1895 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



127 



ers to '•kill time" during the eighteen months 

 which have elapsed since we last had honey to 

 extract. Some have got a " job " on fruit-ranch- 

 es, others roam the hills with guns, potting 

 quail and rabbits for market; and others again 

 have retired to the mountain fastnesses with 

 pick and shovel, to delve in the gravel of the 

 creek-beds for gold dust; but their realizations 

 are generally smaller than their anticipations. 

 Only once have I heard where, in this seeking 

 after gold, the realizations equaled the antici- 

 pation. But this bee-keeper did not dig his 

 gold, for he was a bold bad bandit and wrecked 

 a train. The sacks which he carried away are 

 said to have contained $30,000. In course of 

 time he was captured, and now he will never 

 "herd "bees again, for both himself and his 

 partner (a nice young man from the Salvation 

 Army) are living in strict retirement. 



I wish here to place myself on record as say- 

 ing that the making of bee-keeping in Califor- 

 nia a specialty is the acme of asininity. Many 

 bee-keepers owning plenty of land do not even 

 grow fruit enough for home consumption, be- 

 lieving it can not be grown excepting on those 

 lands which can be irrigated. If they will plow 

 deep, and then with harrows and clod-crusher 

 pulverize the soil to the fineness of meal, and 

 by constant cultivation keep it so, they can 

 grow any thing. I care not how deep down 

 it is to water. I have planted grape-cuttings, 

 and gathered a bunch of grapes from them the 

 same season. From apricots and peaches I 

 have gathered fruit eighteen months after 

 planting the tree ; and almonds, pears, and 

 urunes will give fruit in from three to four 

 years after planting. 



Newhall, Cal., Jan. 20. 



[If I understand you correctly you are not a 

 firm believer in bee-keeping as a specialty; and 

 you point to the gentleman in Michigan, who 

 has been an advocate of this doctrine, and say 

 in effect he is not a practicer of what he 

 preaches. Mr. Taylor — and I presume this is 

 the chap to whom you refer — makes a success 

 in both lines, and very possibly he would of 

 bee-keeping alone in good seasons; and, more- 

 over, I understand he is a good lawyer; and that 

 being the case he may and probably does get 

 some revenue out of that profession. But dur- 

 ing the past few poor honey years in Michigan, 

 when many of its bee-keepers were glad to av- 

 erage even 10 lbs. per colony, Mr. Taylor would 

 not have found bee-keeping a good bread-and- 

 butter specialty. One of the hardest blows to 

 the idea of bees as the sole bread-winner has 

 been the series of poor years. During the good 

 old-fashioned years, and Mr. T. probably had 

 reference to these, such as we used to have, 

 when bees every year brought to their owner 

 some returns, the specialty business was a suc- 

 cess. But now I believe I can almost count on 

 the fingers of my hands the number of men who 

 derive their living largely from bees; and if I 

 except from that number those who have ab- 

 solutely no other source of revenue there is 

 scarcely one. But take it in other branches of 

 agriculture, those who make a specialty of any 

 one line are very few. Even our friend T. B. 

 Terry, who has been a strong advocate of spe- 

 cialty on the farm, and one who used to grow 



potatoes exclusively, and buy his other prod- 

 ucts, I believe now makes quite a business of 

 growing strawberries, and lecturing throughout 

 the State. 



Well, then, if we accept the idea that spe- 

 cialty in bee-keeping to-day is not common, 

 what other lines of business combine with it 

 nicely? The one already mentioned — fruit- 

 growing — is one of the best. Poultry-raising is 

 also connected with it; but as a general thing 

 you will find that the great majority of our 

 bee-keepers are practical farmers, and that 

 their bees are only a side-issue.— Ed.] 



OUR HONEY BESOURCES. 



HOW TO INCREASE THEM; A VALUABLE AKTI 



CLE REVIEWING THE ATTEMPTS THAT 



HAVE BEEN MADE IN THP: PAST. 



By C. H. Dihhan. 



Ever since I commenced bee-keeping, some 

 thirty years ago. it has been a constant study 

 with me how to increase the yield of surplus 

 honey. Many a time during my enthusiastic 

 periods, when the flowers yielded abundantly, 

 I have thought that, owing to some device I 

 happened to be trying at the time, I had 

 "struck it rich," and visions of future wealth 

 and position in the bee-world would loom up in 

 the dim distance, only to be dashed to earth 

 when the poor years came again. Indeed, bee- 

 keepers seem to be of such a hopeful disposition, 

 that, during years of abundance, they quickly 

 jump to the conclusion that the coming years 

 will all "flow with milk and honey," and that 

 the hard times, when the flowers are scarce, or 

 will not "give down," are indeed past forever. 

 However much we may have indulged in such 

 thoughts, the recent few years of poor yields, 

 and failure, have dispelled the illusion. 



My first efforts to overcome short yields was 

 to "invent" a new hive that would enable the 

 bees, by its peculiar shape and heat-economiz- 

 ing principles, to secure the honey whether the 

 flowers yielded or not. This worked all right 

 while the years remained propitious; but when 

 poor honey seasons came again, I came to the 

 reluctant conclusion that, after all, not so much 

 depended on the hive as on some other things. 



About this time comb foundation made its 

 appearance, and I straightway made up ray 

 mind that this was the long-sought desideratum. 

 Why! was it not perfectly plain that all we 

 need to do was to give the bees frames and sec- 

 tions, filled with these waxen sheets, and, pres- 

 tol combs of nice sealed honey. But this, too, 

 the hope-destroying poor years soon laid low. 

 It was soon understood that, though It was an 

 excellent thing to secure nice straight comb 

 when honey could be found, it was utterly use- 

 less when the flowers refused to yield. 



About next it was the particular strain of 

 bees that was to give us the great yields. The 

 superior honey-gathering merits of Italians, 

 Carniolans, Cyprian, et al., were duly extolled. 

 Some of our enterprising queen- breeders even 



