1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



93 



through a thicket, have their clothing thor- 

 oughly smeared and sticky from it ; and it 

 seems that bees work upon it with avidity 

 when they are located far enough up the can- 

 yons to find it. Mr. Mallow uses the L. hive 

 and system of management, and his honey- 

 yields range all the way from 80 to 200 lbs. 

 per colony of extracted honey. He sells all 

 of his honey in the home market, delivering 

 it to all towns and mining-camps within a 

 radius of 25 miles. He is in accord with Mr. 

 Doolittle about painting hives, and thinks his 

 bees winter better where they are unpainted. 

 The bees that gather honey in these apiaries 

 are of the black race, and Mr. M. thinks they 

 are good enough. 



N. J. MALLOW AND SON. 



Mr. M. has a fine ranch, and is thoroughly 

 anchored to it with a family of wife and eight 

 children. Huberisthe name of the youngest, 

 and I have not the least doubt that he will 

 follow in the footsteps of his worthy father. 

 I herewith present a picture of father and son. 



H. S. M., N. Y. — The best way to mate 

 candy for bees is to mix sugar and honey into 

 a stiff dough. Allow it to stand in a warm 

 room for a day or so, and then mix in more 

 sugar. These lumps of dough can be put on 

 top of the frames for winter. 



FROM EARLY SPRING TO THE HONEY-FLOW. 



Question. — As it will soon be time to get the 

 bees out of the cellar and commence active 

 operations looking toward the honey-harvest, 

 will you please tell us in your department in 

 Gleanings what should be done from early 

 spring to the first flow of nectar which gives a 

 surplus? This flow is usually from white clo- 

 ver in this section. 



Answer. — As our questioner leads us to in- 

 fer that he winters his bees in the cellar I will 

 speak of setting from the cellar first. I fol- 

 low a different plan in setting the bees out 

 from what most apiarists do; and after trying 

 all the plans for 3 ears which have been given 

 I like this much better than any other : 



Beginning with the first day in which bees 

 which are outdoors gather any pollen, I com- 

 mence at about 3 p. m. (if the mercury stands 

 as high as 55 to 60° in the shade) to set out 

 p irl of them, say from ten to fifteen colonies 

 as the case may be, scattering them about the 

 yard so that they will be as far apart as possi- 

 ble, and yet be within the limit of what space 

 I wish the yard to occupy. This is done so 

 that I need keep no track of where they for- 

 merly stood, and yet not have any mixing of 

 bees, as would be the case were all set out at 

 once or near together. Were all set out to- 

 gether, as most apiarists do this work, there 

 will be more or less of colonies mixing up, un- 

 less each colony is set on the same stand they 

 occupied the fall previous. To so set the-m 

 requires a great deal of extra work, number- 

 ing hives, stands, etc., which is quite an incon- 

 venience, and even then does not prevent some 

 colonies getting far more than their share of 

 bees. 



To set out, I place my spring wheelbarrow 

 and lighted smoker near the door of the bee- 

 cellar, when I carefully open the door, quickly 

 step in, and take the hive nearest the eloor, 

 placing it on the wheelbarrow, when the eloor 

 is immeeliately shut again. The bees in the 

 hive now begin to realize that their long win- 

 ter nap is at an end, and, if I took no precau- 

 tions, the) 7 would be out of the hive and in the 

 air, losing their home and stinging fearfully. 

 To avoid this I now blow four or five puffs of 

 smoke in at the entrance to keep them quiet, 

 when the entrance is closed by laying a square 

 stick in front of it, when the hive is wheeled 

 and placed on the stand it is to occupy. The 

 stick is now taken from the entrance, and the 

 bees allowed to fly. This they will do as lei- 

 surely as they would had they not been disturb- 

 ed at all, while, had not the smoke been given, 

 they would have all piled out of the hive with 

 a rush. This going out slowly is a great advan- 

 tage to them in marking their location and 

 repelling robbers. The next pleasant day 

 more are set out in the same way, and at about 

 the same time, scattering them about as before, 



