GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1918 



GLEANINGS FROM THE NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, AND WEST 



NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 



Reported by M. C. Richter 



THE crop con- 

 dition is not 

 very encour- 

 aging. During 

 the past month our section has averaged 

 somewhat less than an inch of rain. We are 

 confronted with conditions that have never 

 presented themselves before and, for this 

 reason, it is difficult to foretell conditions. 

 The extreme northern part of the State, 

 irrigated districts and river locations (aphid 

 honey only) are expected to yield normal 

 crops. Some anxiety is felt regarding a suf- 

 ficient supply of water for irrigation, as the 

 snow fall in the mountains has been extreme- 

 ly light. The numerous non-irrigated loca- 

 tions depending on spring and summer crop.i, 

 are expected to suffer considerably. A large 

 proportion of the honey produced in northern 

 California comes from fall bloom. Late spring 

 rains prove very beneficial to these plants, 

 and it is now too early to predict prospects 

 from this source. Spring work will give us 

 more or less concern. Due to the compara- 

 tively mild winter and lack of rain, brood- 

 rearing is much advanced for February — a 

 very unfortunate condition when it is con- 

 sidered that our spring bloom, so far, has 

 had little chance to develop. lu not a few 

 localities premature breeding is to be ex- 

 pected, which in many instances will result 

 in depleted stores before spring bloom ap- 

 pears. The uncertainty of the spring bloom, 

 and the fact that it will come late, diminish- 

 es the possibility of securing much increase 

 before the harvest. Nevertheless, it should 

 be remembered that the unexpected may hap- 

 pen and it would be folly not to be prepared 

 for any eventuality. For this reason it is 

 wise to have all equipment in readiness, to 

 plan all work systematically, to order bee 

 supplies now, to prepare as early as possible 

 for good queens, and to be sure to keep ever 

 a sharp watch for foul brood. Moreover, do 

 not keep any weak colonies at the opening 

 of the honey flow. The doubling up of the 

 weak ones has never yet failed to increase 

 the honey crop. Wherever possible, it is an 

 excellent plan to practice migratory bee- 

 keeping. Oranges practically never fail to 

 yield a surplus, and almonds, (February) 

 prunes, pears, peaches and cherries give ex- 

 tractings when good March weather pre- 

 vails. A spring such as this will pay the 

 beekeeper, providing he is advantageously 

 situated, to move to the above-mentioned 

 fruits. It will pay him for no other reason 

 than that his colonies will be brought into 

 good strong workable condition. There are 

 almond and prune orchardists who pay bee- 

 keepers as high as $1.00 per colony for plac- 

 ing bees in their orchards. It may be men- 

 tioned that a certain orchardist has offered 

 to pay in addition to $1.00, the colony trans- 

 portation charges to and from his yards, and 

 also $50.00 besides for a man to take care of 

 the bees while in the orchard. Not only is 



a beekeeper 

 benefitting him- 

 self by means of 

 such migration, 

 but he is also making it possible to increase 

 production in a line other than his own. 



Uncle Sam has obviously located our vital 

 weak spot^ — brood diseases. It is a pleasure- 

 to announce that Geo. S. Demuth, one of the 

 big guns of the Bureau of Entomology, and 

 Geo. A. Coleman of our University, will hold 

 a series of meetings under the direction of 

 the States Eolations Service in northern and 

 central California, as follows: 



Bakersfield meeting, 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., 

 Apr. 1. 



Visilia meeting 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., 

 Apr. 2. 



Hanford meeting, 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., 

 Apr. 3. 



Fresno meeting, 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., 

 Apr. 4. 



Modesto meeting, 10 A. M. and 4 P. M., 

 Apr. 5. 



Sacramento meeting, 10:30 A. M. and 4 

 P. M., Apr. 6. 



The meetings will be advertised and a 

 large attendance is expected. Mr. Coleman 

 has requested that the promotion committee 

 have a campaign organizer at all the meet- 

 ings. Not only will his request be com- 

 plied with, but also it is expected that our 

 State Market Director will talk at most of 



the gatherings. 



* * * 



In Gleanings for February, under ' ' North- 

 ern California, ' ' mention was made of the 

 appointment of a promotion committee by 

 our State Association to form and perfect 

 an organization campaign for collective mar- 

 keting. On Jan. 26 the committee perfected 

 two agreements, known respectively as the 

 "Exchange Agreement" and "Marketing 

 Agreement. ' ' The committee also tempo- 

 rarily divisioned northern California into 

 the following four districts: 1st district — 

 Kern, Kings, Tulare, Fresno, Madera and 

 Inyo counties; 2nd district — Merced, Stanis- 

 laus, San Joaquin and counties east; 3rd dis- 

 trict — Solano, Sacramento, Yolo, Colusa, Sut- 

 ter and counties east; 4th district — Glen, 

 Butte, Tehama and counties east and north. 



Each district is to be known as the 



Honej^ Producers' Co-operative Exchange, 

 the name of the exchange to be determined 

 when organized by the directors. The pro- 

 motion committees' members according to 

 districts are: 1st district — F. D. Lowe of 

 Bakersfield, Fred K. Howard of Hanford, 

 Louis Sinn of Eeedley, J. C. McCubbin of 

 Eeedley, and S. A. Carhart of Big Pine; 

 2nd district — M. S. Dickinson of Los Banos, 

 F. W. Burtch of Modesto, M. C. Eichter of 

 Modesto, and Willis Lynch of Stockton; 3rd 

 district — Oliver Parks of Davis, and B. B. 

 Hogaboom of Elk Grove; 4th district — Mrs. 

 M. E. Engles of Chico, and Harry K. Hill of 



