894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Dec. 1. 



In 1890 he ari'ived in Southern- California. 

 Up to this time he had never been interested in 

 the honey-bee. There were but few bees kept 

 in his native town; and the few there were 

 never attracted much attention from methods 

 of management or from the yields of honny. 

 He possessed the idea, common to a great many, 

 that, the further ho kept from a bee-hive, the 

 better health he would enjoy. But in tnis land 

 of sunshine he met with people who were mak- 

 ing some money out of bee-management; and 

 soon after arrival he was taken with a violent 

 fit of bee-fever which did not cease its raging 

 until he had paid S400for]()0 colonies of bees. 

 The person from whom he purchased the bees 

 gave him his first instructions in management; 

 and for a novice, and the lirst year, the results 

 only opened his eyes to the fact that there 

 are more things in bee-keeping than the aver- 

 age novice had ever dreamed or imagined, and 

 his appetite for investigation was sharpened by 

 his first year's experience. He became a sub- 

 scriber to Gleanings, a sturlent of Prof. Cook's 

 Guide; and every bee-keeper, far and near, 

 contributed to his knowledge, for he was not 

 afraid to ask questions. 



The apiary was located upon the north side 

 of the San Bernardino Valley, near the mouth 

 of Devil Canyon. Considering that Devil Can- 

 yon was not a good neighbor, the second year he 

 changed his location to a series of rocky hills 

 toward the south side of the valley, near River- 

 side. Here he found a canvm that fitted his 

 name, "Wilder;" and as it was government 

 land, and of no earthly use except for bee-pas- 

 turage, he took up a government claim and 

 established himself near a beautiful spring of 

 water, and here we find him to-day. 



Mr. Wilder would disclaim any idea of being 

 a scientific bee-keeper; but I think the name 

 fits any person who manages his bees so as to 

 secure the very best results from them and his 

 field. As a step in line with scientific bee-keep- 

 ing Mr. W. believes in managing only the num- 

 ber of colonies that he can thoroughly attend 

 to; so he has never had less than the original 

 number (100), nor more than the present num- 

 ber, 150. 



In the early spring Mr. Wilder is in his bach- 

 elor cabin, believing in the old adage that 

 " whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing 

 well." The condition of every colony is inves- 

 tigated and noted. 



The first essential to a good honey-yield is a 

 vigorous queen. Nuclei are started as early as 

 the season will permit, which here is in the lat- 

 ter part of February or early March. The 

 queen-rearing is performed according to the 

 Doolittle plan, and the nuclei are kept going 

 through the whole season. Any queen that be- 

 comes superannuated, or fails to deposit eggs 

 with due rapidity, is killed, and a young vigor- 

 ous queen introduced in her place. 



The next point is to give the queen ample 

 room to deposit eggs. This line of work finds 

 the hives just boiling overwiih workers as soon 

 as the honey- flow opens. The results from 

 close attention to these few little details are 

 usually good; and during the past season the 

 apiary of 120 has been increased to 1.50, and 17 

 tons of honey secuied. or 283 lbs. from each of 

 the original 120 colonies. It is also safe to say 

 that two or three tons more could be taken 

 from the apiary, without detriment; but Mr. 

 W. is very provident in giving abundant stores 

 for wintering. The honey does not spoil in 

 keeping over rill another season; and the plan 

 two years ago enabled the apiary to pull safely 

 through the poor season of 1894 with but a tri- 

 flin'g loss. 



The hive used in this apiary contains a frame 

 the measurement of which, speaking in round 

 terms, is 10 inches deep and 14 in length. He 

 has a few which contain 13 frames, and I think 

 he is partial to the jumbo idea ; at least, when 

 he saw a few Heddon hives in my embryo apia- 

 ry he wanted to know what I expected to do 

 with " those pumpkin-seed hives." 



Mr. Wilder is anxious to find out whether 

 bee-keeping as a pursuit can be made a paying 

 business when worked independently of other 

 pursuits. The success of the present season 

 gives some encouragement that it may be made 

 a paying business so far as production is con- 

 concerned; but in the matter of prices the Cali- 

 fornia bee-keeper labors under an immense 

 disadvantage; and I think that in this alone is 

 found the great Nemesis against the highest 

 success on this coast. 



If we step inside of Mr. Wilder's cabin we find 

 many specimens of his handicraft as a taxider- 

 mist. A wildcat stares at us from a corner of 

 the room, while several wildcat skins and a 

 coyote skin are doing service as rugs, etc. Owls, 

 hawks, and an endless procession of rare speci- 

 mens of the feathered world stare at us with 

 glass eyes. 



Mr. W. is something of a literary man, hav- 

 ing written up our last season's journey in fine 

 style for the local paper at his old home in Pe- 

 terboro, N. H. He might give some interesting 

 articles to the bee-jonrnals, but seems to be 

 somewhat modest in relation thereto. 



Upon the whole, the success of Mr. Wilder 

 shows what a young energetic man can do here 

 in the bee-business, with a very little capital; 

 and if there are any young men in the East 

 who contemplate migrating to this sunset land, 

 please consider the above facts, and do not for- 

 get the capital and the energy. 



[I sincerely wish our friend would write oc- 

 casionally for these pages. If the article he 

 did send us some time ago is a fair sample of 

 what he can do he is one of the briehest, spici- 

 est writers that ever wrote for Gleanings. 

 There, there! I don't mean this for " taffy " or 

 a "bait" to draw him on; but a bee-keeper of 



