334 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



around the hole eaten out in the center just 

 large enough for a bee to go in and turn 

 round. I have often thought of candied 

 honey, but did not think of any plan to keep 

 it so the bees would not get into it and get 

 daubed. Your tin box seems to be just the 

 thing; but where do you get sucli boxes, 

 and what do they costV A barrel of candied 

 honey, truly ! ^Vhy, I am almost ashamed 

 of myself to think I never thought of it be- 

 fore. I am going to try some of it at once 

 in our new 5c cages. I have just been wor- 

 rying about the difficulty of furnishing a 

 provisioned cage for only 5c. Thank you.— 

 I hardly think many bees die for want of 

 air when all of the other conditions are all 

 right. I am also glad to hear of a good re- 

 port from the house apiary. It offers some 

 very decided advantages to the queen-rearer 

 in storm V weather. 



^ ■>■ 



A CAIilFORNIA LETTER. 



CAUTION IN REGARD TO LAMP NURSERIES, AND 

 SOME OTHER MATTERS. 



fjjHE way that you have headed the article 

 sun evaporators, some one may accuse me 



on 

 me of 

 claimiutc to be the inventor, which I am not, 

 as there are two others here that were made before 

 I made mine. Please make a note of the above in 

 Gleanings. 



I am afraid that the honey season will be a failure 

 in this county, as the bees have made scarcely any 

 honey as yet. The black sage has been in bloom 

 about three weeks, and the white sage is in its 

 prime; wild buckwheat is comraeucing- to bloom. 

 The weather has been cold and cloiidy all the spring. 



Inclosed you will liod the record of the hive on 

 the scales, and you can see just what they have 

 done. Nearly all of the swarms are killing the 

 drones. 



LAMP nurseries; look out for them. 



I have mine sitting at the foot of my bed. About 

 a month ago, as the nights were cold, I set my bread 

 to rise in it (see friend Gallup's article, Gl., 1880, p. 

 164.) In the night I awoke and noticed a strong odor 

 of coal oil in the room. As I thought the lamp was 

 out of oil, and had gone out, I paid no attention to 

 it. Some time after, I awoke again and noticed 

 that I could smell it plainer than before; so I 

 thought I would investigate the matter. I made a 

 light and found that the room was full of smoke. I 

 opened the door to the box that the nurseries were 

 in, and found the lamp burning, not on the wick, 

 but around the tube just above the perforated brass 

 of the burner, and a cloud of smoke rolling out of 

 the top of the chimney. You may make sure that I 

 was not long in putting that lamp out of doors. If 

 it had exploded, you may imagine what would have 

 been the result. It is the last time that it shall be 

 lit in the house. If I ever use it again it will be out 

 of doors, away from every thing, in a large dry- 

 goods box. 



SUBSTITUTE FOR SOAP BARK. 



You Wished some one to tell you some thing more 

 about soap root. Now, I can tell you this much 

 about it: I use it, and nothing else, on the fdn. roll- 

 ers, and know that it is better than soap, and think 

 it better than soap bark. I will furnish it for 5c per 

 lb., which will just about pay for digging and paclt- 

 ing. A pound is enough for two ov three quarts. 



How would honey look in section boxes made of 

 wood like samples inclosed? It is the only wood 

 here fit to make them of. W. W. Bliss. 



Duarte, L. A. Co., Cal., May 23, 1881. 



I think, friend B., that your whole trouble 

 was caused by poor oil. The oil we use will 

 not light by throwing a lighted match di- 

 rectly into it. The very stringent laws that 

 have been passed in regard to using the 

 cheap volatile oils, indicate plainly the great 

 danger there is in using them.^ — The sample 

 of wood, I should call beautiful. The red- 

 dish tint would contrast nicely with the hon- 

 ey, and who knows but that you may get 

 up a great trade on section boxes on that 

 very account, if you only have plenty of such 



wood? 



» ♦ • 



HUCKI.EBEflR¥ HONEY, 



AND SOME THING ABOUT WORKING AND WAITING. 



S I have not seen any thing in Gleanings 

 from this county (Sampson), which, bj' the 

 way, is noted for its Jiig Uue hucldebcrrlcs and 

 for the fine quality of the honey made from the 

 huckleberry bloom, I thought you might like to 

 hear how we are getting along with the bees after 

 the past unusually severe winter. 



Well, our bees came through all right. I lost 2 

 stocks out of oO; one, I am ashamed to tell you, 

 froze, the cap leaking and ice forming in the hive; 

 the other was queenless, and was united with an- 

 other stock. Some of the others were rather short 

 of stores, but I gave them a comb from stocks that 

 could spare some, so that by the first of May, when 

 our honey flow commenced, my stocks were all in 

 good condition. The season was nearly a month la- 

 ter than usual; but when it did commence, the flow 

 of honey was unusually heavy. From 27 stocks 

 worked for extracted, I have taken 1300 lbs., and 

 have gone over them onlj' once; will commence the 

 second round this week, and think that I will get 

 nearly 1000 lbs. more. This is better than I have 

 ever done, and I feel that I am well paid for the care 

 gt\'en them for the last three years of almost no 

 profit; but then, it is the men who are patient, 

 persevering, and faithful, who are determined to 

 succeed, who are willing to work and wait for their 

 reward, that in the end will not be disappointed. 

 This is as true in business as it is in the more Im- 

 portant work of the soul's salvation. But, excuse 

 this digression. I will say, that this season's experi- 

 ence so far has proven beyond question the superior- 

 ity of the Italians over the blacks. I have 10 stocks 

 of Italians, the rest blacks and hybrids, and the pure 

 Italians have given me the best results. The best 

 yields were from 3 stocks with young queens raised 

 last August from one of two qweens bought from 

 you the j-ear before. The mother was very light, 

 and her workers the yellowest and gentlest bees 

 that I have ever seen. The daughters, on the con- 

 trary, are dark, and their workers very dark, and 

 not over gentle to handle; but such honey-gather- 

 ers ! I have never seen any thing like them. I sold 

 the mother last fall to a neighbor who lost her in in- 

 troducing; but I have sold him one of her daugh- 

 ters this spring, which he has introduced success- 

 fully. I have some of Brown's and Alley's stock, 

 but they don't "pan out" like this strain. I will re- 

 queen all my blacks from them this season. I have 

 ordered a Cyprian queen from Dr. Drown, and ex- 



