1054 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 15 



Nevada, probably. It covers nearly- half 

 an acre, and protects the farming: tools, and 

 houses the grain of a 13.000-acre farm. It is 

 a rude affair, but substantial, and under 

 its cover we stored our one thousand ten- 

 gallon cases this season. It belongs to the 

 farm of Arthur Rodgers, a San Francisco 

 attorne.v who engages in rural pursuits 

 while poring over legal lore. The hay- 

 wagon entering this barn contains some 200 

 ten-gallon cases, and perched thereon are 

 the apiarists before mentioned. 



Fig. 7 shows the lively up-to-date city of 

 Reno, Nevada, as seen from a hill back of 

 the residence portion. The Truckee River 

 is seen in the foreground. The smoke from 

 two trains^ passing as the writer was press- 

 ing the bulb, can be seen at either end of 

 the view. Reno is the principal cit}- in the 

 State, although not the capital. 



Watsonville, Cal. 



[This collection of pictures gives a fair 

 idea of bee-keeping and alfalfa-growing in 

 the irrigated regions of the great West. I 



DRONE COMB IN SHAKEN SWARMS. 



Why the Bees Build Drone Comb. 



BV M. A. GILL. 



Mr. Root: — I see quite often that some 

 writer advises against the use of starters, 

 claiming that it can not be done without 

 filling the hives with worthless drone combs. 

 Now, I practice forced swarming; but when 

 I make a swarm I make a rousing big one, 

 and usualU" hang over one or two frames 

 from the parent hive that are filled with 

 honey, larvie. and eggs, so the queen does 

 not get anj- immediate relief from those 

 combs. I am not one of those who believe 

 that bees prefer to store honey in drone 

 comb, and I think the facts will bear me out. 



Who has not noticed that any time before 

 swarming, and after a colon_v has become 

 quite prosperous, if a frame with starter 

 only is given either at the side or in the 

 center of the cluster, the bees will almost 

 invariably build drone comb? It is not be- 



FIG. /. — THE RESIDENCE PORTION OF RENO, NEVADA. 



GROUND. 



TRUCKEE RI .ER IN THE FORE- 



have seen dozens and dozens of ranches a 

 ^ood deal like that shown in these views; 

 but I regret that I have not seen as manj- 

 niceU" arranged apiaries in new well-paint- 

 -^d hives as appear in these pictures. 

 Thorne A: Ercanbrack are to be congratu- 

 lated on their excellent system, their fine 

 location, and their resultant crops of honey. 

 It makes us Easterners almost wish that we 

 could go out and squat right down beside 

 them. But that would be wrong, morallj- and 

 practically; no tenderfoot could go into these 

 fields and divide the profits i^the honej-) 

 without ruining the business of the origi- 

 nal resident bee-keeper, and at the same 

 time ruining his own chance of making 

 any monej*. The only way for a tender- 

 foot is to go to some locality soon to be open- 

 ed up to irrigation, and get on to the field 

 before some one else does, or buy a bee 

 range, providing he can have the assurance 

 that somebody else would not come and steal 

 Nwhat he has paid for. — Ed.] 



cause the bees need the room to store honej', 

 but it is because they, true to their instinct, 

 want drones, as thej- intend, perhaps, ta 

 swarm later on. The time is ripe for them 

 to do so, and they will build at least three- 

 fifths drone comb in all the room you will 

 allow them to have at this time. They do 

 it because they want drones, not because 

 the}' prefer it for storage purposes. Now, 

 take this same colony that is building so 

 much drone comb. It may. perhaps, have 

 cell cups with eggs in (but it matters not if 

 it doesn't), and shake it into an empty hive; 

 hang in one frame of eggs and larvje, and 

 hang in frames with onlj' starters, and see 

 what the bees will do. 



These bees have swarmed, and no one 

 knows it better than the}- do. They have a 

 fertile queen, hence no use for drones: but 

 they want workers for the season's work, 

 and the same bees that were so persistently 

 building drone comb last week are now just 

 as persistently building worker comb, and 



