434 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Apr. 1 



go home, Lon requested me to go up the 

 Gunnison Valley about seven miles to his 

 ranch of 80 acres. I accepted his invitation. 

 Lon is a good horseman, and owns some 

 good trotting stock. There are about ten 

 acres of yoimg apple orchard just beginning 

 to bear fruit. At present some of the land 

 is without water; but in three years after 

 the Gunnison tunnel which the government 

 is building is completed the water supply 

 will be unlimited for that whole section of 

 country. Lon also owns 30 fine colonies of 

 Italian bees, all in good ten- frame standard 

 hives. He let his ranch and bees out on 

 shares; and to show you he was not to be 

 fooled any more by American people he was 

 shrewd enough, after the supers were on, to 

 make marks on the backs of the hives, ex- 

 tending from the supers down on the hive- 

 bodies, so he could tell if the supers had 

 been taken off or not, or comb taken out of 

 the lower story. We looked through some 

 of the hives. I showed him the queen and 

 some points about finding her, and different 

 ways of manipulating bees, hives, etc. 



On our way home he told me of the lot of 

 wild flowers in China. He said, "I don' 

 know if hon' in them or not. I wan' to go 

 home fo' yea' an' see; them come back an' 

 sell my prop'ty, and go home to China an' 

 keep bee." I asked him why Chinamen al 

 ways went into the laundry business when 

 they landed in this country, and if that was 

 all the men did in China. He said, "No, 

 but I tell you I come here, you see I hire 

 for cook $50.00 a month. I work one month 

 all right, so next month boss say, I can't 

 pay this month; you work a month more, 

 then I pay you both, or else you go. See? 

 Well, 1 work another month, and no mon' ; 

 then I find out he got none. How I get a 

 judgment? No good; $100 no good. What 

 1 live on? I then start wash. First week I 

 make 7 or 8 dol; then if some don't pay 

 wash, I don't lose all." 



ChiU Center, N Y. 



A CHEAP HOME-MADE STRAINER. 



How to Fasten the Cloth to the Can. 



BY G. A DEADMAN. 



I suppose the majority of the readers of 

 Gleanings keep a cow; and not only so, but 

 the most of you use a metal strainer or a 

 strainer with pail for straining the milk. 

 Many of you may know that cloth is much 

 better for this purpose than any metal can 

 possibly be; but because you did not know 

 how to keep it in place easily you have con- 

 tinued in the old way. For a number of 

 years I have used a rubber band large enough 

 to go over the top of the can and around the 

 cloth strainer until, happily, I thought of 

 the clothes-pins. If there is anything bet- 

 ter I should like to hear of it. For the 

 strainer I find a medium grade of factory 

 cotton very good. If too light it does not 

 keep in place so well, and may not do good 



work. If too heavy it will not strain fast 

 enough. About the best at 5 cts. per yard 

 will do nicely. A piece a yard square will 

 make four. 



I do not know that I would have mention- 

 ed this in Gleanings if it were not for the 

 fact that this plan is very handy at times 

 when having a little balance of honey that 

 requires to be strained or restrained; but 

 for honey, unless it is hot, thin cheese-cloth 

 is better. The good wife will find it very 

 handy when making jelly, maple syrup, and 

 such like. I have never tried the clothes- 

 pins when straining honey in a large way, 

 general ly using a strap with a buckle. Those 



HOW TO HOLD THE CLOTH WHEM STRAIKING 

 HONEY. 



of you who have tried the thin cheese-cloth 

 and a strap to hold it in place are no doubt 

 well satisfied, although the Alexander pail, 

 as recently illustrated in Gleanings, may at 

 times be better, especially when doing it on 

 a large scale. I like to know that no fly nor 

 any thing else can get into my honey, and a 

 strainer cloth strapped over the honey- can 

 is good for this, if nothing else. When it 

 can be strained so easily there is really no 

 excuse for not doing it. There may be a lit- 

 tle of the last when drawn off that will re- 

 quire to be restrained; but this is a small 

 matter. I do not like bits of wax scales or 

 cappings to rise to the top of the honey 



