253 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 15 



■wrote for many j'ears for these columns un- 

 der the nom. cle j^lume of Rambler. He first 

 began his writings as a traveling correspond- 

 ent in the vicinity of his old home. His woi'k 

 pleased so well ihat we sent him across the 

 country to California, then up into Oregon 

 and finally into Cuba From all of these 

 points he sent in regular notes of travel il- 

 lustrated by his pen and camera. Perhaps 

 the writings of no correspondent we ever 

 had were more eagerly read than his. He 

 was our "funny" man, and yet at the same 

 time with all his fun-making he picked up 

 and gave to our readers many a valuable 

 idea which, with the aid of his camera, he 

 placed before ovir readers. When he died 

 in Cuba, some three or four years ago, he 

 was sincerely mourned as a dear friend. 

 His wife died early, as will be seen by the 

 inscription on the stone; but dviring the years 

 of his travels alone for this journal he con- 

 tinually mourned her loss. Notwithstanding 

 that he made the bee-keeping woi'ld laugh, 

 and laugh heartily, his life was one of sad- 

 ness to those of us who knew him best. We 

 are glad to present a view of the final rest- 

 ing-place of all that was mortal; but his soul 

 has Ued to that home that knows no sorrow, 

 to' meet that companion of his earlier life. — 



Ed.] 



«»» 



CEMENT HIVE STANDS AVITH WOOD- 

 EN FLOORBOARDS. 



[Your scheme of cement hive-stands is all 

 right, except that such stands would be rath- 

 er expensive. However, it would probably 

 be economical in the long rvin, if one could 

 be svii'e that he is going to stay in the bee 

 business for thirty or forty years, and could 

 also be sure that, during all that time, he 

 would never change the style of his hive. 

 The expense covild be lessened, howevei", by 

 making it of less height and making the side 

 walls of it thinner. 



Aside from the matter of expense would be 

 the lack of portability. This alone would be 

 a very serious objection to it, for in practice 

 nowadays it becomes necessary to move 

 hives frequently. A hive with this stand 

 could not be moved without moving the 

 whole thing. Would it not be better to 

 make a cement hive-stand pure and simple, 

 without the fioor-board, and then put a reg- 

 ular hive-bottom on this stand? The hives 

 could then be readily moved, leaving the 

 hive-stands as a permanent fixture. — Eu.] 



FULL 



SHEETS OF FOUNDATION TO 

 AVOID DRONE C03IB. 



The Man who ought to Read Bee-papers. 



BY J. O. SHEARMAN. 



BY F. W. KLEINEGGER. 



The engraving shows my cement hive- 

 bottoms with board fioors which I have been 

 using this summer. Any one can under- 

 stand the construction, so no description is 

 needed. 



Derby, Kan., Dec. 25. 



A CEMENT HIVE-FOUNDATION WITH VTOODEN FLOOR-BOAKDS. 



I noticed that most of the writers on Cali- 

 fornia looked up the larger bee-keepers and 

 big stories that looked well on paper, but 

 hardly touched on the condition of bee-keep- 

 ers here of the smaller class, say of 100 colo- 

 nies or under— those who ought to take bee- 

 papers and don't— many of them not up to 

 modern methods at all", ami not working 

 their bees in their own interests. Some of 

 them do not know how, and others do 



not have the 

 means. Bees 

 worked in that 

 slipshod way 

 never pay full 

 r e turns any- 

 where. For in- 

 stance, I saw an 

 old gentleman 

 in Pomona, at 

 his house, put- 

 ting narrow 

 strips of foun- 

 dation in the 

 brood - frames. 

 He was getting 

 ready before 

 swarming time. 

 1 asked him, 

 vMr. P., won't 

 your laees fill up 

 most of those 

 frames with 

 drone comb?" 



"Oh, no! I 

 guess not; that 

 is the way we 

 generally do 

 here, and they 

 always get 



