Octolisr, igo-- 



American ^ae -Journal 



line. A description of ihis country anil 

 of the- moving of my apiary may Ik- nf 

 some interest. 



January 8, 1908. I bought 129 colonies 

 in double hives, together with extractor 

 and supplies. We hauled them in big 

 wagons six miles to a railroad where 

 wc put them in a car, and tl;c road was 

 none of the best, either. To fasten the 

 I)ees we nailed the bottom and top on 

 il;e hives, then nailed over the entrance 

 a iiiece of wire screen. I found that 2 

 liieces were the best, cutting one strip 

 longer than the other, and nailing it on 

 tirsl. only leaving a small entrance, then 

 a piece a little longer than the opening 

 w;is easily nailed on. In a short time 

 wc nailed all up except this opening the 

 day before wc shipped them. Then in 



1 he morning, early, we closed them all in. 



I shipped them 42 miles by railroad, 

 then hauled them a short distance to 

 wliere they now stand. They were nailed 

 up 3 days and 2 nights, I liberating them 

 late the third day. I never lost a single 

 swarm, and but a few bees. 1 con- 

 sider that was good luck. I would have 

 been satisfied if I had lost 20 colonies, 

 considering the journey. The weather 

 was warm in the daytime. In fact, we 

 have no cold weather here, some even 

 using hives J^-inch thick, with no shel- 

 ter in winter. We seldotn have over 



2 inches of snow in a winter. This 

 year was an exceptionally dry one. We 

 had cold northwest wind all through 

 April, May and June. In June and July 

 it was very hot. From January until 

 the middle of July we had no rain at all, 

 it being the dryest season in 13 years. 

 Since the middle of July wc have had 

 our rainy season, which has brought out 

 the flowers in abundance, and the bees 

 have done well, since we have.mesquite, 

 century plant or niuscal, cactus, and lots 

 of different varieties of mountain plants 

 tliat yield nectar. 



I have increased to 150 colonies: have 

 had several swarms come to my yard 

 from the mountains. There are plenty 

 of liees here in the mountains wherever 

 ihcy can lind water. 1 have colonies 

 that have stored over 40 pounds since 

 the rains started. 



1 have noticed several articles in the 

 American Bee Journal as to priority 

 rights. I will tell you how i settled it 

 here. One of my neighbors (a good- 



n.-itnred fellow 1 li.ad 2 or 3 colonies. 

 During the warm days of the spring 

 my lees commenced robbing his. Be- 

 fore lie noticed it they "had cleaned him 

 out." In a joking way he said lie had 

 even to burn his hives to keep niy liees 

 from carrying them off. 



I do not consider this the best means 

 to settle it, but it worked in this case. 

 They might not come in this direction 

 next time. 



Don Luis, Ariz. 



Locating an Apiary 

 ation. Etc. 



Pollin- 



'Fhcre is no one question that ranks 

 in importance, or which should receive 

 more thoughtful consideration by one 

 just starting in bee-keeping, than tliat of 

 location. Of course, one's surround- 

 ings of people, scenery and climate are 

 important, but one can hardly go amiss 

 of pleasing prospects in these lines, any- 

 where in our favored country, and so 

 w-e have only to look to it that we secure 

 the conditions that make for success in 

 our chosen line. At the present time 

 we have knowledge that makes it possi- 

 ble to select wisely in relation to this 

 crucial point. 



We now know that excessive rains, 

 and even more— drouths — are inimical 

 to nectar-secretion, and so make against 

 any large production of honey. In 

 nearly all sections, where we depend 

 upon natural honey-plants, like white 

 clover, tulip, linden, sage, mesquite, etc., 

 we are always more or less dependent 

 upon the rain-fall, and so can have no 

 surety that we will have favorable 

 seasons, and get a crop. But even sup- 

 posing that the rains are rightly gauged, 

 and wc have everything just to our lik- 

 ing, yet the cold of the spring and early 

 summer, especially if attended with 

 harsh winds and heavy fogs, will stay 

 the secretion of nectar, and work of 

 the bees, so that we will still lament 

 the absence of honey. In our quest, then, 

 of the ideal honey location, we must 

 seek some section where lioth these 

 handicaps are wanting. 



In Nevada, Central California — the 

 great San Joaquin Valley — .\rizona. 



*4 



lI.DIiN ApI.\KV Ol- W. (). CORKV, UoN LlIS. .\RIZ. 



I .Mijuiitains i>nly i miles away.) 



Coloradci. the Cniinly of Imperial an.l 

 the Coachella Valley in Riverside Coun 

 ty, California, we have our honey-plant-- 

 in cultivated crops, like alfalfa, beans, 

 melons, asparagus, and various kind', 

 of fruits. These are not dependent 

 upon the rains at all, but are kept in 

 full vigor by irrigation. Thus we are 

 sure that we will have the conditions 

 for full nectar-secretion, and wc have 

 .gained the first essential point. ' 



Again, these sections are inland val 

 leys, where the cold and damp, and the 

 blighting winds, are not prone to come, 

 and so the nectar-glands are not blight 

 ed, and the bees are not forced to sta\ 

 in the hives. Have we not, then, iii 

 these locations the best sections for a 

 sure honey-production of any section of 

 the world? I have long thought so, and 

 the experience of the last years seem 

 to make this surmise a certainty. 



Bees and Pollination. - 



Despite the many excellent articles ni 

 our agricultural press, regarding the 

 necessity of pollination of plants, and 

 the valuable service of bees in this work, 

 I am siire that the importance of the 

 subject is not at all appreciated at its 

 real magnitude. We do not practice in- 

 tensive agriculture as they do in Eu 

 rope. Our rich virgin soil, and general 

 thrift as a people, make it unnecessary, 

 and so wc are content to get the half loaf, 

 when the full-sized one might as well 

 be secured. 



Who has not seen far too often the 

 dwarfed and deformed strawberry and 

 blackberry, and even the pear and apple, 

 and has rightly divined the cause? Do 

 we realize, as we should, that this im- 

 perfection, and the more frequent en- 

 tire absence of fruit, is the result of fail- 

 ure of bees or other insects to cross 

 pollinate the fruit ? I ain persuaded that 

 many fruits will not bear at all without 

 this important function on the part of 

 insect pollinators, and the great part of 

 this work must be done by the bees of 

 the hive, as there are by no means 

 enough of the other pollen-carrying in 

 sects to do the work. 



Other plants will bear when all con 

 ditions are favorable, but will refuse to 

 do so when weather or climate lays a 

 heavy hand on (be growth and vigor. 

 "Such plants will not refuse when the 

 flowers are cross-pollinated. In some 

 cases a part of the bloom will be fertile 

 to its own pollen, while other will be 

 sterile. The deformed berry is the re 

 suit of only partial pollination. Gnarly 

 apples and pears are not unfrequeiitly 

 the result of the s;niie lack of pollina' 

 tion. 



I make bohl to say that the time will 

 come when science will be so well uii 

 (lerstood that special pains will be taken 

 to secure enough bees in every agricul 

 tural section so that every fruit and tree 

 will do its best. 1 f every farmer would 

 select out one child, and give him everv 

 opportunity to study and manage bees, 

 giving him or her the entire proceeds 

 of the hive, we would not only have 

 many more of the children of the farm 

 held to the farm, but we w-ould have a 

 greater gain in the belter accomplish- 

 ment of Ihis all-iin|iori;int work of cross- 

 polliii;Uion. 



In the olden lime-- ;ihnost every farm 

 had ils few colonies .>! bees. True, these 



