June, 1910. 



American l^e Journal 



California Reflections 



Conducted by W. A. Pryal. Station E. Oakland, California. 



The Season and Prospects 



We never had sucli a tine year for 

 vegetation ; never did grass grow, 

 flowers bloom and bees hum as they 

 have been doing this season. What 

 the product of the bee-hives will be I 

 know not. There are signs that there 

 are going to be many cool nights, and 

 if so the secretion of nectar will be 

 greatly lessened. But the growth the 

 plants are making this year will stand 

 them in good stead next year, even 

 if the rainfall then should be less 

 than the average. Toward the end of 

 April we had some very hot days; the 

 bees started to swarm in a terrific man- 

 ner. It was good the hot spell did not 

 last more than 4 days, otherwise I 

 should have been swamped with 

 swarms. After this warm spell the 

 bees got down to normal conditions. 



Strange, just at the time we were 

 having our hottest weather, the Middle 

 West was having a cold snap — killing 

 frosts in some places. While this may 

 be good for our fruit-growers, still, I 

 am sorry that such a calamity overtook 

 those Eastern growers. Too many of 

 them will lose heavily. The cultivator 

 of the soil can never afford to lose a 

 crop; he has too many calls for the 

 use of his hard-earned money to suffer 

 such loss. It is so here ; I am sure it 

 is the same the world over. 



Hornets, Bees, and Ignorance 



The correspondent of the American 

 Bee Journal who dubbed the writer of 

 the hornet article " ignorant," in the 

 April issue, struck a far more reaching 

 blow at the " ignorant " class of bee- 

 lights than he probably intended. I 

 have been looking up all the authorities 

 on bee-keeping in my possession, and 

 I find that every one of them, American 

 and English, who have anything at all 

 to relate about wasps and hornets, say 

 that they (the hornets) should be de- 

 stroyed. And none of them gave as 

 strong evidence against these insects 

 as did the writer hereof, and for which 

 "assault" on the "person and charac- 

 ter" of the hornet Mr. Latham rather 

 ungentlemanly started to abuse me, in 

 the doing of which he also whacked 

 the good men who wrote our principal 

 bee-books. I don't know but I should 

 thank the very learned gentleman for 

 putting me in such distinguished com- 

 pany. He evidently stirred up a bigger 

 hornets'-nest than he bargained for. 



I still hold to my contention, that 

 hornets are injurious to fruit; they 

 pester the honey-house, and everlast- 

 ingly get into the honey in their thiev- 

 ish propensity to pilfer that sweet. At 

 times of the year they are bothersome 

 to the bees, sometimes even attacking 

 and killing them. Of course, the trouble 

 from his source is never serious; it 

 is, however, so to the honey-room and 

 the fuit-crop. One thing about a hor- 

 net is that he is the most determined 



of robbers ; lie will poke and nose 

 about a honey-house until he finds 

 some small crack through which he 

 can crowd his miserable little carcass 

 into the place where the honey is 

 stored. It seems to me that one will 

 work about the outside of a honey- 

 house all day until he manages to 

 secure an entrance. This a bee will 

 never do, for a bee generally wants to 

 get to the sweets right off; if she finds 

 her ingress blocked she will take her 

 busy little self to other pastures — pas- 

 tures probably far more pleasant and 

 better for her health. 



At another time I may present some 

 strong evidence to show that we of 

 this State are not disposed to raise hor- 

 nets to fatten on "wormy "-steaks ; we 

 shall leave that profitable business to 

 the learned correspondent and defender 

 of the thievish and abominable hornet. 

 In doing this I won't dispute that the 

 hornet may have some good traits — so 

 have nearly all the members of the 

 robber profession, both in and out of 

 jail; those traits are at their best, how- 

 ever, when the owners are asleep, or 

 when they are dead. 



Wild Radish as a Bee-Plant 



One of our most common weeds is 

 the wild radish. I believe it is found 

 all over the length and breadth of the 

 State; I have seen immense patches of 

 it in bloom at Santa Barbara in April. 

 About the San Francisco bay counties 

 it is sometimes a pest, though with 

 careful cultivation it can be subjugated 



Blossoms of Wild Radish. 



in a few years. It blooms here during 

 April and May, and furnishes a large 

 quantity of nectar. The flavor is not 

 altogether bad; in fact, it is considered 

 very good. This plant is not a native, 

 but was introduced here at probably 

 the time of the Spanish occupation of 

 the country. There seems to be sev- 

 eral varieties, one or two of which is 



very strong-growing, and the roots at- 

 tain large size. It may be possible that 

 these are of oriental origin. While an 

 annual the plant will live for several 

 years, I believe, by cutting ofT the tops 

 before the seed matures. 



It would be well to destroy this wild 

 radish wherever found, by cutting it 

 bodily, as it is a useless weed except 

 that it has yalue to bee-keepers, but to 

 no one else that I know of. 



Vale Ye Portrait Headings 



1 hail with much pleasure the disap- 

 pearance of the headings used in the 

 departments of this Journal up to and 

 including the March number. On the 

 adoption of the old headings, or shortly 

 thereafter, I filed with the publishers 

 my objections to this style of headings, 

 especially the photographic use of my 

 "phiz" in connection with the heading 

 over the department I have been al- 

 lowed to inflict upon the good readers 

 of the "Old Reliable" these several 

 years. I did this not that the publica- 

 tion of said "phiz" would lead to my 

 detection and incarceration for "high 

 crimes and misdemeanors," or that I 

 was loath to be seen in company with 

 the class of individuals that appeared 

 elsewhere in the Journal, or, even, that 

 I felt myself so much better than the 

 other individuals that I did not want to 

 rub up against them through the me- 

 dium of printers' ink and white paper — 

 no, not for any of these reasons, but 

 for the simple one that I considered 

 that it appeared a conceited idea to 

 have one's picture forever paraded be- 

 fore the public. But my objections 

 were voted down by ye Editor. I was 

 asked to let the heading run until a 

 complete change was made throughout 

 the Journal,and I reluctantly consented. 



I make the foregoing comments this 

 time, for some reader of this magazine 

 has been so good as to call the atten- 

 tion of both Mr. T. B. Terry and the 

 editor of the Practical l<armer to the 

 fact that my "phiz" was monthly dec- 

 orating the pages of the " Old Reliable." 

 And I was therefore called "inconsis- 

 tent." All because I objected in a mild 

 and gentlemanly way to certain features 

 in the make-up of the said Practical 

 Farmer, one of which was the use of 

 headings much after the style of the 

 late ones of the American Bee Journal. 

 With the publication of my letter set- 

 ting forth my reasons for such unnec- 

 essary use of portraits in the way men- 

 tioned, the paper thereupon and ever 

 since has abandoned their use. But 

 with their going the editor has been 

 dying hard; he has taken occasion sev- 

 eral times to let himself down easy; 

 also to make digs at me for my intima- 

 tion that Mr. Terry is too prone to be 

 boosting things elsewhere advertised 

 in the issues of the Practical Farmer. 

 Any one who knows anything about 

 the inside management of a publication 

 office, knows that a " puff " or " boost " 

 is never given an article advertised ex- 

 cept for good and sufficient reasons 

 best known to the business department. 

 We all know that publishers are not 

 engaged in printing a paper just for the 

 fun of it, or even for their health, if 

 you will. Of course, I must admit that 

 there are times when reading notices 



