plant well known to tht; youths of 

 our land. I have read of vines of this kind (to- 

 matoes, not beans) which had attained to the 

 length of 80 feet; but then, one must not believe 

 everything he reads about California. It is a 

 great country, no doubt, and excels in many 

 things, the least of which are not its liars. But 

 I am wandering. From winter honey-plants to 

 tomato-vines and prevaricators is quite a jump. 

 From a lowly bee- hive to the top of a eucalyp- 

 tus or Australian gum tree is also a good jump, 

 but one which the little bees take, and in mid- 



Winter too, for I have heard them humming 

 very numerously among its blossoms on Christ- 

 mas day. 



The pepper- tree is worked upon in winter as 

 well as in summer. In fact, they are liable to 

 burst forth into bloom almost any time, in which 

 peculiarity they ai'e the counterpart of the gua- 

 temote (a shrub growing in damp ground), on 

 whose blossoms I see my bees are at work to- 

 day, and on which they will continue to work 

 every favorable day until spring, with blossoms 

 more to the bees' liking, causes the guatemote 

 to be neglected. I have just made a little cir- 

 cuit of about 200 feet around my house, and in 

 that little space on the fith day of November I 

 find my bees working on six different kinds of 

 flowers. I doubt, though, whether they are get- 

 ting enough from them to live on. as they are 

 very keen at robbing, only yesterday " cleaning 

 out" a weak stock. 



SPELLING OF SPANISH AVORDS. 



Now in defense of my incorrect spelling of 

 Spanish words. Most of the names of places 

 here are in that language, and, besides which, 

 the Americans have adopted a great many oth- 

 er words, such as vaquero (pronounced vah-kay- 

 ro, meaning a herder), and cheniesatl (a bush), 

 and which they pronounce most abominably. 

 For instance, vaiiuero. the Americans pronounce 

 biick-kai-ro. and rhcmcscdl they caU Jim my -sal. 

 Cowhanger, the place mentioned as wheie there 

 is no frost, is spelled Cahuenga, as already ob- 

 served. Now. 1 mainUiin that, if we are not 

 able to give to these words the Spanish twang, 

 we should spell them according to our pronun- 

 ciation, just as John Bull has transformed the 

 celebrated London driveway from "■ Route en 

 Roi " (King's Road) into Rotten Row. 



VViM. G. Hewes. 



Newhall, Los Angeles Co.,Cal., Nov. .5, 1892. 



[Yes, yes. by all means Anglicize those hard 

 Spanish names. 



Later. — After reading the above we were in- 

 clined to indorse Mr. Hewes' suggestions, and 

 did so in the footnote as above ; but our proof- 

 reader, who understands Spanish, takes issue 

 with us both, in some respects, in this pleasant 

 and facetious manner. His points are so well 

 taken, after all, that we shall have to conclude 

 it were better to leave the names as they are, 

 for the most part.] 



The suggestions of Mr. Hewes in regard to 

 •' Anglicizing " Spanish names in California are 

 very ill advised. If th(> people there see fit to 

 change the word Conejo (meaning rabbit or 

 jack-rabbit) to Jacksburrow, and have it so 

 spelled in the Postal Guide, as the junior editor 

 means above, no objection can be raised; but 

 to ask the postal authorities to deliver a letter 

 directed to Cowhanger when Cahuenga (Kah- 

 wain-gah) is the official name, is unreasonable. 

 If it is necessary to change foreign words, why 

 have we not found it out in using Indian names 

 for nearly half the States in the Union, besides 

 cities, lakes, rivers, etc.. by the thousand? How 

 would it do if the people of Michigan were to 

 concludi' that they can not say Kalamazoo, for 

 instance, and twist the word to Kalamityhowl- 

 er? or Dowagiac to Doodenwhack? or Chicago 

 (meaning a polecat in Indian) to Shecowgo, in 

 hon(ir (if the historic cow whose potent kick laid 

 that city in ashes? Mr. Hewes speaks of the 

 Spanish'hinguage as having a " twang." That 

 is a mistake. It has no twang. For beauty of 

 sound, it probably has no rival in the world, ex- 

 cept Italian. It has no sound that we do not 

 have in English, and it is spelled in a purely 

 phonetic manner — Fiiadeltia, for instance. It 

 has but five vowels— a. c. i. o. u. pronounced as 

 if they represented the English letters f(/i. a, e. 



