834 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15. 



called a good crop; but 2")00 pounds has been 

 grown on one acre without irrigation. 



The beans never, as a rule, have a drop of 

 rain fall on them from the time of planting to 

 harvesting. The moisture in the ground, and 

 the ocean fogs, furnish all the moisture; no 

 rains to hinder cultivation or stop harvesting; 

 but weeds grow all the same, rain or no rain, 

 and cultivation must be prompt and thorough. 



The beans are planted in drills about three 

 feet apart, and 10 to 12 inches apart in the 

 row, by a machine putting in three or four 

 rows at a time. Cullivation is done by hurse 

 power, and but little is done by hand; but if 

 weeds get into the rows, hand-hoeing is nec- 

 essary, for few weeds are allowed to grow to 

 take moisture from the main crop; and after 

 the beans are cut and cleaned off, a sheep 

 would almost starve on 100 acres, so clean are 

 the fields kept. 



Harvesting is done with a sled-like machine 

 having two knives extending in and .sloping 

 backward, one irom each runner. Each knile 

 cuts one row, and an arm of iron placed jiist 

 back of the knife throws the two rows togeth- 

 er. Men follow with forks, and bunch the 

 beans, where they remain until hauled to the 

 thrashing-floor or thrashing-machine. 



Thrashing is done in two ways — by a thrash- 

 ing-machine or by tramping out with horses 

 or " floors " prepared by smoothing off a piece 

 of clay ground, wetting it so as to make it 

 soft, then pounding until hard and smooth. 

 In this method a disk harrow is frequently 

 used to draw over the beans, one man fol- 

 lowing close behind the harrow and horses, 

 wHth a fork to loosen, and toss the vines to- 

 ward the center of the track around which the 

 horses move. When enough are tramped out, 

 the rubbish is cleaned out by a " cl aner " — a 

 kind of fanning-mill suited lo the business. 



All beans are handled in gunny sacks, which 

 go with the beans when sold; in fact, all kinds 

 of grain, potatoes, and every thing that can be 

 sacked, is put into these same sacks, which, 

 by the way, are the source from wiiich comts 

 most of the smoker fuel used by the Califor- 

 nia bee-keepers. 



Bean honey is white and of fine quality, 

 but not positive in flavor, like clover or 

 basswood. It never gets as thick as sage hon- 

 ey, and is prone to candy quickly. 



The honey crop from this source is rather 

 uncertain, as it seems to V)e very sensitive to 

 weather conditions ; too much sunshine dries 

 the blossom, and hence dries the honey; and 

 too much cloud and fog prevents the bees 

 working, even if there be honey. This year 

 the bloom was abundant, but the right condi- 

 tions of weather seemed to be lacking. Just 

 what those conditions are, it is hard to tell. 



The greatest benefit to be derived from this 

 source, it seems, is to make it a source of food 

 supply in years of failure in other honey- 

 plants; for, no matter how good a location one 

 might have for bean honey, its uncertainty 

 and shortness of flow would hardly justify 

 any one in running an apiary for that kind of 

 honey alone. The very source of prosperity 

 to the bean-plant (ocean fogs) seems to be hon- 

 ey-destroying to other plants. The fodder, or 



bean straw, from lima beans, makes excellent 

 feed for dairy stock; and horses, when accus- 

 tomed to it, do well on it. The straw is baled 

 and sold the same as hay. 

 Pasadena, Cal. 



[Friend Hatch, you have given us several 

 points of value to bean-growers here in the 

 East. First, beans are a dry-season crop. I 

 have noticed for years that drouth never seems 

 to hurt beans at all, but rather seems to do 

 them good when the soil, culiivaiiuu, etc., are 

 as they should be. Again, the old-fashioned 

 pole lima beans give more bushels lo the acre, 

 at least so I take it, than Burpee's bush lima. 

 But they are so nuich less trouble here in the 

 East 1 think we had better take the Burpees, 

 even if we do not get so many, especially 

 where we are growing i.liem by the acre. 



\'ery likely your great bean-farms have been 

 the means ol bringing about the present low 

 prices on all kinds of beans. We see Califor- 

 nia limas quoted at S cents per pound. That 

 would be less than §2.00 a bushel. I have oft- 

 en wondered why these California limas would 

 not be just as good to plant as seed beans that 

 cost from four to five dollars a bushel here in 

 the East. Has anybody tried it? And I won- 

 der, too, why beans would not succeed in any 

 desert land where it never rains at all. Your 

 suggestions in regard to the ocean fog perhaps 

 hit llie point at least partially. 



P'inally, if ii is a Utile discouraging to the 

 grower to have beans so cheap, it is a great 

 blessing to the hungry and starving people in 

 diff'erent pjrtioiis of this world of ours. I 

 have been told that a poiuul of beans will 

 keep up a man's strength longer than a pound 

 of any other grain or vegetable, or any sort of 

 meat. 1 hear just now they are talking about 

 getting beans lo Alaska, to save the starving 

 miners. We are very much obligecl to you for 

 what you tell us about bean honey. It seems 

 that the bee-keeper is not always absolutely 

 sure ot a crop anywhere on the lace of the 

 earth, even where there may be thousands of 

 acres of beans, alfalfa, or white clover right 

 in bloom. — .-V. I. R.] 



LARGE ENTRANCES TO HIVES. 



Especially Adapted to Wintering. 



BY THADDEUS SMITH. 



When I was a boy, some 55 years ago, my 

 father kept quite a number of bees. It was, 

 of course, before the invention of movable- 

 comb hives, and the bees were in the old-style 

 box hives. At that time the bee-moth was 

 very numerous, and it was supposed that the 

 moth-worm destroyed many colonies of bees ; 

 and hence inventors turned their attention to 

 making moth-proof hives and patent moth- 

 traps, which were offered to bee-keepers as 

 sure remedies against the ravages of the moth. 



My father was an experimenter in this line. 

 The worms were found in large numbers under 

 the edge of the hive where it rested upon the 

 bottom-board, where they had taken refuge 

 when dislodged from the comb. I was re- 



