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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 15. 



how tall they grow. You can tell also about 

 the size of the fruit. 



This photo shows the pickers at work. You 

 will notice there are a lot of apples piled in 

 the walk way. Plants such as were on top 

 of yours sell for from 10 to 25 cts. each. 



St. Petersburg, Fla. 



[I had a special purpose in submitting this 

 to the readers of Gleanings. It is on ac- 

 count of the pineapple shade. This shade is 

 made of slats two or three inches wide. The 

 openings are of the same width as the slats, 

 so that, during the hottest weather in sum- 

 mer, one half of the plantation is in the 

 shade, for we have just half of the sun's rays 

 cut off. This shade, however, permits the 

 rain to strike the plants just about as if there 

 were no shade, or at least I suppose it does. 

 But its principal office, if I am correct, is to 

 insure protection during a frost or freeze. 

 I visited several of these covered pineries, and 

 many times the slatted roof is all the protec- 

 tion needed to save the plants and crop. 

 When the weather is very severe, however, it 

 is not a very difficult matter to cover the 

 whole top with coarse bagging or cheap cot- 

 ton cloth; then by having several fires inside 

 you are proof against damage, even at such a 

 time as the great freeze at the time of my 

 visit several years ago. Similar structures are 

 being used in Florida and California, for or- 

 ange-trees. Of course, they have to be made 

 higher to protect the trees. In California 

 there is one single orange-grove covering sev- 

 eral acres, all protected by a slatted roof, and 

 it has been my impression for some years that 

 during the severe heat of July and August 

 manv fruits here in the North would be great- 

 ly benefited by this partial shade. It is well 

 known that the finest gooseberries are grown 

 where partly shaded by trees ; and such a 

 slatted structure has been found to be very 

 serviceable for them. During our present se- 

 vere drouth I have been studying a good deal 

 in regard to a similar structure for growing 

 strawberry-plants. I think such a shade would 

 be just about what is wanted. — A. I. R.] 



HONEY-DEW ; CONDITIONS FOR HONEY-FLOW. 



Honey-dew is very plentiful in certain sea- 

 sons in the mountains above us. Cowboys 

 riding through the brush, salting cattle, will 

 have their leggings, and the legs, manes, and 

 tails of their horses, all in a smear, as though 

 they had waded through syrup. At Grizzly 

 Flats I stood between the rising sun and an 

 oak-tree, and could see the dew falling from 

 the tree like a mist, till the sun was fairly up, 

 when it ceased. Leaves of manzanita were 

 covered with the sugar, thicker than the leaf 

 itself. These bushes were out in the open, so 

 that the dew could not have fallen on them. 



The proper conditions for basswood honey I 

 know nothing about ; but for all kinds of 

 honey, with us, the nights must be cool, so 

 there' is dew, and the days hot, to produce su- 

 gar. If I go out among the bees early in the 

 morning, and the grass is dry, I know there is 

 no honey coming in. If my shoes are wet I 



know, without looking, that the bees are then 

 bringing in honey. Very early in the season, 

 while the snow is still on the ground, the 

 manzanita on the warm south slopes of the 

 hills will come out in blossom, and the blos- 

 soms will be full of dew, but it is not sweet, 

 nor are the blossoms fragrant. Now let the 

 sun come out hot, and the flowers send out 

 their honey-like smell for yards, while the 

 dew in the cells tastes like honey itself. The 

 sun's heat develops the sugar, and the dew 

 dissolves it, and the honey-bee that gets around 

 before the sun's rays evaporate it secures it. 



I started with 50 stands in 1899 ; have about 

 125 now ; have taken off about 2000 lbs. of ex- 

 tracted and 500 lbs. of comb honey. I expect 

 to take from 500 to 1000 lbs. more from blue 

 tarweed. I think the " Rambler " is right in 

 stating that the supply on this coast will not 

 exceed the local demand ; but then there is 

 the glucose-barrel always on tap, so honey is 

 not apt to advance in price. 



E. A. SCHAEFFLE. 



Murphys, Cal., Aug. 9, 1899. 



WHAT KILLED THE OUEENS ? 



I have lost a great many queens this sea- 

 son, and can not account for it. A colony 

 will be working all right, and the queen laying 

 in fine shape, when all of a sudden I find them 

 queenless, and no queen-cells started. I have 

 lost over 40 queens in an apiary of 200 stands 

 since spring, and the majority have failed to 

 raise a new queen. My hives are 4 feet apart 

 one way by 8 the other. In some instances I 

 have introduced young queens or cells, and in 

 due time they would begin laying, when all 

 at once they would be gone. Can you give 

 me any information on the matter, from what 

 I have written you ? 



The honey crop is very short here this sea- 

 son, and I have had a hard time in getting my 

 bees to go above, even when I had queens. 

 This yard is one I brought up from New Mex- 

 ico last spring ; and when the honey-flow be- 

 gan I had the bees all in good condition for 

 work. J. E. Gauger. 



La Junta, Col., Aug. 9. 



[If you were losing a very large percentage 

 of the virgins, I should say that some sort of 

 bee-eating bird like the king-bird or bee-mar- 

 tin was responsible for the mischief ; but if 

 your laying queens are disappearing at such a 

 rapid rate, it is something out of the ordinary, 

 and I am sorry that I am not bee-keeper 

 enough to give you an answer, and I therefore 

 call upon our readers. — Ed.] 



GETTING BASSWOODS TO GERMINATE | FRUIT- 

 GROWING IN THE SAN JACINTO VALLEY, 



CALIFORNIA. 

 Mr. Root: — You ask some nurseryman to 

 tell about getting tough-shell seed to start. I 

 am not a nurseryman, but have had some ex- 

 perience in past years while living in Missou- 

 ri, growing osage-orange plants. There the 

 apples mature, and we gather the seed, and it 

 will not sprout by nature. If it did it would 

 be a great nuisance. To sprout the seed I put 

 it into a box. I then poured as much hot wa- 

 ter on the seed as would make it like a bran 



