114 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Mar. 



CALIFORNIA AS A REE -KEEPING 

 STATE. 



wagon from the lower side of the honey house. His 

 apiary is located on an incline. E. Gallup. 



Santa Ana, Cal., Dec. 14, 1870. 



ARTICLE NO. 5. 



infyj DITOK GLEANINGS :— Perhaps a line, descrip- 

 Jt/JI *i ye °f Southern California, might not be out 



~"^ of place, as I have so many inquiries from the 

 East about the country for bee-keeping. 



As soon as the rainy season commences, vegeta- 

 tion starts, and every thing looks green and beauti- 

 ful. Even the mountain tops are covered with 

 beautiful verdure. Alfalfa is green the year around 

 on irrigated land, and will give eight crops in the 

 year. If allowed to blossom, it produces considera- 

 ble bee-forage. Usually, every thing in the grass 

 line dries up in July, except on irrigated land. The 

 remainder of the year, the hills and mountains took 

 bare and desolate. 



The mountain apiaries produce as good a quality 

 of honey as is produced in any part of the world; 

 but every few years, the bees will die off, unless 

 there is an abundance of honey left in the hives, or 

 they are moved into the valleys, or fed. This is ex- 

 pensive, consequently the best locality for an apiary 

 is where the bees can have the advantage of moun- 

 tain and valley, without the expense of moving. 



The valley gives the early spring and late fall foli- 

 age which promotes early and late breeding, and the 

 mountain gives sage honey at the time of extracting 

 on the "mesa," or hill land, in many localities after 

 the dry season sets in. The Turkey mullen and 

 vinegar plant blossom profusely in ordinary seasons, 

 and produce an abundance of bee-forage; but last 

 season the mullen was a failure, and the vinegar 

 plant came very near being so, on account of the 

 extreme drouth. 



A Mr. Phillips had 50 colonies from which he took 

 1,000 lb. last season, and they are now, or was when 

 I saw them, in splendid condition. He has the 

 mountain on one side and the valley on the other. 

 Messrs. Grimes, Kenney, Dudley, Tutston and Clark, 

 Corey, Barber, and some others, whom I know, have 

 splendid localities in that respect. Mr. Kenney has 

 a splendid locality for fruit in connection with his 

 apiary, and so have Mr. Dudley and some others; 

 but Mr. Keeney is well started; has a tine young 

 orchard, and a vineyard in full bearing, which he in- 

 tends to enlarge. Fruit raising can be carried on 

 quite extensively and not interfere with bee-keep- 

 ing. Southern California can compete with the 

 world in the quality of her raisins, and, in fact, in 

 raising grapes of all kinds, and the climate is such 

 that raisins are dried perfectly in the open air. The 

 display of fruit at the Los Angeles fair, for quantity 

 or quality, would convince the most skeptical. It 

 beat all that I ever saw or could even imagine. 



In locating an apiary in the mountains or, in fact, 

 anywhere, we must have a road to it, and some 

 chance for water, either a small stream, a spring, or 

 a well; and it is not everywhere that water can be 

 had by digging a well. In hot weather and while 

 breeding rapidly, bees use large quantities of water. 



A Mr. Kcene has an apiary located so that he raises 

 large quantities of bees very early in the season, but 

 it is a poor locality for honey. Mr. Keene is a one 

 armed man, and has his hives in long rows with a 

 rail-road track running out from the honey house 

 the length of the apiary, and a small car to run in 

 the honey, which makes it quite convenient for him. 

 He also runs his honey cans, when filled, out to the 



$om-1&&q tyejw tiniejih 



SVJSPY bees do as well for me as I do for them. 

 P/5 



In 



the spring of 1878, 1 bought 11 swarms; in Ju- 

 1 ly, 2 more. They were old swarms, some G 

 years old, and in square box hives, made of hem- 

 lock, badly checked, with strips of wood tacked over 

 the cracks. On most of them I could set 4 live-pound 

 boxes. During the summer they gave me 11 large 

 swarms, and 12 after-swarms. Some of my first 

 swarms tilled 12 boxes, or 3 sets. When the first set 

 was finished, I raised them up and put empty boxes 

 under them, with holes top and bottom of the boxes. 

 I think bees will make more honey in this manner 

 than they will by taking the full boxes off, and they 

 tan take much better care of the honey than I can. 

 When fall came, I had 700 lb. of fine box honey. Most 

 of it sold, without crating, at 13 c. per lb. I took u p 

 some second swarms in the fall. When winter came 

 I left them on their summer stands, and gave them 

 no care during the winter. In the spring, I lost one 

 swarm by their coming out and trying to enter an- 

 other hive, wn"ich killed all of them. One swarm 

 was robbed out in spite of all I could do, and 7 win- 

 ter-killed; so I had 22 swarms to commence with in 

 the spring of 1879. *This was my first year, without 

 any previous experience. I make all my hives with 

 10 one-inch holes in the top, t to each box. I am now 

 convinced that 4 holes to each box is better than any 

 less number. One of my neighbors who has kept 

 bees for many years, and could get but little box 

 honey, had only one hole to each box. He came to 

 me and got one of my hives and put a swarm in it, 

 and got more box honey from it than from all the 

 rest of his :J0 stands combined. 



TilOS. ROTHWELL. 



Austinville, Bradford Co., Pa., Jan. 14, 1880. 



Pretty good for box hives, friend R. You 

 have doubtless much improved on your 

 neighbor, but there is still a great chance 

 for improvement in your hives and mode of 

 management, even though your report is 

 better than that of some who have all mod- 

 ern appliances. 



SUSPENDED ANIMATION, ETC. 



^jViH^R. ROOT: —As I know you like to hear odd 

 j[wf stories about bees, I am going to tell you 

 one. A good many years ago, for some rea- 

 son (I forget what) I drove the bees out of a hive, 

 and carried the hive into the house to take the hon- 

 ey. Some bees were still in the hive, and, in the 

 night time, some of them got into the bed where my 

 son lay, and stung him. I think it was next year 

 when I drove another hive. I did not kill the bees 

 in either case, so, when I was carrying it into the 

 house, my wife objected saying that the few bees 

 left in it would come out and sting us as they had 

 done before. So I dug a hole in the ground, say 10 

 in. deep, got a good handful of long grass, took a 

 shovelful of live coals and threw them into the hole, 

 then a small handful of lumps of sulphur, and put 

 the grass in the hole to keep the combs from melt- 

 iug; then 1 clapped the hive over the hole, put the 



