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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 15. 



CALIFOENIA AS A BEE-KEEPING .STATE. 



THE QUESTION CAREFULLY CONSIDEBED IN A 

 NUTSHELL BY ONE OF CALIFORNIA'S 

 EXTENSIVE AND PRACTICAL 

 BEE-KEEl'ERS. 



[Althoughm uch has been written setting 

 forth the real status of California bee-keeping, 

 I know of nothing that boils the whole matter 

 down any more carefully, conservatively, and 

 fairly, than the paper read by J. F. Mclntyre, 

 of Fillmore, before the farmers' institute that 

 was held in that State recently. From this 

 paper I make a few extracts that I am sure our 

 prospective tourists, or those who entertain an 

 idea of some time making California their 

 home, would do well to read carefully — not be- 

 cause it gives a discouraging view, but because 

 it gives the situation fairly considered on both 

 sides — not by one who has merely visited or 

 been in the State for a short time, but one who 

 has been there for years. Mr. Mclntyre says : 

 —Ed.] 



I believe that the majority of bee-keepers, in 

 Southern California at least, have their locations 

 fully stocked with hees, and do not care either to 

 buy or sell, or to induce others to bring more bees 

 into their locations, which would overstock them 

 and surely bring disaster to one or both parties oc- 

 cupying such field. 



When all the conditions are favorable, California 

 can produce the largest crop of the finest honey in 

 the world, not excepting the famous thyme lio'ney 

 of Hymettus, the clover and basswood honey of the 

 East, or the alfalfa honey of Arizona and Colorado; 

 but during the last twenty years we have had these 

 favorable conditions on an average only once in 

 three years; or, to be more explicit, we have had 

 seven good years, nine in which the bees made 

 from ten to sixty pounds to tlie hive, and four years 

 in which the bees had to be fed large quantities of 

 honey to keep tliem from starving to death. 



When only tiie large yields, ranging from 1.50 to 

 600 pounds per colony, are reported to tlie tender- 

 foot, lie naturally grows enthusiastic, and concludes 

 to endure bee-stings for a few seasons, and use the 

 bee business as a stepping-stone to the banking 

 business; but, oh how different in the morning, 

 when he finds that we have such things as dry 

 years, hot winds that destroy the prospects of a hon- 

 ey crop in three days, when he thought suceess was 

 certain, to say nothing of the three bee-diseases— 

 foul brood, dead brood, and bee-paralysis! and when 

 he does secure the long-looked-foi crop, and at- 

 tempts to dispose of It, he finds the honey merchant 

 and railroad company waiting for it with low prices 

 and liigh freight rates. This applies to the sage- 

 brush bee-keeping in the mountains of Soutliern 

 California. 



There is another section of the State, however, 

 which is rapidly coming to the front as a bee 

 country, and is not affected by dry years or hot 

 winds. T refer to the alfalfa districts of Kern, Tu- 

 lare, and Kings Counties. A neighbor who sold his 

 bees to me, and moved to that section toengnge in 

 the bee business there, is well pleased with the 

 change, and reports a profit of $13 per colonv for 

 this season. Alfalfa lioney is amber-colored^ and 

 not so fine-flavored as sage honey; but the advan- 

 tage of maki.ng a crop every year more than com- 

 pensates for the difference in price, which is always 

 higher wlien the sage-honey crop is a failure. 



In the northern half of the State few bees are 

 kept, and a small amount of inferior honey produc- 

 ed; consequently, this section is not worth consider- 

 ing by the man or woman who wishes to make a 

 specialty of bee-keeping. 



Compared with eastern bee-keeping, California 

 has some advantages and some disadvantages. Our 

 warm winters enable us to winter our liees without 

 having to carry them into the cellar in the fall and 

 out again in the spring; a larger number of colonies 

 may be kept in one apiary, which saves an immense 

 amount of travel from one apiary to another: the 

 average yield per colony, taking a number of years 

 together, is a little higher— the yield of the Sespe 



apiary, which is about an average location, being 7 

 pounds per colony per annum for twenty years. 



Some of the disadvantages are: Lower price of 

 honey, owing to distance from murket, and high 

 freight rates; dry years, which often kill more bees 

 by starvation than die of cold in tlie East; most 

 apiaries are located in the mountains, away from 

 society, schools, and churches, and are lonesome 

 places to live, especial I j' for women, and conse- 

 quently many bee-men are bachelors. 



The disadvantages, however, may be somewhat 

 modified. Bees can and should be fed in dry years 

 in time to keep them from starving to death. The 

 price ot honey may be helped out somewhat if the 

 bee-keeper keeps well on his feet financially, and is 

 not obliged to sell as soon as his crop is harvested. 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' CONGRESS AT ATLANTA; 

 HOW TO GET THERE, ETC. 



On December 4th and 5th 1895, there will be 

 a general meeting of all the bee-keepers of the 

 United States and Canada at the Cotton .States 

 Exposition Grounds, Atlanta, Ga. It is to be 

 hoped that all bee-keepers will make a strong 

 effort to be there from Western New York, 

 Canada, Ohio, and Michigan. Arrange to 

 leave home so you can reach Cincinnati Mon- 

 day evening and take the Louisville & Nash- 

 ville Railroad from Cincinnati at 7:30 p. m.,. 

 reaching Nashville Tuesday morning. From 

 Chicago you can leave at 5 p. m. via the Eastern 

 Illinois, and reach Nashville Tuesday morning; 

 via the other routes, you leave in the morning. 

 From the Northwestern States, arrange to 

 leave home so as to reach Chicago Monday, 

 and Nashville Tuesday morning. From the 

 West, arrange to reach St. Louis and take the 

 Monday-evening train of the Louisville & 

 Na,shville Railroad, and reach Nashville Tues- 

 day morning. From Nashville the train will 

 rnn solid, and be a daylight ride to Atlanta, 

 Ga . passing through all the famous battle- 

 fields from Nashville through Murfreesboro 

 (Stone River battle-field), and for miles in full 

 view of and around the base of Lookout Moun- 

 tain to Chattanooga, and from there through 

 Ringgold, Dalton, Resaca, Kingston, Kennesaw, 

 Bie Shanty, and Marietta, to Atlanta. 



Do not forget the route — Louisville & Nash- 

 ville Railroad: Nashville, Chattanooga & St. 

 Lonis Railroad, and the Western A: Atlantic 

 Railroad, all coupon tickets. Agents can sell 

 you tickets via the above route. Call on your 

 home ticket-agent for exposition rates, and 

 join the bee-keepers for Atlanta, and be sure 

 your tickets read Louisville & Nashville Rail- 

 road to Nashville. For information not ob- 

 tainable of your home ticket-agent, address 

 Geo. B. Horner, D. P. A.. St. Louis, Mo.: J. K. 

 Ridgelv, N. W. P. A.. Chicago. III.: Herman 

 Holmes. T. P. A.. Medina. Ohio: Jackson 

 Smith. D. P. A.. Cincinnati. Ohio; C. P. Atmore, 

 G. P. A.. Louisville, Ky. Send your names to 

 A. I. Root, Medina, O.. if you arfi going, so they 

 will be here November 30. This is also the 

 " Daisy Route " to Florida. 



[Doubtless many of our readers have been 

 much interested in the description of the great 

 peach-orchards established by Hale Brothers, 

 near Fort Valley. Houston Co., Ga. If they 

 should make the trip to Atlanta it would be 

 only a little further to visit this great plant, 

 where such wonderful success has been recent- 

 ly achieved in growing the finest peaches ever 

 produced in the State of Georgia.. Several 

 numbers of the Rural New Yorlxer during the 

 month of October gave full particulars, with 

 illustrations of this undertaking. Should it be 

 my privilege to meet with the bee keepers on 

 the days mentioned above, I for one want to 



