1873. 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



99 



kept for feeding in times of .scarcity ; we .should be very 

 i-arefiil not to extract the clover honey utitil just before 

 the basswood blooms, unless we are very certniii thiit we 

 will h;iYe lime for the honey to ripen well each time. 

 The Vwsswood honey .--hould 1)0 removed before there is 

 any honey brought in of an inferior quality. I lind it frcn- 

 erally tnmecessary to make more than three jrrades of 

 licjncy in our locality ; all that is not fit for the third 

 ^rade, should be reserved for feedin;;. Honey should be 

 mostly sealed up before extracting; that which is not 

 sealed will become candied much sooner than the sealed. 

 In order t« induce the honey to become candied solid and 

 regular, the barrel should not be lillcd quite full, and a 

 piece of wire gauze tacked over the bung so as to admit 

 the air. To keep it frcm candying, as long as possible, 

 111! the barrel full after allowing a sutlicient time for the 

 air to escape, and bung tightly. li!. C. L. Lakch, JL D. 

 Ashland, Uoone Co., Mo. 



CALIFORNIA NOTES. 



yf!'- KEPI Italian bees in northern Iowa two years 

 ''\\ and it, gave mc the bee lever. Owing to poor 

 — ' health had to leave ; went to Colorado—no place 

 for bees and Irnit— brought \\]> in California, adjoining 

 llie city of Los Angeles. My health is improving, and 

 to tell the truth I should hate to die and leave this 

 "garden of Eden." Orange trees almobt breaking 

 down with the golden fruit— a short distance ofl", the 

 mountains, covered with snow, with the sun shining 

 brightly, as it docs most of the time here. M'hat could 

 be more beautiful here below y 



I bought, last spring, iti stands ot black bees in old 

 box hives ; increased to over- ,"550 and made 2(00 pounds 

 honey. I Italianized most of them. My mode of in- 

 troducing a valuable queen, is to take two jjieecs of 

 wire cloth the size of fram", tack strips of wood i inch 

 ihiek to the edges letting them ])rojest at the corners 

 enough to hold a small string. Take a frame of brood 

 just hatching, put on your cloth, ])ut (jueen inside, tie 

 the corners, and put your frame in among the bees. 

 In a few days she will have commenced to lay, the 

 the eggs can be seen through the cloth, just cut the 

 strings, and spread the arrangement, just enough for 

 the bees to pass, for a day or two before removing the 

 frames. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Jan. r2th, 1876. 



My bees are doing nicely. Out of the 3,i0 stands, 

 have as yet lost but two. They are bringing in pollen 

 finely now, the wintering does nol. trouble us here. 



I am calculating to make this season, from 200 stands 

 •20,000 lbs. of honey and 80O stands of bees. My friend 

 Amateur tells me he is c;dculatiiig to make from 200 

 stands 100,000 lbs. of honey. I tell you, friend Novice, 

 just bring out some of your best bee men here, and we 

 will wake up the natives. E. E. f^H.*.TTiTCK. 



Los Angeles, Cal., Jan., 28th, 1876. 



T/ic riiiKle I'fc.vfr acting lioney and melting wax previ- 

 ous to the introduction of the extractor here, and even 

 yet. Work the broken combs so as to cut or break the 

 combs from the hive and melt them in the sun, which 

 they do by making a triangular box like a corner cu])- 

 bcard four to eight feet long, and two to three broad 

 on the face ; cupboard is laid face upward so that the 

 glass covered door will let the full rays of the sun 

 througli on the honey. Placing the extractor on the 

 south side of a building to get the additional reflected 

 heat, the inside of the box is lined with tin to make it 

 honey proof and to reflect heat. It is supported on 

 legs, and a faucet at the lower corner draws off the 

 honey. A shelf of perforated tin or strong wire cloth 

 is laid in loosely, covering all the surface beneath the 



glass, and eight to twelve inches from it. As the wax 

 and honey melt they run througli this screen, when 

 the honey is drawn oif and the wax lifted out. 



Oin- good bee-keeping friend .1. (J. Corey, here, 

 claims this heating is of great service in preventing 

 the candying of good sage honey, consecjuently he 

 heats all his extracted honey in this wax melter. 



U. Wilms, san Buena Ventura, Cal. 



P. S.— The wax must be i-emelted and moulded into 

 cakes ; this makes very pretty wax. 



OW if this department is a mixed up mess, 

 please excuse it. Our table had become 

 covered with a mass of letters that we found 

 it impossible to classify, which nevertheless 

 contained many items of importance. We 

 have therefore endeavored to put it all into the 

 smallest amount of space possible, and yet em- 

 body the important ideas. For an index to the 

 points touched upon, see contents. 



I wish to know if you would care to sell some bel- 

 lows smokers ; imin-oved Quinbys. I got one from 

 him, which wore out in a short time. I can make a 

 better article for $1.00, perhaps less. They would be 

 heavier, not quite so neat, and have a contrivance to 

 keep the lire in if desired. 



Do you think it would i)ay to get up a pair of plat- 

 form scales for bee men, to weigh from ].")0 to 200 lbs., 

 to sell at 10,00? 



I was at your place the day yon left fdr Michigan ; 

 was sorry yon were not at home, but I looked around 

 and do not regret my visit. I like glass division Ijoards 

 you have in the house apiary and have made some on 

 the same plan, only with wood frames. It will often 

 save taking the (juilt ott" to examine. I do not think 

 candy will be as good as syru]) in spring; I make my 

 feeders out of shot bag?. J. Winfield. 



Hubbard, O., Feb., 11th, 187<;. 



A smoker must be Ii_2"ht, and neatly finished. 

 As we are perhaps a little fastidious, it may be 

 sometime before we are suited ; at present, we 

 have not succeeded in making anything that 

 we like as well as Quinby's. Something to 

 suspend a single hive, even if it did not weigh 

 very accurately, would be quite desirable, but 

 it ought not to co?t more than $1.00. Perhaps 

 some simple coiled spring, that would indicate 

 when the bees were gaining or losing, might 

 answer every purpose. Who will get up some- 

 thing neat and cheap? The same instrument 

 should have a caviacitf sufficient to tell when 

 the hive was heavy enough for winter. Our 

 out-door hives were all weighed ; those in the 

 house apiary, we could not wei^h very well, 

 and nearly half of them starved. The glass di- 

 vision boards are very convenient in the house 

 apiary, but we would hardly advise them for 

 out-door hives. 



1 used the Barker & Ulcer sectional box the past 

 season, but the bees failed to follow the guides — build- 

 ing the combs in every direction, so that the sections 

 could not be cut apart without the honey running out. 

 Otis Fulleij, Mason, Mich. 



Please take pen in hand and as you read answer by 

 yes, no, oi- figures as required, and return this sheet 

 answers and all. Are the tin corners and top bars of 

 Langstroth frames suflicicnt for the section frame for 

 surplus to rest on ? [Yes.] Will bees winter weU in 



