1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



277 



ing a queen. This ninth-day work comes after 

 the honey-flow has begun — a busy time — and 

 the labor increased, because of much honey in 

 thn ccmbs. I propose to cut olT that trouble by 

 putting the queen excluding honey-board bo- 

 twenn the brood-sections ten days beforp the 

 flow, and the eighth, ninth, or tenth day take 

 away the chamber that has the queen and operi 

 brood, leaving the one with sealed brood and 

 working force on the old stand with the sections 

 on. Three or four days later I can give the old 

 colony a ripe cell or virgin queen. You see I 

 left them with only sealed brood, when I took 

 the queen, so they could not build cells, nor can 

 they till the young queen gets to laying, and 

 by that time the brood is hatched, and they 

 are just like a colony that has swarmed and 

 reared a young queen of their own 



How long and how extensively have I used 

 the "fixin's" here described? Of the princi- 

 ples, I have used nearly all of them— some quite 

 largely. The complete hive, just as illustrat- 

 ed, has not been used. I have supported sec- 

 tions in this manner, used shallow frames in 

 divisible hives, as shallow as i'-^-inch frames; 

 have tried both forms of compression— in fact, 

 almost the entire thing. I know it will work. 



Loveland, Colo. 



[There is quite an advantage in having 

 brood-chamber and super of the same depth; 

 but there is the disadvantage that one brood- 

 chamber is too shallow for many localities, and 

 two (one on top of the other)— well, many don't 

 like them for the reason that, for some opera- 

 ations, there are too many frames to handle for 

 one brood-nest. 



Mr. Aikin's method of supporting sections by 

 means of the separators is a little like the plan 

 advocated by Oliver Foster some ten years ago. 

 The sections were supported by cleated sepa- 

 rators, and the super sides were made to com- 

 press against the sections and separators by a 

 locking-device at the corners; but I think he 

 used the arrangement only a short time. 



I should say the old clamping-device, as 

 shown in Fig. 4, would be very much better 

 than the new one shown in Fig. 3. The screw 

 and tins in Fig. 3 appear to me to be too 

 "flimsy."' Moreover, they would always re- 

 quire the use of a screwdriver. The thumb- 

 nuts in Fig. 4 could be worked by the fingers, 

 and. when clamped, would be much more sub- 

 stantial. I believe Mr. Aikin would make a 

 mistake to discard the thumb-nut and bolt 

 arrangement that he has tried, for something 

 he has not tried that has the appearance of 

 being "flimsy." — Ed.] 



THE EUCALYPTUS AS A HONEY-PLANT. 



ITS VALUE TO BEE-KEEPERS AND ADAPTABFL- 

 ITY TO CALIFORNIA SOIL; THE CHAR- 

 ACTER OF THE HONEY. 



By W. A. Pryal. 



A quarter of a century ago the eucalyptus 

 was a rare tree in California; but to-day it is 

 one of the most common of the numerous for- 

 eign trees to be found here. Perhaps it might 

 be safe to say that it outranks either the olive. 



the grape, the lemon, or the orange; and we all 

 know that these are extensively grown here, 

 and have attained a world-wide fame by their 

 productiveness in their adopted home. 



Of the several hundred varieties of this genus 

 of trees to be found in Australia, Tasmania, 

 and sparingly in the Malay Archipelago, but 

 comparatively few have been introduced into 

 California. Of these the Tasman'an blue gum 

 (Eucalyptus globuUis) is by far the most com- 

 mon. The accompanying illustrations are of 

 this tree 



The engraving of the flowers of a gum-tree, 

 shown on page 155 of the current volume of 

 Gleanings, and therein described in the ac- 

 companying letter-presrs by Mr. J. H. Martin, 

 is a variety that is rare in California, especially 

 in the central portion, where the great majority 

 of the gum-trees are grown, because of the 

 more moist condition of the soil there. There 

 are several varieties that are quite ornamental, 

 among them being that described by the above- 

 named writer. As briefly stated in previous 

 issues of Gleanings, this genus of trees is in- 

 teresting to bee-keepers on account of its being 

 a prolific yielder of nectar. 



A FEW observations IN RELATION TO THE 

 TREE IN GENERAL. 



The trees (I am going to confine myself al- 

 most entirely to the red and the blue gum in 

 this article, and when I speak of the tree it 

 will be understood that it is of these two vari- 

 eties, unless otherwise stated) grow to a great 

 height. Some have been found in their native 

 country almost as tall as some of the celebrat- 

 ed big trees of California. Some of the trunks 

 of these tall trees have a diameter of from 8 to 

 16 feet. The wood of a well-matured gum-tree 

 is very durable, and may be used for a variety 

 of purposes. It is necessary to work it up as 

 soon as possible, as it soon becomes very hard. 

 When green, it is as easy to work as willow. 



There as several peculiar things about the 



