456 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Italy as a "Sartoii three-decker." 

 The walls are double, with air space. 

 The lugs of the three rows of frames 

 run into grooves cut on tlie inner 

 shell of the hive, and the entire back 

 of the hive forms a door moving on 

 hinges which, wlien opened, at once 

 discloses the entire interior of the 

 hive, but has the disadvantge of 

 forcing one to draw out every frame 

 to get at any one frame in the rear. 



At Mr. Lake's honey apiary I found 

 some 400 to 500 colonies, many of them 

 in really splendid condition, and not- 

 withstanding the unfavorable few 

 weeks preceding, I counted 75 one- 

 pound boxes filled with capped honey 

 on many colonies. This apiary Mr. 

 Lake runs for honey in the one-pound 

 box alone, finding that he can dispose 

 of every ounce readily at 25 cts. per 

 pound. 



The bees had only worked on pop- 

 lars and honey locust when I was 

 there, and they appear not to touch 

 or care to touch clover at all. In dis- 

 cussing with Mr. Lake the reason for 

 this, I remembered how my old friend 

 Monsieur Layens, in France, after 

 careful investigation (lie being a 

 thorough botanist and chemist), ad- 

 vanced the theory that when the 

 spring of the year is very wet, the 

 clover yields little, or no honey, be- 

 cause those soluble constituents of 

 the earth, the source of tlie honey 

 secretion, had been by excess of rain 

 washed beneatli the surface to a depth 

 too great for the root of the clover to 

 reach. 



Altogetlier I had a most enjoyable 

 visit, and while not agreeing with all 

 Mr. Lake's theories, that very fact 

 lent zest to our conversation, and I 

 came away after enjoying his hospi- 

 tality, feeling I had added to my store 

 of knowledge, and another to my list 

 of bee friends. 



Philadelphia, Pa. 



Semi-Tropic Californift. 



Bee Pasturage in Califoi'nia. 



C. N. WILSON. 



The very large area of land in 

 Southern California now devoted to 

 the cultivation of wheat and barley, 

 that but a few years ago was covered 

 with trees, shrubs and plants from 

 which bees gathered honey, and the 

 absolute certainty that even more of 

 the wild trees, shrubs and plants 

 yielding honey, must very soon give 

 way to the requirements of agricul- 

 ture, it becomes the apiarian who 

 desires a good yield of honey, to pre- 

 pare pasturage for his bees. In this 

 semi-tropical clime the task is com- 

 paratively easy, as it requires but a 

 few years to make groves of blue 

 gum, acacia, locust and such other 

 trees as produce abundant supplies of 

 honey, yielding flowers at different 

 seasons of the year. The blue gum 

 begins to bloom at 5 years from the 

 seed, and will grow on rocky or sandy 

 soil where hardly anything else 

 would grow, provided it is watered 

 the first two years ; it will bloom in 

 February and March. The acacia is 

 readily grown from seed planted just 



as corn is planted, about the 1st or 

 15th of March, and cultivated the first 

 year ; afterwards it will take care of 

 itself and bloom the second year from 

 the seed, often commencing to flower 

 in January, continuing until April. 

 The black locust tree requires more 

 moisture to grow well than the acacia, 

 and is like it in tliis respect, that the 

 seeds must be well scalded with hot 

 water to make them germinate. The 

 willow grows readily from cuttings, 

 and should be planted from Decem- 

 ber to March ; in very moist land it 

 will do to plant as late as April. Doo- 

 little e.xtols the golden willow as a 

 honey producer, and it would be ad- 

 visable to experiment with this variety 

 of the willow, and possibly it may be 

 suited to this locality ; if cultivated 

 the first two years after planting, the 

 several varieties of willow indigenous 

 to Southern California will grow in 

 nearly any soil. Every variety of 

 fruit tree, except the "lig, produces 

 bloom, furnishing both pollen and 

 honey. The apricot and peach, and 

 some' varieties of the pear will grow 

 well in warm, sandy soil, even where 

 there are no facilities for irrigation, 

 and will the second year after plant- 

 ing produce both flowers and fruit ; 

 the fruit will not be so large or sliowy 

 as that grown on damp or irrigated 

 land, but will be sweeter and better. 

 If the fruit merchant objects to the 

 fruit for any reason, then crush it in 

 the orchard and the bees will very 

 soon convert it into first-class honey, 

 which you can ship to Europe and 

 get more cash for it than it you al- 

 lowed the fruit merchant to have it. 



Alfalfa yields a good quality of 

 honey, and is in bloom every month in 

 the year ; it will grow without irriga- 

 tion in any kind of soil, amongst 

 stones, on such land as cannot be cul- 

 tivated. Scatter the seed plentifully 

 during the winter months, so that the 

 winter rains may settle it into tlie 

 soil and give moisture enough to. 

 cause it to germinate ; keep sheep off 

 the ground so planted, and let the 

 alfalfa get a start, and nothing but 

 gophers can eradicate it. Most per- 

 sons think that alfalfa must have 

 plenty of water at all seasons of the 

 year in order to grow, but for bee 

 pasture good results may be had from 

 it without other moisture than that 

 obtained from rain. 



Sweet corn, when in silk and tassel, 

 will ordinarily furnish large quanti- 

 tities of honey of a superior quality ; 

 in localities free from frost it may be 

 planted at intervals from December 

 to May, and give good pasture for 3 

 months, if not four, in the year ; no 

 matter if the corn never matures, the 

 honey product will well repay the 

 trouble and expense of planting, and 

 the stalks if cut just when the bees 

 quit gathering honey from the tassels 

 will make a superior fodder for sheep, 

 goats or cattle. Melons and squashes 

 if planted early will yield large quan- 

 tities of both pollen and honey, and 

 will leward the bee-keeper for the 

 trouble of planting, though he should 

 get nothing else from tliem than the 

 honey. Peas and beans yield honey 

 from their flowers, but should be 

 planted early in the spring, as the hot 



sun destroys the nectar of their 

 bloom, and unless the bean is irriga- 

 ted in the summer season it will not 

 be of much value as a crop. Every 

 bee-keeper should make it a point to 

 experiment with trees, shrubs and 

 plants, so that whatever can be made 

 available as a lioney yielding help, 

 in this climate of sunshine and coun- 

 try of wonJerful vegetation, may be 

 known and cultivated by the bee- 

 keeper. 



Our several associations would do 

 well to devote considerable time and 

 attention to the subject ©f bee-pas- 

 turage, for this question is of the very 

 first importance to all of us. 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



For tbe American Bee JournaL 



The Width of Sections, Etc. 



JASLES HEDDON. 



It should not be forgotten that 

 when, by experiment, the width of 

 sections was decided on as 2 inches, 

 separators were the all-in-all that 

 then went with them. Now the use 

 of separators has been and is being 

 abandoned by many of our best honey 

 producers. Mr. O. H. Townsend, of 

 Kalamazoo, Mich., now thinks that 

 "[% inches is a better width than 2 

 inches. In this we exactly agree. I 

 have used that width for my 1882 crop. 

 I made the change in my last winter's 

 orders for sections. I used the i}ixi}^ 

 x2 inch sections, (> sections in a divis- 

 ion, and 4 divisions in a case. The 

 divisions run across the hive. I now 

 put 7 sections where G filled the space. 

 I found that where no separators 

 were used, the bees sometimes started 

 their combs between the combs 

 drawn from full pieces of thin foun- 

 dation. Now this trouble is at an 

 end. 



I now get the benefit of the use of 

 one more piece of foundation in every 

 seventh section, which benefit is 

 several times its cost. I find the bees 

 cap over the honey sooner, and build 

 the combs straighter. I presume Mr. 

 Townsend is correct in saying that 

 with these thinner sections the bees 

 ripen the honey quicker and more 

 perfectly, and that is the reason they 

 cap over more promptly. Before, our 

 sections used without separators over- 

 run a pound in weight. Now they 

 will come as near an exact pound as 

 any size can be made to do. I am 

 vifell satisfied with my surplus system, 

 and it is worth a great deal to be sat- 

 isfied with one's own fixtures, whether 

 any one else is or not. 



When I first saw the cut and read 

 the description of the " Dean section 

 case," on page 245 of this year's Bee 

 Journal,, I was tempted to make 

 some and try them. They have the 

 advantage that they can be made of 

 most any lumber. After revolving 

 the practical use of this case over in 

 my mind, and talking with an old 

 Bingham hive owner and manipula- 

 tor, I concluded I need not put any 

 more honey in the old direction, ex- 

 perimenting with this case. 



I thought the side boards would 

 shrink and swell away from the 



