1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



211 



Rambler springs a tough conundrum in 

 Review. Why is it that, when you're at work 

 near the apiary, only two or three bees will 

 persistently pester you when there might as 

 well be a thousand ? Idon'tknow. But when 

 he says, "If you knock all of them down it 

 will not take five minutes for their places to 

 be filled by another two or three," I demur. 

 We eat our dinner under a certain tree in the 

 Hastings apiary, and when we've batted the 

 two to six scolding bees, the rule is that we 

 can eat our dinners in peace. [With me it has 

 worked both ways. Sometimes after killing 

 off the two or three that seem to delight in 

 making one crosseyed, that has ended all fur- 

 ther annoyance. Then at other times it has 

 seemed as if every time I struck one, another 

 would take its place — if not at once, shortly 

 after. As a general rule I find it pays, how- 

 ever, to kill off these teasers; for when they 

 once get into this habit of following one about 

 the yard, those very same bees, if not killed, 

 will keep it up for days. I remember quite 

 distinctly one of these bees that had defective 

 wings. Its hum was quite characteristic; and 

 after two or three days of real annoyance I re- 

 member saying, " There comes back that little 

 rascal again. I will fix him." I did fix him, 

 and straightway that peculiar hum or whirr 

 stopped. You see it was more natural to say 

 I would " fix him " than to " fix it " or " fix 

 her."— Ed ] 



" The March winds roar around our door," 



The bees say, quite demure ; 

 " It shakes my frame," says one scared drone, 

 " Yet our foundation* s sure." 



»»/ 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



The first and second items on the second 

 column of page 168, previous issue, should 

 have been credited to the Amer. Bee Journal 

 and not to the Bee-keepers' Review. 

 \k> 



Mr. McNay says bee-keepers should demand 

 an advance on honey sent to commission men, 

 otherwise the honey will usually be put in the 

 back part of the warehouse, and will be the 

 last to be sold. 



it/ 



In speaking of the relative qualities of hon- 

 ey gathered by blacks and Italians, Mr. Ed- 

 ward Bevins, of Iowa, says he does not " ques- 

 tion the fact of the better taste of the product 

 of Italian bees. . . But that this superiority 

 is present at all times and under all circum- 

 stances may well be questioned." 

 »</ 



C. P. Dad -m t thinks it beneficial to let bees 

 fly out on warm days, to avoid constipation. 

 He does not favor excessive ventilation of 

 hives, such as results from having the bottom 

 of the hive removed; says it is like sleeping 

 in a room with the window open in the winter. 



Probably " locality " will cut quite a figure in 

 this matter. 



m 



In the issue for March 2 Mr. J. H. Martin 

 furnishes a full description, with illustrations, 

 of the California blue-gum and red-gum trees 

 of that State. The blue gum (eucalyptus) is 

 called the giant honey-producer. Mr. Martin 

 says he has not seen a larger tree in America 

 that secretes honey. Mr. M. has known the 

 blue gum to bloom continuously from Decem- 

 ber till May and June. The honey from it is 

 very dark, and aromatic in flavor. The tree 

 grows very fast. 



Mr. William Stolley, of Nebraska, gives a 

 remarkably interesting talk on sweet clover — - 

 how to raise it, use it, and control its growth. 

 Among many good points he makes I note the 

 following : "In Nebraska it will furnish most 

 excellent bee-pasture up to the time when 

 frost kills all vegetation, and sweet clover is 

 the very last to succumb. For early spring 

 pasturing of cattle, particularly milch cows, 

 there is nothing better than sweet clover." 

 " It runs out all noxious weeds, perfumes the 

 air, and feeds the bees." "A public road, 

 well and evenly seeded with melilot, but the 

 growth of it properly checked at the proper 

 time, is a thing of great beauty, and there is 

 nothing bad about it, but, instead, it furnishes 

 a bee-ranch hard to beat. " Mr. Stolley admits, 

 however, that it is objectionable on original 

 prairie-grass land which is to be utilized as 

 hay land. It would be a good thing if the 

 whole article could be printed in every agri- 

 cultural paper in the country. 



O. O. Poppleton speaks of the insect pests 

 of Cuba. It makes us doubt what the poet 

 said of these tropical countries — 



" every prospect pleases, 



And naught but man is vile." 



One of the ' ' vile ' ' things they have there 

 is the mosquito ; but these insects are not so 

 bad as in Florida, are easily scared away, and 

 can be kept away at night by the use of 

 screens. The flea is to be found in Cuba in 

 all his glory. Mr. P. says : ' ' The more we kept 

 away from any place where any kind of ani- 

 mal was kept, the less we were troubled with 

 them." Then comes the chigoe, a black flea, 

 so small as to be almost invisible. "These 

 fellows burrow just under the skin, usually at 

 the side of one of the toe-nails, and then pro- 

 ceed to grow into a bag full of eggs. I think 

 that the abdomen of the insect itself distends 

 as the eggs grow in size. The first that one 

 knows of their presence is a peculiar itching, 

 and an examination will show what looks like 

 a white fester under the skin. A novice will 

 open the supposed fester, squeeze out the eggs, 

 and, if wise, drop in some kerosene to kill the 

 insect and such eggs as will still remain. But 

 the right thing to do is to take a pin, and, by 

 being very careful, separate the entire egg- sac, 

 without breaking it, from the flesh." Scor- 

 pions are plentiful in Cuba. Empty hives are 

 a favorite place for them. Mr. P. says he has 

 been stung by them only once. He thinks 



