594 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



bees were scarcely making a living, while the 

 first crop of hay was being cut earlier than 

 usual on account of two obnoxious weeds that 

 were becoming a great pest, requiring the cut- 

 ting of the alfalfa earlier to prevent the weeds 

 going to seed. 



I found that perhaps the most progressive 

 bee-keeper in the vicinity of Reno was a wo- 

 man, Mrs. vSherman. I spent two or three 

 pleasant hours in her home hearing her tell 

 her experience, which was usually one of 

 trial, and dearly bought. I visited her shop, 

 where she and her daughters make the neces- 

 sary preparations, even to making their own 

 foundation. She is so careful in the grading 

 and packing of her honey that she has always 

 been able to sell it at a good price, thus reap- 

 ing the reward of her unremitting toil and 

 careful management. I found two others of 

 the principal bee-keepers — Mr. Ball and Mr. 

 McCart — away frotn home. I hired a bicycle 

 and went out into the countrv a few miles, 

 and had a short visit with Mr. Cooper and Mr. 

 A. C. Hash. 



In this section they have rain during only 

 two or three months in winter, and they de- 

 pend upon irrigation for most of the beautiful 

 vegetation and field crops of the valley, 

 through which flows the Truckee River down 

 to the arid plains, where what is left of it 

 sinks out of sight. 



As I pass over these immense plains of bar- 

 ren waste, yielding nothing for mankind, and 

 note what may be accomplished by the water 

 stored up and distributed in sufficient quanti- 

 ties at the proper time, making the desert 

 blos.som as the rose, and produce all manner 

 of fruits and vegetation for the blessim^ of 

 man, and rememb-r that, for most of "this 

 country, water falls during the year in suf- 

 ficient quantities, if stored up and utilized at 

 the right time, to make all this region pro- 

 ductive, I think of Jesus' words to the wo- 

 man at the well: "He that drinketh of the 

 water that I shall give him shall never thirst, 

 but they shall be hi him a well of living water, 

 springing up unto everlasting life." The 

 fountains of God's grace are sufficient to bring 

 joy and peace in abundance to all mankind. 

 They only await the co-operation of man and 

 the intelligent application of his truth to our 

 lives— not in an avalanche once a vear during 

 the winter revival season, but the daily 

 streams with gentle flow and subtle power, 

 divided and subdivided till it reaches every act 

 in the daily life of every living creature. If 

 in the distribution of water through the irri- 

 gation-ditches any portion is omitted, the 

 vegetation there soon withers and dies. So 

 with any life that is not constantly supplied 

 from the fountain of God's grace. 



IMPROVEMENT IN DRONE AND QUEEN TRAPS. 



BY ADRIAN GETAZ. 



In using queen-traps I have often found 

 them too slow in their work. What I mean 

 by this is that, before entering the cones, the 

 drones remain too long below, trying every 



hole in the zinc before they go up. The same 

 mconvenience is found with the queen at 

 swarming-time. During the excitement the 

 queen will run to and fro over the zinc, fail 

 to find the cones before the swann is all out 

 and finally go back into the brood-nest 



In trying to improve the trap I find that 

 the best way is to use a piece of wire netting 

 instead of a tin slide to cover the trap. The 

 light attracts the drones and queens, and to a 

 great extent the workers also, and they go up 

 at once. In such a construction it is necessa- 

 ry to have the front of the upper compartment 

 made with bee-zinc so as to permit the work- 

 ers to go out. The accompanying figure 

 shows the details. 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



[Your improvement on the Alley trap, I 

 feel sure, is a good one. Quite by accident 

 the artist has suggested in his drawing anoth- 



