American Hee Journal 



Rcflectioiiiy 



By W. A. PRYAL, Alden Station. Oakland, Calif. 



To Correspondents. 



Krom time to time I receive letters 

 from persons in various portions of the 

 United States who desire information 

 about bees and other things in Califor- 

 nia. Where only a brief answer will 

 cover the questions asked, I usually re- 

 ply at once, but sometimes I lay the 

 letter aside until I have time to give 

 to such correspondence. To answer 

 personally all letters that come to me 

 from strangers who seek information 

 of the kind mentioned, is no small task — 

 (and some of them don't even send as 

 much as a postage stamp to pay for 

 tlic reply). I am willing to answer any 

 reasonable questions, but don't expect a 

 long letter from me, and be sure to en- 

 close at least a stamp to cover the post- 

 age. ^^_ 



A Long Spell Without Rain. 



It was a dry old time we had the past 

 spring. If it were not for the heavy 

 rains in January and the early part of 

 February, it would have been- a dry year, 

 indeed. ' I don't remember such a long 

 spell without rain in the spring than 

 was the season we have recently passed 

 through. The earth became so dry that 

 it was almost impossible to get in the 

 crops, except in the low lands, after the 

 middle of March. There was moisture 

 enough in the earth to keep the honey- 

 plants growing, but the dry spell hasten- 

 ed early blooming— blooming that might 

 cut the honey-crop short. And this I 

 really believe is going to be the case. I 

 am writing this in the middle of May, 

 and I notice that flowers that are not 

 usually in bloom until about the begin- 

 ing of July are now in blossom. The 

 Iiills began to parch a inonth sooner than 

 usual. Of course the rains that we have 

 been having in moderate amounts at 

 intervals since the first of the month 

 have been of some benefit to some crops ; 

 it lias been injurious to the newly cut 

 hay, and early cherries have been some- 

 what injured by cracking by the untimely 

 moisture. Of course these rains have 

 been beneficial to the honey-secreting 

 flora. 



Circumventing the Pilfering Bees. 



A municipality maintains a costly po- 

 lice force to prevent crime, and one of 

 tlic most abhorred crimes is that of 

 theft ; the offender being severely pun- 

 ished. But the pilfering bee is more for- 

 tunate than the human robber. This is 

 mainly owing to the dexterity of the 

 former in evading capture. As it is so 

 hard to capture the robber-bee, the best 

 tiling to do is to guard against her 

 depredations. During the period of such 



wantonness, let's get under a tent while 

 going through the hives. 



"But I don't like the average tent ; 

 you shut out the bees that are returning 

 from the fields, thus demoralizing them," 

 says one. Have the tent so arranged 

 that it allows the entrance to be outside 

 the tent. The robbers seem to overlook 

 the hive-entrance ; they seek the occasion 

 of the strong honey odor — the top of the 

 hive that is uncovered. There have been 

 times when I was obliged to remove 

 supers toward nightfall in order to es- 

 cape robbers. But by using bee-escapes 

 this is unnecessary : put the escapes in 

 place at the close of the day's work and 

 in the morning remove the supers. Be 

 careful in replacing the combs after 

 they have been run through the extrac- 

 tor. If not done immediately after re- 

 moving the filled super, wait until late 

 in the evening. 



I'p Stroke or Down Stroke — Who 



Knows? 



To be or not to be — 



Whether to shave the comb 



On an ascending stroke. 



Or slice it off downward. 



If earthward, dig into tne tin 



And mar our knife's keen edge: 



Or, if heavenward, clip our fingers. 



And, perchance, swipe off our nose! 



balmy air too, and, perceiving the small 

 Ijoy armed to the teeth for big game, 

 concludes to show the bear-hunter that 

 liis gun is not as dreadful a weapon as 

 the one she has snugly sheathed in her 

 "unmentionables." With that she makes 

 a dive for the lad and drives a javelin 

 under the tip of his nose. The boy sets 

 up a yell that would do justice to a 

 Piute ; the bee laughs at the fun she has 

 made, and then — dies. 



Of course, this little tale could point 

 a moral. 



Very Un-American. 



If there is any thing that "makes me 

 tired" more than anything else, it is to 

 find that some of our American publish- 

 ers are such Anglo-maniacs that they 

 are not content to ape lots of things 

 English, and yet harmless, but tliey go 

 to tlie extreme of printing books for 

 American readers and retaining the 

 spelling of quite a class of words that 

 we decided to, and have long, spelled 

 in a more common-sense way. The 

 Doubleday-Page Company got out a bee- 

 book not long since that sins in this 

 regard. I find the English colour, hon- 

 our, etc., style throughout its pages. It's 

 a wonder they don't 'itch the cough 

 hup to the waggon and leave the hold 

 'oss at 'ome. Doncherknow it would be 

 jolly; it would be better than the beastly 

 Hamerican way, you know. By jingo, it 

 would. 



Early Busybodies. 



The lark is up to meet the sun; 

 The bee her labor has begun. 

 Johnny brought forth his little gun, 

 But the busy bee spoiled his fun. 



That's "versifying" with a vengeance, 

 but it expresses a whole lot of truth, 

 nevertheless. Just imagine Johnny go- 

 ing forth at daybreak to hunt bear, and 

 an innocent little bee sallying out in the 



The Plague of Robber-Bees. 



When the real dry weather begins then 

 the little robber-bee's "voice" is heard 

 in the land, and it has not only a doleful 

 note for the apiarist, but the sound of 

 calamity as well. Beware of the robber- 

 bee ; make her days in your quiet and 

 peaceful bee-yard as few and short as 

 possible. Better still, see that she gets 

 no start in the apiary. It seems that 

 some bees are more susceptible to rob 

 than others ; why, I don't know. We 

 know that if we are careless and leave 

 honey dripping about hives when look- 

 ing them over, and when we are extract- 

 ing, we are more than likely to start 

 robbing, unless there is a great flow of 

 nectar at such times. But when the real 

 hot weather of the last of spring and 

 during summer and fall arrives, the odor 

 of an open colony will be the red flag 

 in the eyes of the bees to start robbing 

 and fighting. 



An Eye on Climate and Business. 



A young man in Texas writes me that 

 he intends to visit this State during Au- 

 gust, and as he is a farmer and bee- 

 keeper he would like to find employment 

 during the 4 weeks he is here, so as to 

 reduce the cost of the trip. And he 

 would like to know if one of his sisters, 

 who is a good cook, could easily find 

 employment should she come with him. 



It is evident these young people have 

 the right stuff in them. I should judge 

 that they will succeed anywhere they 

 may cast their lots. But it is not al- 

 ways easy to drop into something within 

 a few weeks after coming to a new place. 

 August is a nice month in the Coast 

 counties, but rather hot in the interior. 

 The harvest in the grainfields is being 

 finished, and the wine and raisin crops 

 are under way. The season with the 

 bees virtually closes in July — this year 

 it will close earlier than usual. There 

 is good demand for field and vineyard 

 hands at a fair wage. The best demand 

 today in the State is for good cooks and 

 housekeepers. And the pay is good — 

 from $25 to $50 per month. 



A Tonsorial Apiarist. 



From one of the mining districts of 

 Nevada I received a letter asking if a 

 barber who has been keeping bees in a 

 small way, would be justified in moving 

 to some one of the towns or cities near 

 Oakland ; he would still like to manipu- 

 late the bees as well as the razor and 

 the scissors. I am sure he would not 

 find so much sand in the beards and 

 "top-nuts" of the men hereabouts as he 

 most likely does in the sand-swept min- 

 ing regions of the Sage-brush State, 



