1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



647 



this way you get the full benefit of your sul- 

 phur, as it enters the super in every row of 

 sections and passes from super to super. Some 

 may ask why I have the sulphur so far from 

 the honey. Why not put it directly over it ? 

 The reason is, I have tried that, and the con- 

 sequence was I had a lot of comb honey that 

 became hot enough to begin to settle in the 

 sections, and also turned them dark at the 

 bottom of the sections. To get the best re- 

 sults, keep your honey as cool as possible when 

 sulphuring. After the sulphur that you have 

 put in your box has burned out, turn your 

 supers upside down on your table ; take out 

 the honey, and clean ; and as you clean, place 

 on the shelves side by side, the honey facing 

 the outside. Let it remain about 24 hours in 

 daylight, then reverse, putting the other side 

 of the section out to the light. When my 

 shelves are pretty well filled I go over it every 

 morning before the sun is up, reverse, and 

 pick out what is sufficiently white. When the 

 sun is shining it all looks white when it is not. 

 Pack as you take from the shelves. Care 

 should be taken that the sun does not shine 

 too hot on your bleachinghouse during a hot 

 day, or you will have a lot of honey settling 

 down in the sections and dropping out. When 

 the weather is cool the sun does no harm. In 

 hot weather I use an awning on the sides that 

 the sun shines on, about four feet wide, suffi- 

 cient to break the heat of the sun from the 

 shelves. It is not the heat of the sun that 

 you want. It is the sulphuring and the light 

 that do the work. After comb honey has re- 

 mained on the shelves three days, and is not 

 sufficiently white, place in supers and sulphur, 

 and place on the shelves again. You will find 

 that you can bleach the darkest comb. Any 



D 



SULPHUR 



riN 



Fire Be 



foreign matter that is on the comb will not 

 bleach. I commenced the bleaching of comb 

 honey several years ago, and there are but five 

 others in the State, up to the present time, 

 who have adopted it. They are B. B. Higgins, 

 A. E. White, E. A. White, D. A. Higgins, and 

 a man by the name of Coons. 

 Fallbrook, Cal., June 21. 



[I must confess I was not aware that this 

 question of bleaching soiled faces of sections 

 had been made the subject of so much care- 

 ful study and inquiry ; indeed, our correspon- 

 dent seems to have brought it down to a 

 science. Such a building as is described can 

 be very cheaply constructed, and I should im- 



agine it would almost pay for itself in one 

 season's use if the crop were large. 



I wish our friend Mr. Crombie would tell us 

 what classes of soilpd sections he can bleach. 

 In the absence of any statement to the con- 

 trary I take it he can bleach the cappings of 

 any comVj honey where the stain is on the out- 

 side ; but when particles of propolis or dirt 

 go clear through the cappings, no improve- 

 ment can be made. 



This matter of bleaching comb honey is a 

 very important subject, and I should be glad 

 to hear from any of oiir other subscribers as 

 to what success they have been able to attain ; 

 and especially should I like to hear further 

 from Mr. Crombie. — Ed.] 



BELGIAN HARES. 



Their Life History ; the Various Species of Do- 

 mesticated Rabbits ; the Difference between 

 a Hare and a Rabbit; the Varia- 

 tion in Species. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



Dear Mr. Editor: — I most gladly comply 

 with your request to write up the new and im- 

 portant industry of Belgian-hare production. 

 As my fitness for this duty might be question- 

 ed, I will say that previous experience with 

 bee, chicken, and cattle breeding makes me a 

 quick student of this new line, which is quite 

 kindred to the above. It is an article of my 

 faith that no true patriot will fail to become 

 conversant with all the important industries 

 of his section. Whether I grow citrus fruit 

 or not, it is my duty and privilege, as a citizen 

 of this glorious Southern California southland, 

 to study into the delights of orange and lem- 

 on growing. Los Angeles County — my own 

 county — has become not only the center of 

 Belgian-hare production in Southern Califor- 

 nia, but to-day leads the world in the matter 

 of breeding the Belgian hare. I have read 

 several works on the industry, have visited 

 the hutches of skillful breeders, and believe I 

 could stand a first-class examination to-day 

 on this subject. 



These little mammals. " the Belgian hares," 

 belong to the order Rode7itia or Glires. The 

 first word comes from the Latin word meaning 

 to gnaw ; the second, from the same language, 

 is the word for " dormouse. " The word ro- 

 dent is especially applicable to this order of 

 mammalia, as they are pre-eminently the 

 gnawers of this class of animals. I hardly 

 need say that the mice, rats, squirrels, beavers, 

 etc., belong to this order. They all have the 

 chisel-shaped front teeth or incisors, usually 

 two above and two below, a vacant space back 

 of these, as they have no canine teeth, and 

 very perfect grinders for molars, three above 

 and two below on each side. It is an inter- 

 esting fact that the incisors are constantly 

 growing, and thus are kept sharp by the nec- 

 essary attrition If either an upper or a lower 

 incisor is broken off, the opposite tooth con- 

 tinues to grow ; and as the fang is curved, the 

 extra growth will form a circle which might 

 serve to hang the animal up. I have found 



