March, 1918 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



159 



Willows. These members are now engaged 

 in preparing eani])aigu meetings in tlieir 

 respective districts. It is hoped (and, more- 

 over, expected) that all readers of Glean- 

 ings residing in northern and central Cali- 



fornia will attend these proposed meetings. 

 Coi)ies of the co-operative agreements will 

 he mailed to any beekeeper who applies for 

 theiri thru his district member of the com- 

 mittee. 



SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA 



ON Feb. 2, 

 regular 

 meetings r, ji 



and election of ' Reported by 



officers in the Riverside and San Bernardino 

 clubs were held. The Riverside County club 

 elected R. Powell, president; Chas. Kinzie, 

 first vice president; and E. W. Home, secre- 

 tary-treasurer. This club is one of the most 

 promising in the State and has been of much 

 help to the members in the buying of sup- 

 plies and in keeping its members in touch 

 with honey prices. San Bernardino County 

 club elected H. A. Wagner, president; and 

 J. E. Mack, secretary-treasurer. Each of 

 the clubs has selected a purchasing agent 

 and will buy supplies and have foundation 

 made at reduced rates to members. 

 • » * * 



All are very glad to see the spirit of ' ' get 

 together and make it go " exhibited by mem- 

 bers of the Los Angeles County club. This 

 club has been very quiet during the past 

 year, but the boys are determined to make 

 theirs one of the best clubs in the State this 

 year. Earl Shaffner is president, and J. D. 

 Bixby is secretary. 



* 'f * 



Beekeeping methods in Southern Califor- 

 nia are changing and honey production is 

 becoming more the business of specialists. 

 The school teacher with 100 or 200 colonies 

 of bees is adding a few more apiaries, and in 

 many cases these school teachers are living 

 in hopes of being able to give up the teach- 

 ing. Some business men would like to put 

 money into bees if they could get a good 

 man to run them. 



* * * 



Keep those hives in which the bees have 

 died and those showing any disease away 

 from the clean apiary. A hospital yard is 

 becoming quite a popular way to handle the 

 disease if there is enough to justify it. If 

 there are only a few colonies, I would de- 

 stroy the bees and make the combs into wax. 

 I also think it pays to select very carefully 

 and melt all combs with drone cells or those 

 containing pollen. I have made a number 

 of tests and find that the average Langstroth 

 comb will give about 5 1/3 ounces of wax, 

 if one gets it all. The amount of wax one 

 gets, in excess of that necessary for replac- 

 ing the foundation, pays very well for the 

 labor, besides furnishing a lot of fine new 

 combs for the next year. 



* * * 



A scries of beekeepers ' educational meet- 

 ings has been arranged for by the State 

 University in conjunction with the U. S. De- 



])aitmciit of Ag- 

 liculture. Mr. 

 L.L.Andrews Demuth, assist- 



ant apu'ulturist, 

 and E. F. Atwater, special field agent, 

 and Prof. Geo. A. Coleman of the 

 State University will be present to as- 

 sist and advise beekeepers is any way 

 they can concerning treatment of disease and 

 the production of honey. Meetings will be 

 held in the southern part of the state as fol- 

 lows: Lonipoc, March 4-5; Ventura, March 

 6-7; Piru, March 8; Santa Ana, Mar h 9; 

 Ramona, March 'll-12; El Centro, March 14; 

 Riverside, March 16-18; Redlands, March 19- 

 20; Ontario, March 21; Los Angeles, March 

 26-27; Pasadena, March 28-30. 



* * * 



This is the driest season to date, Feb. 1, 

 since 1861, so say the reports. There has 

 been one light rain, ranging from % in. in 

 some localities to 1^2 ins. in others. This 

 small amount is not enough to help the hon- 

 ey prospects, unless more comes soon. Hon- 

 ey plants that usually begin to show new 

 growth in January are very dry and show 

 no signs of putting out new foliage. Most 

 beekeepers are optimistic still and say we 

 will get plenty of rain yet. Altho the sea- 

 son has beenn unusually dry, it has been 

 warm and a few plants, on irrigated ground, 

 have furnished considerable honey for build- 

 ing up. The eucalypti in particular have pro- 

 duced an abnormal amount of honey and in a 

 few instances have filled the hives to such 

 an extent that several hundred pounds have 

 been extracted. 



* * * 



In visiting Mr. Dunlap 's apiarj^ of 200 colo- 

 nies Fob. 1, most colonies were found to have 

 little or no brood. This apiary is located near 

 Beaumont, at an elevation of 3,000 feet and 

 the forage is considerably later than in the 

 lower valle.ys. Part of this apiary has just 

 been sold and the bees are to be moved to 

 the oranges at Redlands, 1.5 miles away. Mr. 

 Dunlap relates an interesting experience that 

 liappened a few years ago. He had one hive 

 that was always full of bees and brood and 

 l)roduced remarkable crops of honey. An- 

 other colony had plenty of bees and brood 

 and yet produced little or no surplus honey. 

 He destroyed the queen from the poor pro- 

 ducer, and introduced the queen from the 

 good colony on two frames of her own brood. 

 She remained in the hive for two or three 

 years, and little or no surplus honey was 

 gathered. Can any one explain? 



[The case referred to, of moving the queen 

 from the good colony to the poor one, is 

 not a new one by any means. A whole colo- 



