614 



glkaxix(t8 in bee culture 



681 



Bee-keeping in Southern 

 California 



BY Mrs. H. G. Acki>in, Glendoka, Ca\.. 



A grocer and a bee-keeper were talking 

 about candied honey recently, and in the 

 course of the conversation the grocer gave 

 the bee-keeper a few pointers about keeping 

 honey in a liquid state. The plan he fol- 

 lowed was very simple. He just mixed the 

 honey with glucose or corn syrup, and it 

 stayed liquid a long time. This is no joke. 

 It actually happened, and less than 100 miles 

 from my own town too. 



We paid Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Schubert, of 

 Santa Monica, a visit the other day, and 

 they drove us up Mandeville Canyon, where 

 some apiaries are located. The Pritchard 

 apiary was the first one, but nobody was at 

 home except the bees. The location is quite 

 pretty, and made one feel like going right 

 to work; but, of course, there was nothing 

 to do or the owner would have been there. 

 Two or three miles further on is the apiary 

 of .John Moll. Mr. Moll was at home, and 

 kindly gave us the use of his premises. We 

 cooked steak over an open fire, and had a 

 delightful repast in the shade of a live oak. 

 The expression on Mr. Moll's face was a 

 study when I asked him about the honey 

 crop. Evidently he was sorry for my ignor- 

 ance, but did not want to show it too plain- 

 ly, and consequently that look. Several 

 miles further up we came to the apiary of I. 

 E. Parish. This, like the first one, was very 

 quiet, the owner being away. But a honey- 

 flow is expected some time, as every thing 

 is in readiness. This apiary is at the head 

 of the canyon. It must ,be a job to haul 

 sui)plies up and honey back. I think peo- 

 ple who operate those canyon apiaries de- 

 serve all they get, and more than they got 

 this year. There seem to be innumerable 

 canyons in those Santa Monica Mountains, 

 and bees are kept in many of them. The 

 good roads maintained to those out-of-the- 

 way places were a surprise. The way gets 

 narrow, though, as one gets higher up, and 

 I wondered how two heavily loaded teams 

 could pass. We passed quantities of blue- 

 curl in blossom just before starting up the 

 (anyon, but nearly all the other honey-flora 

 was brown and dusty. In fact, every thing 

 is dusty, as people who drive along these 

 roads, at this time of the year soon realize. 

 But when the rains come this will all be 

 changed, and those little mountains will 

 blossom as the rose. 



BEE-KEEPING IN CALIFORNIA AS COMPAR- 

 ED WITH THAT IN THE EAST. 



A request came to me some time ago to 

 draw some comparisons regarding bee-keep- 

 ing in different sections of our country. 

 There is so much difference between Cali- 

 fornia methods and the way bees are taken 



care of in colder climates that one coming 

 here from the East feels as though the busi- 

 ness must be learned all over again. Bees 

 are not reverenced here as they are back 

 east. They are looked upon purely as a 

 money-making proposition. One reason 

 for that is, there are none kept around our 

 homes, and we never get familiar enough 

 with them to feel a sort of comradeship. 

 Bee-keeping here means going to the moun- 

 tains and camping for the time that bees 

 need attention, and it is not at all remark- 

 able that people are glad when the honey 

 season is over. With bees right at home, 

 as many people have them in Minnesota, 

 one becomes acquainted with them. The 

 bee-keeper can work a few hours with his 

 bees, and put in the rest of the day at some 

 thing else if he chooses, or take care of them 

 mornings and evenings if he is a business 

 man; and when the honey season is over, 

 supers are taken off and bees prepared for 

 winter. Not so here, as there is no special 

 winter preparation needed. I have seen 

 several apiaries in the last few weeks, and 

 all had supers on still, although, in most 

 instances, the honey-flow was long past. 

 The bees are left entirely alone unless some 

 one happens to make his home in one of 

 those canyons. Bees are not taken account 

 of here as in the East A few colonies more 

 or less does not matter; or a few swarms lost 

 is a trifling affair. One is hardly counted a 

 bee-keeper unless his colonies can be reck- 

 oned by the hundred or thousand. 



As to knowing any thing about queens, 

 some claim it is entirely out of the question. 

 Others pay considerable attention to their 

 queens. Instead of being frightened and 

 nervous over foul brood, as we were in Min- 

 nesota, bee-keepers here say, "Oh, yes! I 

 still have a few infected colonies, but it is 

 nearly gone. That little bit won't hurt any 

 thing." No unnecessary expense is put in- 

 to those canyon apiaries, either on hives or 

 beautifying the surroundings, as the crop 

 conditions here are so very uncertain. Next 

 year may be a good one, but there is no 

 surety connected with that " may " as there 

 is in the East. Although there are tremen- 

 dous yields here occasionally, I doubt if, 

 taken one year with another, the California 

 bee-keeper is any more favored than his 

 Eastern brother. Bee-keeping here is con- 

 ducted on an extensive scale. One of the 

 apiaries I visited the other day had two four- 

 ton honey-tanks placed ready to fill; but 

 there were only about 125 colonies of bees 

 there. 



If I have failed to say just what some 

 would like to know, write me and I will try 

 again. 



Bees Expensive Feed for Chickens. 



As I have 300 chickens I have had some difliculty 

 in furnishing a suitable meat ration for them. They 

 got after one of my colonies of bees, but I stopped 

 them at once. Perhaps I was wrong in doing so: 

 but I should like to ask Mr. \V. E. Brown, page 598. 

 September 15. if he finds it profitable to feed bees to 

 chickens. He has been trying this for some time. 



Bradentcwn, Florida. D. W. Abbott. 



