1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



my combs, for it was not only quite a job to 

 make these holes, but a worse part was that 

 the bees would fill them up every summer, 

 and with drone size of cells at that. This 

 would cause a lot of drones to be reared 

 when and where I did not want them." 



"Well, I am glad to have had this talk 

 with you; and, while not thoroughly convinced 

 that you are right, I shall keep watch of the 

 matter; and if time proves that you are, it 

 will be of value to me." 



Ml Keeping AMONG the Rockies 



INTRODUCTION. 



The loss to the bee-keeping world by the 

 death of Mr. Morehouse can be appreciated 

 by any one who has read his writings, but 

 much more so by those who have known 

 him more intimately. I had not often had 

 the pleasure of meeting him, but I have had 

 considerable correspondence with him, and 

 from this as well as from his published 

 writings I had learned to appreciate his 

 sterling worth and his clear insight into bee- 

 keeping matters that, if he had been spared, 

 would have made him even more of a power 

 in apicultural circles. 



It is with much reluctance and diffidence 

 that I pick up the pen that has been re- 

 moved from his grasp by the Ruler of all. 

 So high a standard has been set that I fear 

 my inability to reach it satisfactorily. The 

 only way in which I can approach it is through 

 the co-operation of the bee-keepers of the 

 West. I ask your help in all matters per- 

 taining to this department. 



I shall be very grateful for any informa- 

 tion you can give me in regard to bee-keep- 

 ing matters, especially crop reports. If 

 there is any thing in which I can serve your 

 interests I shall be glad to do so. This de- 

 partment is for your benefit. Help me make 

 it interesting and valuable to you. 



Alfalfa did not yield as well here as com- 

 mon. One of the reasons, in this locality at 

 least, was that the grasshoppers ate the 

 blossoms. Fields that had been a week in 

 bloom did not have as many blossoms on as 

 at first. 



If there is one thing more than another in 

 which the average Colorado bee-keeper is 

 wasteful, it is in regard to wax. Many bee- 

 keepers having large numbers of colonies do 

 not save an ounce of wax. A solar extract- 

 or, rightly managed, will return a handsome 

 profit in most apiaries. 



In a recent number of the Western Bee 

 Journal the nonsensical old theory that bees 

 use their stings as trowels to finish capping 

 the honey, and that they inject poison into 

 it to preserve it, is revived; and one would 

 suppose that the editor is only mildly skep- 

 tical in regard to it. We should not blame 

 the editors of ordinary papers too severely 

 for their wild stories about honey when such 

 things appear in bee-journals. 



Cakes of beeswax usually need a little 

 scraping on the bottom to make them fit for 

 market. Perhaps you do this the way I used 

 to— at ordinary temperatures and with much 

 labor. Lay your cake of wax upside down 

 on the grass in the hot sun until the part ex- 

 posed to the sun is thoroughly softened, 

 while the rest is still hard. You can then 

 scrape it as deeply as you wish, and do it 

 easily. Do not lay it on a board or the bare 

 ground, or it will get hot where you do not 

 want it to. 



Sweet clover has again demonstrated its 

 value as a more reliable honey-plant than 

 alfalfa. The best yields of honey have been 

 in the localities where sweet clover was most 

 abundant. At my home apiary, as well as 

 as at other places, the best work done by 

 the bees throughout the season was imme- 

 diately after nearly all the alfalfa had been 

 cut. 



Yellow sweet clover is being planted quite 

 extensively by some. It is not only earlier, 

 but a more constant bloomer than the white. 

 After the white had nearly all gone to seed, 

 plants of the yellow, growing alongside, 

 were still blooming profusely. 



Even in the "arid" West we sometimes 

 suffer from too much water. A few days 

 ago a cloudburst in the hills north of us pro- 

 duced such a flood of water that the ordi- 

 nary channels could not carry it, and a wide 

 stretch of country was covered with a rag- 

 ing torrent. My out-apiary lay in its track, 

 and the lower part of the hives was filled 

 with a sticky mud, and most of the entrances 

 entirely closed. Several colonies were 

 smothered, and a number badly damaged, 

 while a great deal of fine comb honey was 

 melted down. A neighbor fared even worse, 

 losing nearly all of his bees, about thirty 

 colonies. 



The season in this part of Colorado has 

 been very disappointing. The weather has 

 been so cool nearly all of the season that 

 there seemed to be little nectar in the blos- 

 soms. Colonies generally were not in good 

 condition at the beginning of the honey sea- 

 son. At the close of fruit-blossoms, nearly 

 all were in fine shape, but they went back- 

 ward after that. 



Bees that were fed regularly fared better; 

 but there was almost no swarming, and 

 only the strongest colonies stored much sur- 

 plus during the first flow from alfalfa. The 



