132 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15. 



with No. 9 double-pointed tacks, 4 to each 

 frame, at opposite sides, half way down the 

 end-bar, and on the top-bar just inside the 

 shoulder or rebate. 



The top-bar is l^x^, flat, with saw-kerf for 

 foundation, resting on tin rabbet. End- bar is 

 1/^ x t 5 6> a °d the bottom-bar is ?4 x ,-4 • Spacing 

 is l T 5 g. Frames of this size are how used to 

 some extent in the county, and I have been 

 requested, before this, to give a description of 

 the same. 



For Dr. Miller's benefit I would say that I 

 have used the stapling device since 1892, with 

 good results, in the brood-chamber. 



In my travels through Oregon, Washington, 

 and Idaho last summer I handled a great many 

 Hoffman self-spacing frames, and I am con- 

 vinced now that the amount of propolis used 

 in my section of Southern California is not 

 sufficient to offset the advantages gained by 

 their use, if they are Root's or any other first- 

 class make, in pine. Some Washington deal- 

 ers use cedar, but it is too soft to stand the 

 wear. V edges dent in and split off. 



hill is that of Mr. D. K. Horton, of Boston, 

 on Palm Terrace. 



All new hives are painted a straw color, 

 with ocher and white lead. I use queen-ex- 

 cluders under drone comb; but Peter Lux, of 

 Encinitas, Cab, advanced an idea that I want 

 to try another season ; namely, to get the 

 combs built out wider by continual spacing 

 until the cells are too deep for the queen to 

 lay in. Has any one else tried this ? I aim to 

 keep down increase by making very liberal 

 use of full sheets of foundation in the brood- 

 chamber, using the brood in upper stories, in 

 lighter colonies, and making nuclei to care for 

 extra queens. Last year was a hard one ; but 

 Mr. Herbert Veall, who runs the apiary, writes 

 me that he hopes to pull through the 95 stands 

 that he reduced the apiary to in the summer. 

 Mr. Veall expects to carry out my plan of 

 moving to the mountains for a second crop, if 

 the season warrants it this year. 



Just a word in regard to comb-honey ship- 

 ping, from a dealer's standpoint. While in 

 Spokane I saw some Yakima comb honey 



My hives are in groups of five, with the 

 corner hives at an angle, and alley for cart at 

 alternate rows, with the hives facing out. 



The tree in the corner is a mountain mahog- 

 any, and the brush is a scrub pine. A lone 

 elder-tree stands out in the stubble-field back 

 of the honey-house. The dark spots on the 

 side-hills are cactus, chollas, and brush, with 

 beautiful homes in the distance. 



In the other photo I am introducing the first 

 Italian queen of a batch of 16. Her majesty 

 is under the wire cage on hatching brood. It 

 was in the fall of 1897, and I am making some 

 increase besides superseding undesirable 

 queens. One full and one empty mailing cage 

 and a wire cage show in front of the hive. A 

 Corneil smoker stands watch, and the brush 

 in the pail of water is made out of old rope. 

 The short putty-knife on top of the upper 

 story is my hobby for an indispensable tool. 



The residence and orange-grove over the 



come in, crated as per directions in Root's cat- 

 alog. In addition a cleat was nailed across 

 the ends of each cover, thereby preventing 

 splitting in opening up, and adding a certain 

 spring to each case while in transit. I think 

 supply- dealers ought to add this cleat, and 

 California comb-honey producers and shippers 

 should follow Root's directions, as their prod- 

 uct (that of the California honey-producers) 

 is losing ground up here on account of the 

 breaking-down. 



Wallace, Ida., Jan., 1899. 



[Every thing about this apiary betokens 

 neatness, and a general system calculated to 

 produce the largest results with the least la- 

 bor. The comb-cart and the extracting-house, 

 the upper story of which is used for extract- 

 ing and the lower part for storage, are evi- 

 dences of these. Where the building can be 

 on the edge of a side-hill, allowing the stor- 



