342 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



CALIFORNIA AS A BEE KEEPING STATE. OUR OWN APIARY AND HONEY FARM. 



ARTICLE 1. 



CIIALIFORNIA is probably the best and the worst 

 « place in the world, for the average bee keeper. 

 There is no reliability about the season, and 

 there are no two seasons alike. In a good season, 

 fabulous amounts of honey are obtained, and the in- 

 crease in numbers is also fabulous, especially to the 

 eastern bee keeper. A good, prolific queen com- 

 mences breeding- up to her full capacity by the first 

 of Feb., and continues up to the first of Nov. In 

 favorable localities, they can gather pollen every 

 month in the year, and consequently breed every 

 month in the year; still, in all localities, there is a 

 comparative rest or dormant season, during three 

 months in the year. In a good season and locality, 

 extracting commences in March (that is, providing 

 the hives have been left full of honey as they should 

 be), and continues up to Sept. 



Everyone succeeds in a good season; all get ex- 

 cited on the question and everybody wants to go 

 into the business. Parties without the least practi- 

 cal experience purchase an apiary on time; then 

 purchase hives, cans, paint, &c, all on time, and 

 agree to pay with their first honey. The honey does 

 not come, and the lumber dealer, hive manufacturer, 

 hardware merchant, and, in fact, the grocery man, 

 dry goods dealer, &c, all see financial ruin staring 

 them in the face. Now, providing the season proves 

 to be a good one, the honey is rushed into the market, 

 and sold at forced sale, large quantities of it being 

 in an unripe condition, so it ferments, bursts the 

 cans, and helps to ruin the market for a genuine 

 article. As there is no winter to kill off worthless 

 stocks, every thing that has bees in it is kept, and 

 many an apiary that counts its 300 stocks does not 

 contain 100 good stocks in working order. 



Still I can see that bee keeping, even in California, 

 can be carried on with profit and success. It needs 

 some capital and considerable good judgement as 

 well as practical experience. Good, strong stocks 

 kept in a proper condition are self sustaining, even 

 in a poor season; and, in a good season, with proper 

 management, the profits are large. Right here let 

 me say that, even in California, strong stocks are 

 the sheet anchor of successful bee keeping. Under- 

 stand that I am not writing for the benefit of old 

 California bee keepers, but for eastern bee keepers 

 who have an eye on Cal. as a bee keeping state. 



Bees kept in the valley, where they have had ac- 

 cess to large fields of mustard, have stored a surplus; 

 but the quality is not first best. The mountain 

 honey is probably not surpassed in the whole world 

 for its excellent quality; but there is no surplus 

 this season, not even enough to supply the bee keep- 

 er's own table. If we have any honey for use we 

 have to send to San Francisco, and purchase at 

 double the cost we sold for, which is not just as it 

 should be. The drawbacks to bee keeping are bad 

 seasons, fires burning over the bee-range, and foul 

 brood; for foul brood has committed great ravages 

 in some parts of southern Cal. I have not had the 

 pleasure of seeing anything of the kind yet. I 

 understand that in Los Angelos Co., it has been 

 quite a scourge. It was introduced into this Co., by 

 feeding honey fsom Los Angelos Co. Still, I think, 

 by persistent effort it can be ei - adicated entirely, as 

 it is only in one or two apiaries, at present, in this' 

 county. E. Gallup. 



Scenega, Cal., July 24, 1879. 



fpIE silver hull buckwheat was sown the 

 3d of July, and to-day, July 30th, just 

 ~ 27 days after sowing, it is in bloom 

 enough to make quite a humming among 

 the bees. They went over to the grape sugar 

 apiary, as we call it, and spying, or smelling, 

 the buckwheat a little beyond, they deserted 

 the feeders, and went to reveling amid the 

 blossoms. Our buckwheat was sown with a 

 drill, and it looks so much better than any I 

 have ever seen broadcast, that I really be- 

 lieve I shall never want any sown broadcast 

 again. The plants, when up, were so even 

 and regular, that it called forth exclamations 

 of surprise from almost every one. The drill 

 used was the Baker saw-feed grain drill, 

 made at Mechanicsburg, Ohio. 



I have said so much about the grape sugar 

 apiary, I think I will have to give you a 

 picture of it. 



THE GRAPE SUGAR APIARY. 



You observe that we have supported the 

 boards and jars, on the tops of Simplicity 

 hives, arranged hexagonally, precisely as we 

 have them arranged in our apiary. 



The "little chick" that cries "Bees, bees, 

 bees, papa !" is so often out there watching 

 them with me, that the engraver has taken 

 us both. The only trouble with her picture 

 is that instead of standing pensively at a 

 distance as represented, she is usually right 

 up among the bees, poking them this way 

 and that with her finger, for they are as 

 harmless as flies, when working in this way 

 on the grape sugar. I told the artist my pic- 

 ture w T as not a good one, but he said it was 

 impossible that it should be and be truthful. 



ROBBER BEES. 



Editor of Gleaning*:— In Bee Keepers' Exchange 

 for June, in answer to the question, "When you ex- 

 extract, what do you do with the cappings?" I 

 obtained an idea of more value than double the 

 yearly subscription to the paper; to wit, how to pre- 

 vent rohliimj. Having heretofore tried, with varied 

 success, nearly every published expedient for the 

 prevention of robbing, I think now I have found a 

 perfect remedy. The great difficulty has been to 

 get the victimized colony free from the robbers; 

 for just so sure as one of them returns with plun- 

 der, to the attacking colony, does he come back to 

 the spoliation with reinforcements. 



Now, the very day I received the Exchange, I 

 found a strong colony appropriating without oppo- 

 sition, the stores of a recently formed nucleus. The 



