24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Jan. 1 



it will be cut too late rather than too earljs 

 no matter what is the belief of the ranch- 

 man himself. 



A few more sayings are worthy of record: 



"I believe in the gospel of enthusiasm. 

 I believe in saving steps by having all the 

 paths on the ranch in a beeline." 



By standing at the ranch-house we could 

 easily see the paths or roads running out 

 from a central point like the spokes of a 

 great wheel. 



After commending one of his men for some 

 good work he did, he said, "I believe in 

 expressing my appreciation of my men 

 when they do good work, when," said he, 

 with a twinkle in his ej'e, " it will not spoil 

 them. There are some men whom I can 

 not possibly praise without making them 

 good for nothing; and there are others to 

 whom honest praise is a wonderful stimu- 

 lant to do better." 



While Mr. Watson may be somewhat vi- 

 sionary and Utopian in his views of things, 

 and while it is true his plans and business 

 ventures have not always been successful, 

 it is a great treat to be in his presence, to 

 feel the electricity of his energy and enthu- 

 siasm. 



Needing some more data for this write-up 

 than what I possessed I wrote to Mr. Wil- 

 son making further inquiry. After furnish- 

 ing me the desired information he gave me 

 a pen picture of Mr. Watson and the ranch 

 that is worth reproducing and here it is: 



"The farm is remarkable because it is 

 solving some of the greatest problems of 

 agriculture of the great West, in that por- 

 tion where the rainfall is light and drouths 

 are severe and frequent. In his schemes 

 and plans he is bold and confident; his optim- 

 ism is unbounded. It is surprising how he 

 camly reviews discouragements — not dwell- 

 ing long on them, for his fertile mind de- 

 mands action. 



" Probably no other man in the West is 

 such a master of the science of soil culture 

 and tillage as Mr. Watson. As for prepar- 

 ing a cherry orchard, he just put it to al- 

 falfa, and after two years this was disked 

 until in a fine condition of loam and alfal- 

 fa, and then prepared for the young trees. 

 It is remarkable how soil of this prepara- 

 tion will hold moisture and afford plant 

 food. Probably one of the most valuable 

 things he has discovered with alfalfa is that 

 by seeding it thinly and sowing bluegrass 

 between, cows can feed on it with perfect 

 safety, with no danger from bloat." 



A. I. ROOT OFF FOR CUBA. 



A. I. Root left for Cuba the day after 

 Christmas, going by way of Florida, where 

 he stopped for two days. Here he fell in 

 with Jacob Alpaugh, a fine mechanic, and 

 one of Canada's best bee-keepers. Mr. Al- 

 paugh was also on his way to Cuba, and 

 he and A. I. R. go on together. That ship- 

 ment of bees, from last reports, was piling 

 in the honey, and Mr. Root had at attack 

 of old-fashioned bee-fever. He said he felt 

 as if he must go down and " help the boys 

 extract." We shall hear more from him. 



P^l^«*»n 



PEAR-JUICE FOR WINTER FEED. 



Is it safe to leave pear juice with the pom- 

 ace outdoors so the bees can go to it as 

 they please, now, or will it hurt them? 



My neighbor has bushels of pears going 

 to waste. The juice is much sweeter than 

 maple sap. C. S. Ingals. 



Morenci, Mich., Nov. 2. 



[I certainly would not let the bees have 

 such juice if I could avoid it. If they have 

 gathered much of it and put it in their 

 hives, you will be apt to have severe winter 

 losses before spring, or at least bad cases 

 of dysentery, with colonies greatly weak- 

 ened when the bees are able to fly at the 

 return of warm weather. If you are sure 

 you have got pear-juice in your combs, bet- 

 ter extract it, or, better still, give the bees 

 combs of good stores. The pear-juice combs 

 will come in good play next spring for 

 stimulative feeding. — Ed.] 



WINTER HIVES, AND HOW PACKED. 



1. Do the chaff hives have a movable bot- 

 tom-board? 



2. Is there any packing at the bottom or 

 only on the sides? 



3. Do you think these hives are warm 

 enough for a temperature which sometimes 

 for weeks gets to be bO below zero? At pres- 

 ent my hives are packed in an outer box 

 something like the Cowan double-walled 

 hive with 4 inches of packing at the bottom, 

 7 inches on sides, and 2 supers with a bur- 

 lap over frames, all filled solid to the top. 

 I hope this will be warm enough, but it is 

 too expensive for a large apiary. My in- 

 tention is to increase to about 50 colonies. 

 At present I have 7. 



Can you tell me whether it would be good 

 to make Dadant hives square in order to 

 hold about 13 frames instead of 10 as now? 



Dorchester, Wis., Nov. 8. Wm. Ueck. 



[1. No. 



2. As a rule, the regular chaff hive is 

 packed all around on the sides, ends, bot- 

 tom, and top, with packing material of some 

 sort, but not necessarily chaff. Bottom 

 packing is not really essential. 



3. In your locality I would not advise the 

 ordinary chaff hive, because it would not be 

 warm enough. Hives packed as you de- 

 scribe would do very well, perhaps; but a 

 better way would be a good dry warm cel- 

 lar, with facilities for ventilating the same 

 at night during the winter. I would not 

 advise making the Dadant hive square. It 

 would be too big. This would be a case of 

 "getting too much of a good thing." — Ed.] 



