1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



749 



Bee-keeping in Southern 

 California 



By Mrs. H. G. Acklin, Glendora, Cal. 



Do not forget to attend the State conven- 

 tion, which will be held in Chamber of 

 Commerce, Los Angeles, the latter part of 

 this month. 



4?- 



The "bee-man" of a village recently vis- 

 ited informed me that at least ten swarms 

 of bees were ensconced in the two churches. 

 The ministers of those congregations must 

 have been very entertaining to counteract 

 the drowsy effect of the hum of all those 

 bees, coupled with the hot Sundays of last 

 summer. 



I must be getting dull, for I wondered for 

 the space of a minute recently why the 

 frames struck the boltom-board, before I 

 discovered there were no rabbets on the 

 hive; also why the frames caught when try- 

 ing to take them from the hive, when I 

 found they were spaced with one-inch shin- 

 gle nails. 



4?- 



I discovered a new method of wiring 

 frames the other day while examining some 

 bees near San Dimas. A wire, somewhat 

 heavier than hay-baling wire, was wrapped 

 around one end-bar two or three inches 

 from the top, then taken across the frame 

 and wound around the other end-bar. Both 

 ends of the wire projected out an inch or so. 



An eight-frame-hive bee-keeper inadver- 

 tently gave the ten-frame hive a big boost 

 when he gave, as one reason why he left su- 

 pers on, was to have a place to put combs 

 of honey in spring, so empty combs could 

 be put in their places for queens to lay in. 

 He said his queens were generally crowded 

 out of the brood-chamber. Still this broth- 

 er throws down the gauntlet to any ten- 

 frame man to beat him in the output of 

 honey. 



Last summer some friends requested me 

 to help them get started in queen-rearing, 

 so I told them to take queens away from 

 two strong colonies on ^yednesday and I 

 would be there on the next Saturday. At 

 the appointed time we all went to work, 

 and in the course of a couple of hours they 

 understood the Doolittle method so well 

 that they requeened their apiary of 200 col- 

 onies in the next two months, and now 

 have a splendid lot of vigorous young 

 queens. They bought a queen to breed 

 from, but even that item of expense is not 

 necessary if one has some good queens in 

 his own yard. More attention to queens 

 would give larger honey crops, the same as 



fertilizing an orchard causes greater yields 

 of fruits. 



I w^onder how many bee-keepers know 

 that adulteration of honey is going on right 

 Ln our midst. Do not rest easy and say that 

 is always the case, and it can not be stop- 

 ped, for that nefarious practice can and 

 must be stopped. It has been stopped in 

 other States when bee-keepers became de- 

 termined enough about the matter, and the 

 same result can be accomplished here. 

 Uncle Sam stands behind us now in regard 

 to pure food; and if bee-keepers will work 

 together these swindlers can be put out of 

 business. No matter whether it be the 

 small grocer who puts just a little glucose 

 in the honey to keep it liquid, or the whole- 

 sale man who mixes tons, the effect is the 

 same. People soon take a dislike to glu- 

 cosed honey, and stop eating our honey al- 

 together. So bee-keepers lose money on 

 two counts — less honey being consumed 

 while the output is increased. 



How can this adulteration be stopped ? 

 There are many ways in which bee-keepers 

 can assist the pure-food officials in running 

 down this fraud. The best way to begin is 

 to get intensely interested and enthusias- 

 tic over the matter and be aggressive. Let 

 every bee-keeper constitute himself a com- 

 mittee of one to be on the lookout; and 

 when suspicions are aroused in any quar- 

 ter, buy some of the honey and have it 

 analyzed; and if it proves to be spurious, 

 follow the trail right up till the guilty par- 

 ties are arrested. Our State Association 

 should appoint a live committee to help the 

 rank and file of bee-keepers in this matier. 

 The committee is not to do all the work, by 

 any means, as this is every bee-keepers bus- 

 iness; but all should be continually on the 

 lookout, receive reports and suggestions 

 from bee-keepers during the year, and bring 

 in a written report of the situation at the 

 next meeting. In my old home State a few 

 bee-keepers in and around the twin cities 

 made things so warm for the adulterators 

 that in two or three years they were all 

 forced out of business; and we had only our 

 State law behind us at that time. But one 

 of the twin cities, St. Paul, is the capital 

 city, which, of course, simplified matters 

 for us, as the State chemist was our friend, 

 and would cheerfully analyze all honey 

 taken to him. I am not familiar with our 

 California law on adulteration of honey; 

 but if it is not all it should be there is more 

 work for the State association to do in get- 

 ting a proper representation before the leg- 

 islature in timejto plead our cause. All 

 bee-keepers' associations in our State, 

 whether county clubs, district unions, or 

 State organizations, should unite under one 

 banner in fighting this evil, and send a 

 large and enthusiastic delegation, composed 

 of delegates from each society, to the legis- 

 lature this winter to represent the bee-keep- 

 ing industry of our State. I feel sure the 

 Los Angeles Co. Club will assist this good 

 work in every way possible. 



