546 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 1 



Bee-keeping in Southern 

 California 



By Mrs. II. G. Ackt-in, Olendoka. Cat,. 



Mr. J. E. Pleasants, Apiary Inspector of 

 Orange County, reports foul brood nearly 

 eliminated from his district. Those people 

 should be happy; also the bees. 



Of all the brilliancy I ever witnessed, a 

 full-blown Southern California moonlight 

 night overtoi)s it all. Probably this is not 

 in line with bee-keeping notes, but I think 

 bees might work better on those nights 

 than on cloudy days. 



The little workers in the Santa Monica 

 Mountains are doing their level best to get 

 square with the world again. Advices from 

 both Mr. C. C. Schubert and Mrs. D. K. 

 Smith are to the effect that honey has been 

 coming in fairly well the past few weeks. 



A bee-keeping friend near Sierra Madre 

 tliinks the solution of the problem of eight 

 or ten frame hives is very simple. Have 

 only one width, and that ten-frame, and 

 when an eight-frame is desired, i)ut in di- 

 \ision-boards the thickness of a frame on 

 each side. Personally, I think if only ten- 

 frame hives were made, bee-keepers would 

 in a short time consign to the woodshed the 

 follower-boards, and thank their lucky 

 stars for having been obliged to adopt the 

 ten-frame hive. 



A bee-keeper near Hollywood has had the 

 misfortune of getting foul brood into his 

 ai)iary of 210 colonies by feeding honey for 

 stimulating jjurposes last spril^g. The hon- 

 ey was bought from an acquaintance, and 

 was sui)posed to be all right, but dire con- 

 sequences followed. Ninety per cent of the 

 colonies were treated, with the assistance of 

 the insjiector, and there is no surety but the 

 others may have the disease later on. The 

 bees were in fine working condition, and 

 the forage good when the disease was dis- 

 covered, .fust imagine what a loss this 

 l)rother has sustained, not mentioning the 

 work and worry. Better not feed honey 

 under any circumstances, no matter where 

 it comes from. 



-*- 



Mr. W. 11. Wiggins, President of tlie Los 

 Angeles Co. Bee-keepers' Club, has a unicpie 

 method for watering his bees. It is an in- 

 verted five-gallon water-bottle in its swing- 

 ing frame set on a box aljout two feet high, 

 rnderneath the mouth of the bottle is 

 placed a granite i)ie-tin in which is a piece 

 of burlap. Water escapes from the bottle 



as fast as tlie bees take it from the tin. 

 Some salt is sprinkled on the buriaj), and 

 this bottle of water lasts his ai)iary of 110 

 colonies about a week. Mr. Wiggins' bees 

 are i)laced in a young eucalyptus grove, and 

 are always in the shade, so the bottle of 

 water lasts them much longer than it would 

 the same number exposed to the eternal 

 sunshine. This apiary is located in East 

 Los Angeles, just outside the city limits, 

 and did fairly well the first part of the sea- 

 son on eucalyi)tus blossoms and hoarhound. 



A dry season with us means not only no 

 honey and great loss to bee-keepers, but in 

 some instances, at least, death to all queens. 

 In a pai)er read at our club meeting June 4, 

 Mr. Grenville .1. Lynn, of Los Angeles, ad- 

 vocated killing all queens as soon as it was 

 found no honey was in sight — one provision 

 being that the colonies should be strong 

 enough in bees to keep up for a month. 

 The principal advantages he claims for this 

 method are the cessation of brood-rearing, 

 thereby saving from 25 to 50 lbs. of honey 

 per colony, and that there are all young 

 queens to start a new season with. It seems 

 to me I can, with the naked eye, see some 

 disadvantages, so would advise the beginner 

 to go slow on this pro]:)Osition. Test a few 

 colonies and watch results. But in the 

 meantime let us hope that this w^holesale 

 slaughter will not be necessary again for 

 many years. 



Instead of putting in so much time, en- 

 ergy, and brain force trying to prevent aft- 

 er-swarming, why not settle the whole prob- 

 lem at one stroke when the first swarm 

 issues? That it is very easy, and can be 

 done, I know from experience; and that it 

 is as practical in this as in other States I 

 have recently learned from an' extensive 

 bee-keeper who has ]iracticed the same 

 method for many years. When the swarm 

 is in the air, or very soon after it begins to 

 rush out, so as to be sure it is a real swarm, 

 take the old hive away or simj^ly turn the 

 entrance another way and put an empty 

 hive on the old stand to catch the field bees 

 as they come in. Put the swarm in that 

 hive and take the supers from the parent 

 colony (bees and all) and put on the swarm, 

 giving them an empty super at the same 

 time if necessary, as the swarm must have 

 l)lenty of room. At your convenience set 

 the parent colony where you want it. The 

 swarming pn^blem has been settled for these 

 two colonies for the season. Sometimes it 

 miglit be necessary to give the swarm a 

 frame of eggs andlarva^ from the ])arent 

 colony if tiiey show a disposition to swarm 

 out: and one can make the i)arent colony 

 doubly sure by cutting queen-cells; l)ut the 

 last-named i)recautions are not necessary 

 once in a hundred times. This little piece 

 of infornuition was suggested by the paper 

 Mr. E. J. liarzen read at our June club 

 meeting. 



