1903 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



833 



ny's attorney, Mr. Spellman, and myself, 

 together with Mr. Hilbert, caught with 

 hook and line, up in Northern Michigan, a 

 great string of tish, so big that A. I. R. 

 held up both hands in astonishment, and 

 immediately wrote home to mother that the 

 string was so heavy he could not lift it. 

 I knew that, when I arrived home, if I told 

 the truth I would be guyed and laughed 

 at for telling a fish-stor3^ Nevertheless I 

 had the temerity to tell m3' friends what we 

 had done; and notwithstanding I showed 

 them a photo of the string, showing two 

 men holding up the fish, and produced 

 A. I. K.'s letter certifying to our big catch, 

 nobody would believe it. But say, doctor, 

 I wish you would tell us 3'our story — not 

 that we will guy j'ou, for I would not let 

 any one do it. A honey- storj' could be 

 more readily believed than a fish-story, so 

 )'Ou will have the advantage of me in that 

 respect; and, besides, it is not fair for you 

 to raise our curiosit}' to such a high pitch 

 and then leave us up in the air guessing. 

 — Ed.J 



'^^YJVe/ghborj^/e/dj 

 By 



BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW. 

 Everybody here at the Home of the Honey- 

 bees agrees that the issue for September is 

 the best ever printed. It is good from start 

 to finish — from A clear down to W. Z. It 

 is largely devoted to the Los Angeles con- 

 vention, of course, as it should be, for Mr. 

 Hutchinson was there. I take the liberty 

 of cop3'ing quite a number of extracts from 

 that number, taken at random. 



A small but choice collection of flea-bites is one of 

 the things I brought back with me from California. 



I visited Rambler's old apiary, now owned by the 

 Schaffner Bros., and secured a most picturesque view 

 of it which I shall sliow with much pleasure. 



a> 



Black brood may possibly have made its appearance 

 in Michigan. I recently examined two apiaries in the 

 southwestern part of the State, and found them terri- 

 bly diseased. 



Water is the one great need of the arid regi'-ns of 

 the West. Where this can be secured, the fertilitj' is 

 something truly wonderful. Millions upon millions 

 of acres are now practically valueless, simply from 

 this one lack. 



Gee Jim was the name of the Chinese restaurant 

 where several of us took dinner at Williams, Arizona. 

 It was Hobson's choice with u', but the food proved 

 palai able — 'twas the idea of it against which we ten- 

 derfeet revolted. 



The adobe, or mud hou.se, of Arizona and New Mex- 

 ico is the most homesick-looking house that I have 

 ever seen. It is one .story high, w th poles and some 

 hay or mud on top for a roof. It looks too much like 

 a rhake-shift stable. 



Mexican women, while we were on the route to Cal- 

 ifornia, were often seen standing in the doors of mud 

 huts or dugouts, babies in their arms, the latter dressed 

 in nature's garb only— and sometimes the women wore 

 quite a prolusion of the latter. 



\ll 



Mexicars and Indians are about the only track- 

 hands, or section men, seen along the railroad, in New 

 Mexico, Arizona, and California; in fact, it is doubtful 

 if a white man could endure hard labor under the in- 

 tense heat that prevails on these desert sands. 

 \U 



J. F. Mclntyre, of California, has a floral family. 

 His &ve daghters are named Flora, L,ily, Myrtle, Pan- 

 sy, and Iris. The only son, 11 days old when I was 

 there, and over which there is much rejoicing, is 

 named Robert Wilkin, after his illustrious grandfa- 

 ther. By the way, the eldest daughter, Flora, extract- 

 ed 16 tons of honey this season. 



Foul brood may destroy a colony in a bee-tree, leav- 

 ing honey and combs infected with disease. This fact 

 has been used as an argument to show the impossi- 

 bility of entirely eliminating foul brood from a dis- 

 trict; but Mr. France says the squirrels and the bee 

 moth's larvae will soon destroy the combs acd thus 

 remove this iource of contagion. 

 It/ 



The Spanish tongue I first heard spoken in Califor- 

 nia; and, oh the music of it! — the roll and rhythm, 

 the softness and the accent! It is decidedly the lan- 

 guage for the lover. When they had such a delightful 

 language, why, oh why! cid they invent the angular 

 English, the energetic German, and the chattering 

 Russian? How I should lovi' to learn to speak Span- 

 ish! and I would too, if I l.ved where it is spoken. 



What a diff'erence there is in bee-keepers! Some are 

 slipshod and slovenly, with hives standing in a row 

 close together on a plank— and some of them box hives 

 at that. How discouraging it is for an iosptctrr of 

 apiaries to get into such an apiary as that when look- 

 ing for foul brood! Then there are bee-keepers of a 

 little higher grade. They have movable-comb hives 

 or hives that are intended to be such, but no founda- 

 tion starters have been used, and many of the combs 

 might as well be in real box hives. Then theie is 

 another grade still higher, but it is not he highest. It 

 is the man who a-i-pires to be a pretty good tee keeper 

 but he has too many other irons in the fire, and he neg- 

 lects :things. The frames are all stuck fast, and stuck 

 together with brace-combs, and it is a task to get out a 

 comb. Then there is the man who is a really first-class 

 bee-keeper. His hives are all made exactly alike. He 

 uses foundation; he keeps the brace-combs scraped 

 from the top-bars; his hives are level; the combs can 

 be removed with the fingers with no prying from any 

 knife or lever. Every thing is orderly in his honey- 

 house He has a place for every thing and every thing 

 is in it. The covers are always put on square and 

 true. Reader, in which class do you belong? 

 \b 



Concerning some Arizona belles, Mr. 

 Hutchinson has this to say: 



Squaws, dressed in gorgeous colors, their faces hid- 

 eously painted papooses strapped to their backs, offer- 

 ed beadwork and painted pottery at many places 

 where our train stopped while en route lo Los Angeles. 

 The hideousnes?, to me, of some of the old squaws is 

 something that must be seen lo be understood. Their 

 straight, black, coarse hair hangs in a tangled mass 

 all around their shoulders, a strip being cut out in 

 front just above the eye", to allow them to see. Then 

 their faces are so wrinkled, and their eyes are so sunk- 

 en; and when the mouth opens and shows three or 

 four blackened and broken tusks, the picture, to me, 

 is one bordering upon the horrible. To me, the face 

 of a cow or a horse is much more beautiful and whole- 

 some. 



But those papooses come into the world to 

 stay from 100 to 130 years, and generally 

 do it; and their mammas are not broken 

 down with that " tired feeling " at the age 

 of twenty or thirty that makes wrecks of so 

 many white women; and their medical alma- 

 nacs do not have a very wide distribution. 

 They lack beauty, but their comfort is what 

 the millionaires seldom find out here. 



