428 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Shpt* 



of canning- and casing amounts to about one cent 

 per pound. This season I have taken out, as nearly 

 as I can figure by counting the cans, 11,500 lbs., and 

 1 think it will overrun, as it is very thick and of ex- 

 cellent quality. It is now quoted in San Francisco 

 at 6Vi to 7 cts. per lb., and 6Ji here at Santa Paula. 

 Honey is now shipped to China, Australia, and Eu- 

 rope, which makes a brisk demand for all that ar- 

 rives in San Francisco. 



I haye changed nearly my entire apiary to Ital- 

 ians, and have them in splendid condition for anoth- 

 er season's operations. Old Californians claim that 

 the season is at least one month shorter than the 

 season of 1878. I have done considerably better than 

 any one in this vicinity, so far as heard from, with 

 the same number of stocks, so I have no fault to 

 find. In this apiary and Mr. Hunt's, one fourth of a 

 mile from here, we have taken about 46,003 lbs. of 

 honey. There is abundant bloom now, but the blos- 

 soms do not produce only about as fast as the bees 

 consume in breeding. They are now breeding rap- 

 idly. The celebrated white sage has produced al- 

 most nothing; I presume on account of the peculiar 

 state of the atmosphere. It is cool and foggy nights, 

 and it requires warm nights and days to produce 

 honey. I see by the Pacific Rural that Keen Co. has 

 produced no surplus; San Diego bee-keepers went 

 in for box honey, and the consequence is their crop 

 is very light. A near neighbor had 23 stocks and 

 tried them for box honey, and he says that he lost at 

 the least calculation 2,000 lbs. of honey by the opera- 

 tion. I think that hereafter the honey market will 

 be more reliable even in extra good seasons. In 1878 

 there was a large yield, and no market established. 

 Honey was rushed into San Francisco, and handled 

 by commission merchants that were unreliable, and 

 they cheated the bee-keeper out of his entire crop of 

 honey, many not realizing over two and two and a 

 half cents per lb. Things are now changed. There 

 is a demand for California honey in different parts 

 of the world. Bee-keepers are organized and get- 

 ting well posted, and everything is getting into 

 shape to make bee-keeping a reliable as well as a 

 profitable business. Orders are now sent fiom Liv- 

 erpool directly to the producer in some cases, and 

 parties from the old world have been around among 

 the apiaries purchasing by the hundred ton. So you 

 can readily see that San Francisco sharpers can 

 scarce^ have everything their own way hereafter. 

 I had almost forgotten to mention that I have from 

 150 to 175 lbs. of wax, proceeds from the 48 stocks, 

 besides the increase and honey. Recapitulation:— 

 Increase 65 stocks, surplus honey 11,500 lbs., wax 150 

 lbs., and increase in value by Italianizing and get- 

 ting large and prolific queens and excellent workers. 



Santa Paula, Cal., July 27, 1880. E. Gallup. 



Thanks, friend G. I am sorry to learn 

 that your imported queens proved so short 

 lived, but I presume the two long trips 

 proved almost too much for their poor little 

 lives. The span of life of imported stock is 

 often rather brief, and our own losses have 

 often been so great as to make it doubtful 

 whether we have ever received the money 

 for them which we have paid out. Never- 

 theless, as we get a good many that live two 

 or three years, we think it pays to keep on. 

 As it seems rather hard to take a neighbor's 

 (we are only three or four thousand miles 

 apart, friend G.) money for queens, and then 

 have them not live more than 6 weeks, we 



will send you another from our next 50 that 

 are on the way now. 



SWARMS CiOINi* TO THE WOODS. 



IS UNSEALED BROOD AN ADVANTAGE OR DISADVAN- 

 TAGE? 



W NOTICE considerable discussion in reference to 

 JsjJ absconding, and am inclined to agree with Doo- 

 little's conclusions. Previous to last season 

 (1879), I never had any bees abscond, and concluded 

 that if any bee-keeper lost swarms by having them 

 go to the woods it was because he had neglected to 

 comply with the rules to be observed in such cases, 

 not having the hive in proper condition, or neglect- 

 ing to shade them after hiving, or most important 

 of all not giving them unsealed brood. These condi- 

 tions I have always considered necessary, and at- 

 tributed my success to my practicing them. 



In June, 1879, 1 bought a swarm of black bees of a 

 man living- about 6 miles from my place. I brought 

 them home the second evening after they had been 

 hived. The next morning, when I went to give 

 them fdn. and brood (about 10 a.m.) the hive was de- 

 serted, and the bees were in my neighbor's orchard 

 where they had clustered, and he had hived them in 

 an old hive. I brought them back to the bee yard 

 and the next morning transferred them to a Simplic- 

 ity hive, and gave fdn. and a frame of brood. They 

 however left the hive and brood and clustered again. 

 Thinking there might be something wrong with 

 that frame and hive, I got another frame and hive, 

 and re-hived them. They stayed till 5 o'clock when 

 out they came again, and after hiving them again 

 and having them come out and cluster again, I con- 

 cluded perhaps they preferred an old hive without 

 brood; so I got an old Quinby hive, and hived them 

 in that. It was nearly dark by this time, but they 

 all went in, and seemed all right the next day. I 

 thought I had succeeded at last, after re-hiving them 

 5 times, but when I looked into the hive in a few 

 days, I found several pieces of new comb, with eggs 

 in the cells, and probably a dozen bees; so they gave 

 me the slip after all. 



July 4, 188% I had a large swarm of Italians. They 

 were hived in a new chaff hive containing 6 frames 

 of fdn. with a frame of unsealed brood in the centre, 

 and 2 frames of sections on the outside. They went 

 in all right, and seemed contented until about 4 p.m., 

 when they came out and clustered agai n. I hived 

 them this time in a Simplicity hive, arranged intern- 

 ally as before. The next day, just after dinner, 

 they all came out again, but instead of clustering 

 started for the woods about % of a mile away. I fol- 

 lowed them about 50 rods into the woods, where they 

 went into a black ash tree about 18 in. in diameter. 

 I went home and got help, and we cut the tree, and 

 got the bees into a hive all right. I took them 

 home, and the next morning clipped the queen and 

 they have behaved since. 



The next swarm, also a large Italian, acted in the 

 same way. They left the hive with brood, were re- 

 hived, and the next day started for the woods, di- 

 rectly toward the wind, which blew so strong that 

 they had to fly very low and slowly. When they 

 reached the woods they attempted to rise up and 

 pass over the trees, but the wind was so strong that 

 they could not, and, after flying around awhile, they 

 clustered on a small white maple tree. I hived 

 them, clipped the queen, and they have been all 

 right since. 



