226 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 15. 



My wheel fairly groaned under my kicks 

 that afternoon, and I brought up in good order 

 at Gold Hill, ahead of the train, and, wishing 

 to make a big leap out of that country. I 

 boarded the train for Roseburg, over 100 miles 

 distant. 



I was let loose in this town about midnight, 

 and thought it would be the proper caper to 

 stop over Sunday. I was fortunate again to 

 stumble into a nice temperance hotel. It was 

 not run on the alarm-clock plan, for there was 

 a young man in the office ready to receive me. 

 In the morning I learned that the proprietor 

 had recently moved from a ranch to the hotel, 

 and had kept bees in a humble way ; but his 

 knowledge of the industry embraced only two 

 things — the hatred of stings and the love of 

 hone} - . His helpmeet seemed to be better 

 posted on the habits of the bee, but her knowl- 

 edge in that line was not especially brilliant. 



That Sunday morning we had hot cakes and 

 honey. The latter was a mashed up mess, 

 and looked as though comb honey dark with 

 travel-stain had been run through a sausage- 

 machine. I asked the lady if that was some 

 of their own product. 



" Oh, no ! " said she; " that was brought in 

 the other day from the town of Looking Glass, 

 by Mr. Stricklan, one of our leading bee- 

 keepers." 



The lady gave me the names of several bee- 

 keepers, but they were nearly all living out in 

 other towns, some ten miles or more away. 

 This would have been only a nice little turn 

 on the wheel on Monday' morning ; but as 

 luck would have it the rain commenced to 

 fall early Sunday, and kept it up more or less 

 all day. The roads were soon in good navi- 







gable shape for rubber boots; but, alas ! it was 

 good-by wheeling. 



This storm disturbance disarranged my 

 plans for side trips. It was my solemn inten- 

 tion, after viewing the Looking Glass country, 

 and visiting Mr. Stricklan and his honey- 

 pulverizer, to wheel down toward Coos Bay, 

 in Coos County. Empire City, in this county, 

 is a shipping-point for a considerable area of 

 back country, and is recommended as a desir- 

 able country in which to locate apiaries. The 

 county contains 1000 square miles, and about 

 half of the area is still in timber; but that por- 

 tion opened up to cultivation is of marvelous 



richness. It is a fine fruit and dairy country, 

 and white clover grows here in profusion. 

 The agricultural resources of the county not 

 being fully developed, the bee-keepiug busi- 

 ness is in the same condition, and bees are 

 kept in a small way, and as a side issue. Any 

 person making a business of honey-production, 

 and near enough to the coast to secure low 

 transportation rates by water, would no doubt 

 reap an abundant reward. 



I find in all of this northern country an 

 entirely different order of things from what it 

 has been in Southern California. In the lat- 

 ter place honey-production is a profitable 

 business in the absence of settlement and cul- 

 tivation ; in fact, the wilder the country the 

 better the pasturage. In Oregon, settlement 

 and cultivation have to precede honey-pro- 

 duction. There are portions of Oregon where 

 the forests of pine, cedar, and fir are so exten- 

 sive and dense that the busy bee would scarce- 

 ly find a drop of nectar. There are other por- 

 tions where manzanita and other honey-pro- 

 ducing shrubs and trees are abundant; but for 

 a profitable venture in the honey business we 

 must follow the civilizing plow and the dairy. 

 Milk and honey must go hand in hand in 

 Oregon, as in ancient times they did in the 

 rich valleys of Palestine. 



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ANSWER5-'',TO 



SEASONABLEl 



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[ 1tO!> Olta . 





QUESTIONS 



RAPID INCREASE. 



Question. — The present severe winter will 

 likely deplete many apiaries in the country; 

 and the problem which will confront many 

 bee-keepers this spring will be, how 7 to in- 

 crease the few remaining colonies as rapidly 

 as possible to the number usually kept. Will 

 you kindly tell us, in Gleanings, how you 

 would proceed where one has plenty of empty 

 combs, some of which have honey in them, 

 where an apiary has been reduced down to a 

 few colonies? Will you also turn to page 140 

 of Feb. 15th Gleanings, and, after reading, 

 tell us how the bees are made to remain with 

 the two-frame nuclei, there described, when 

 dividing a colony in that way? 



Answer. — Years ago I would have given the 

 plan given by the editor on page 140, as al- 

 luded to by the questioner; but the difficulty 

 of making the bees stay where put was always 

 a great drawback to the plan; hence I sought 

 for another. I should like to have Editor 

 Root tell us how he makes the bees stay; for 

 with me, unless some precaution were used, 

 all the bees but the very youngest fuzzy ones 

 would go home, leaving the brood nearly 

 destitute of bees, and thus a great loss of 

 brood would result unless the bee-keeper was 

 on hand promptly to return it back to where 

 it came from. If any colony is made queen- 

 less long enough before division, so that the 

 queen-cells are nearly ' ' ripe ' ' when the divi- 



