276 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 1. 



can be sent from here to Australia for 4 cents 

 in place of letter postage, or about a dollar. 



Mr. W. S. Pender has also distinguished 

 himself as a queen-breeder, his choice stocks 

 being of the five-banded sort. Among his 

 other accomplishments he is a microscopist, 

 having made the study of foul brood and of 

 bee-paralysis a specialty. He has written con- 

 siderably for the bee journals of America; has 

 been connected with various publications in 

 Australia ; and' it is safe to assume that there 

 is hardly a bee-keeper in all Australia who is 

 better informed than he. 



Gleanings predicts for the firm of Pender 

 Bros, a bright future ; and although they will 

 doubtless enter into direct competition with 

 ourselves we wish them all success. 



THE SEASON IN CALIFORNIA ; THE RECENT 

 RAINS ; PROSPECTS. 



A WEEK or so ago it seemed to be an assured 

 fact that the honey crop in California, north as 

 well as south, would be an almost complete 

 failure ; but according to the newspapers, at 

 the eleventh hour copious rains — yes, even 

 floods — have been coming down in the north- 

 ern part of that State. The following letter, 

 under date of Mar. 16, from Mr. Martin, gave 

 us a slight ray of hope : 



Yesterday was set apart by the good people of this 

 city as a day of fasting and prayer for rain, and it 

 commenced raining in the night, and the end is not 

 yet. To show the feeling in the matter here I will 

 tell you what one of the judges said : " If one day of 

 fasting and prayer will not suffice we should have two 

 days or more, or a genuine humiliation." Then he 

 cited instances where answers had come to such hu- 

 miliation and prayer. 



This rain has been coming down the coast for two 

 days, but heretofore the rains have gotten to about 

 such a point and then passed off to the east and left 

 us in the dry belt. This time we are favored, and it 

 commenced raining about midnight, and is coming in 

 showers. J. H. Martin. 



Los Angeles, March 16. 



A few days later another one came to hand 

 under date of Mar. 25, giving still more hope, 

 and here it is : 



Agreeably to my promise that I would write you 

 again about our rains before your next issue, I would 

 sav that the rains in this locality have amounted to 

 over two inches, and the weather has been quite hu- 

 mid for the past week, with occasional mist. The 

 central portion of the State has received a greater 

 amount of rain than we have. Northern California 

 has received more yet. I have recent advices from 

 Siskiyou Co., and the farmers and the miners are ju- 

 bilant over the prospects. In fact, all California is 

 wearing a smile. Grain that was sown early had be- 

 come withered, and it looked as though it had been 

 run through an oven : but under the influence of the 

 rains it is putting on new life, and the fields are green 

 again. I notice that sage has made a good growth 

 here, and I am sure that, with later rains, it will yield 

 honey this season, fur its blossoms will be two or 

 three weeks later than usual. 



At this writing we have every indication of more 

 rain; the skies are almost in a dripping condition. 

 The blessings of Providence through the rains are of 

 untold value to this country. J. H. Martin. 



Los Angeles. Cat, Maich 25. 



And here is another letter, from another 

 correspondent, dated Mar. 25 : 



This is the fifth day of an abundant rain in this part 

 <>f Northern California (Sonoma Co . 50 miles north of 

 San Francisco). Abundant crops are now assui 

 orchards and vineyards; and pasturage, which would 

 have suffered with only the <i inches of rain which 

 previously fell, will now he ample with the lii inches 

 to date, "and the probability of more falling. The 



fruit-bloom is nearly over in this section, and bees 

 have done well, having stored considerable surplus. 

 Frederick Webley, M. D. 

 Santa Rosa, Cat, March 25. 



Probably it is too early yet to form much of 

 an idea of what the honey season will be in 

 Souther)! California. It will be short, proba- 

 bly, but even then it will save the remaining 

 bees and doubtless millions of dollars' worth 

 of fruit besides, as well as general farm prod- 

 ucts. Ma}' these showers of God's blessing 

 prove to be a spiritual uplift. 



While the winter has been severe, we here 

 in the East have hopes of a large amount of 

 clover. The frequent rains and great amount 

 of snow give us room for encouragement. 



LATER ENLARGEMENTS AND IMPROVEMENTS 

 AT THE HOME OF THE HONEY-BEES. 



Elsewhere we have referred to the fact 

 of our having just installed a 40U- horse-power 

 Babcock & Wilcox boiler, costing an even 

 83200. Our old boilers, consisting of a battery 

 of three, of 60 horse power each, have long 

 proven inadequate to do the work. At the 

 beginning of the season we were in hopes 

 that they would be sufficient to enable us to 

 get through this year at least; but as the sea- 

 son went on, it became very evident that we 

 should have to increase our boiler capacity, 

 and that right speedily. There was not room 

 to get in another 60, so the only way was to 

 put in one big unit and throw out two of the 

 old 60's. 



The engineer just informs me that we are 

 developing something like 325 horse power. 

 Every machine in the establishment is busy. 

 We have one planer alone that takes any- 

 where from 25 to 40 horse power to drive it; a 

 band-saw that takes another 30 horse power; 

 a hive-dovetailer 25 horse power more; big 

 exhaust-fans to take sawdust and shavings 

 away from the separate machines, that take* 

 all told, something like 75 horse power more ; 

 and, as I said before, there is a 100-horse- 

 power electric-power generator ; two 60-horse- 

 power electric motors ; two 5 horse power ; 

 &1% horse ; 2 horse, a 3 horse, a % horse, 

 and a %" horse power. One boiler and one 

 engine furnish the motor power for the entire 

 plant. Our enlargements and new machinery 

 recently installed enable us to keep up with 

 our orders without running nights — a recourse 

 that should be avoided wherever possible in 

 the interests of good and accurate workman- 

 ship. 



As our readers know, we are running all the 

 departments, except those nearest the engine, 

 by electric transmission. Two pairs of copper 

 wires carrv the power silently to the destined 

 points, and there connect with the electric mo- 

 tors mentioned above. 



The electric system, so far as tried, is very 

 satisfactory. It is very expensive, but pro- 

 duces independent and regular power. The 

 big. planer has one 60 horse-power motor to 

 run it Whenever this big machine is started 

 a switch is thrown in, and in a moment more 

 the motor begins to whir. As soon as the 

 planer job is finished the switch is thrown 

 out, and all the power is stopped. 



