340 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 1 



any better work whatever in comparison 

 with those on which the excluder was re- 

 tained; and I have been forced to the con- 

 clusion that, in a good yield at least, it is no 

 hindrance whatever to the bees. 



HOW TO PREVENT SMOKE FROM ENTERING 

 THE BELLOVV^S. 



I had one of the Cornell smokers, and had 

 not used it very long before I noticed the 

 smoke that is drawn back when the smoker 

 was standing or hanging on the hive, which 

 it| often does, caused the bellows - board 

 around the blast-hole to become blackened 

 and charred by the heat and smoke. I tried 

 an experiment to see if I could not prevent 

 the heat and smoke from entering the bel- 

 lows by tacking a light strip of leather a dis- 

 tance from the small hole and letting it cov- 

 er the hole, acting as a flap valve. It was 

 not very successful, as I had to work the bel- 

 lows with more force to get enough of a 

 blast to do the work, and in a few days the 

 heat and smoke had it charred and crisp so 

 that*I had to take it off. 



I figured that, if such things continued, I 

 should soon have my bellows ruined, as the 

 life of the old Cornell or Bingham was one 

 season with me, while I iised one of your 

 Crane smokers with check valve for three 

 seasons, and the bellows was fairly good at 

 the end of that time. The fire-box had burn- 

 ed out. I set about to invent some kind of 

 device to help matters, and I solved it by 

 making a device as you will notice by the 

 enclosed drawing. I get just as strong a 

 blast as I did before I put it on, and it pre- 

 vents the heat and smoke from entering the 

 bellows, and is impossible to foul or clog. 



Tempe, Ariz. L. E. Redden. 



[With the older smokers, that is, those with 

 a valve in the bellows to let in the air, this 



device ought to work satisfactorily, and 

 would be of much value, especially if fine 

 fuel were used. But with the new valveless 

 smokers, in which the air passes back through 

 the blast-hole, such an arrangement would 

 not work, for the reason that it would pre- 

 vent the bellows from filling with air. And 

 with the new blast-tubes there is almost no 

 complaint, for the reason that the tube ex- 

 tends so far up into the fire-box that prac- 

 tically no sparks can be drawn back into the' 

 bellows. — Ed.] 



THE NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BEE-KEEPERS' 

 ASSOCIATION. 



It may be of interest to some of your read- 

 ers, especially for those of this coast and the 

 State of California, to know or to learn that 

 there exists a Northern California Bee-keep- 

 ers' Association whose object it is to promote 

 the welfare of the bee-industry in the whole 

 of northern California. This association held 

 its second annual convention in Sacramento 

 on Jan. 28 and 39, which was attended by 

 about 20 members coming from a good many 

 counties north of the Stanislaus River. Prof. 

 J. M. Rankin, of the Government Experi- 

 ment Station, at Chico, addressed the assem- 

 bly on various subjects which were discussed 

 at some length. 



The supervisors of Sacramento County 

 were petitioned to appoint a foul-brood in- 

 spector for the county, and the members 

 from other counties were advised to follow 

 that example in their respective home coun- 

 ties. The members present agreed to sign a 

 contract not to sell any honey for less than 

 the figures fixed by the executive board of 

 the association. They indorsed and approved 

 the work done for our industry by the ex- 

 periment station at Chico under its present 

 manager. Prof. Rankin. 



After receiving the reports of its officers, 

 and approving the work done by them, the 

 election of officers for the ensuing year took 

 place, whei'eupon the convention adjourned, 

 to meet again in a one-day session on June 

 24, 1907. 



Any one interested in our association, which 

 is a branch of the National Bee-keepers' As- 

 sociation, can get further information from 

 our Secretary, Mr. B. B. Hogaboom, Elk 

 Grove, Sacramento Co., Cal. 



Stockton, Cal. Sebastian Eselin. 



A CASE WHERE IT PAID TO FEED. 



In July and August, as we have very little 

 yellow and white sweet clover here, there is 

 no honey coming in — not enough, in fact, to 

 keep up brood-rearing fast enough to have 

 strong colonies for the fall honey-flow, which 

 commences about August 10. Well, I fed 

 those colonies every evening, about dusk, 

 just enough syi'up to stimulate them suffi- 

 ciently to rear brood pretty fast; then when 

 the honey-flow opened I had colonies just 

 boiling over with bees. I got over 1700 lbs. 

 of honey from 30 colonies this fall, and put 

 them away heavy with honey for winter. 

 Those that we did not feed got very little if 



