558 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 1 



NATIONAL BEE-KEEPERS' ASSOCLi.TION. 



Object:— To promote and protect the interests of its mem 

 bars; to prevent the adulteration of honey. 



OFFICERS:— E K. Root, President, Medina, C; R. C. Aikin 

 Vice-president, Loveland, Col.; Dr. A. B. Mason, Secre- 

 tary, 3512 Monroe St.. Sta. B, Toledo, O.; Eugene Secor, 

 General Manager, Forest City, Iowa. 



Board OF Directors:— E. Whitcomb, Friend, Neb.; n.Z 

 Hutchinson. Flint, Mich.; A. I. Root, Medina, O.; E. T. 

 Abbott, St. Joseph, Mo.; P. H. Elwood, Staritville, N. Y.; 

 E. R. Root, Medina, C; T. G. Newmqn, San Francisco, 

 Cal.; G. M. Doolittle, Borodino, N. Y.; W. F. Marks, Cha- 

 pinviUe, N. Y.; J. M. Harabauch, Escondido, Cal.; C. P. 

 Dadant, Hamilton, 111.: C. C. Miller, Marengo, III. 



Fees:— Annual membership fee, fl.OO. Remittances may be 

 sent here or to General Manager as above. 



In the American Bee-Keeper which has 

 reached me on the fly I see that Editor Hill 

 has replied to the editorial on page 476 of 

 Gleanings regarding the matter of high 

 values on queens. While I differ on many of 

 his points, there is one on which I feel con 

 strained to acquiesce ; viz., that, if one owner 

 of some really valuable queen places a high 

 value on her, other breeders, perhaps less 

 scrupulous, may put equal or higher values on 

 breeders comparatively mediocre or even poor. 

 As the matter is liable to abuse we have de- 

 cided to place no values on breeders which 

 we propose to keep and will not sell. But 

 queens from such choice stock, best we have, 

 we may hold all the way from $10.00 to $25.00. 



THE BEES AND PEAR-BLIGHT IN CENTRAL 

 CALIFORNIA. 



On the tram to San Francisco, June 21. 



It has been charged by the fruit-men at 

 Hanford, Cal., that bees aie responsible for 

 pear-blight through the medium of the blos- 

 soms in the spring. There were threats of the 

 law and of the poisoning of the bees. As an 

 officer of the National Bee-keepers' Associa- 

 tion I was asked to come and investigate, 

 which I did. Result, a truce was declared, 

 and a compromise agreed to pending an inves- 

 tigation. For the time being good feeling 

 on both sides prevails. Full particulars later. 

 E. R. Root, Pres. N. B. K. A. 



"GO WEST, YOUNG MAN." 



This is sometimes good advice and some- 

 times it is not ; but there are many locations 

 for bees in the South and West not yet occu- 

 pied. These are not in fields already occupied 

 by bee-keepers, and generally overstocked, 

 but in new locations about to be irrigated. As 

 fast as enterprise and capital can move on- 

 ward, places now desert that will hardly sup- 

 port jack rabbits and cayotes will be convert- 

 ed into veritable gardens of Eden, raising the 

 richest vegetation of the tropics. I have seen 

 many such places during the last few days on 

 my travels, that, fifteen years ago, were barren 

 wastes with very scanty vegetation, but are 

 now growing alfalfa, great trees, oranges, 

 lemons, peaches, pears, and a long list of 

 luscious fruits too numerous to mention. The 

 fields already occupied by bee-keepers are, as 



a rule, overstocked, and no one should go 

 into these territories without buying some 

 one out. 



Now, don't think that I am interested in 

 some new tract of land for myself or any one 

 else, for I am not. One who goes west should 

 be very cautious, for many a poor man has 

 been fleeced by the land sharks that are all 

 too numerous. I'll have more to say on this 

 subject later, and until then the prospective 

 home-seeker had better go slow if he is fol- 

 lowing in the wake of my travels. 



THE MAGNIFICENT DISTANCES IN CALIFOR- 

 NIA. 



There are "magnificent distances " in Cal- 

 ifornia. On the ordinary map it looks as if 

 the town of one bee-keeper in the State might 

 be close to that of another ; but when one 

 gets here and finds that they may be two or 

 three hundred miles apart, he concludes that 

 he won't visit both in the same day — at least 

 that has been my expereuce. While I was 

 traveling through this State of the setting sun 

 at home, "on paper," I saw, for example, 

 that one bee-keeper whom I desired to visit 

 from a central point where I expected to make 

 my headquarters was " only over in the next 

 county," and that I could easily, in imagina- 

 tion, wheel out to him in a few hours. Well, 

 when I got here, and found that he was 2U0 

 miles away, and that some eastern States could 

 be spread out inside of one of these California 

 counties — yes, two of 'em — well, I stood 

 aghast. My time was very, very short, and 

 my pocketbook ever so small. I say this in 

 apology for not calling on some of my friends 

 along the route. The same thing was true of 

 Texas, and, for alike reason, I missed seeing 

 several whom I had planned to meet in the 

 Lone Star State. I shall make between five 

 and six thousand miles, all told, among the 

 bee-keepers of this great, great West ; and, 

 although I have made many stops, and kodak- 

 ed as many apiaries, I still find that there are 

 very many that I ought not to have misser". 



This is written while I am stopping wuh 

 Rambler at the home of J. C. McCubbin, 

 Reedley, Cal. 



CHARACTERISTICS OF BLACKS AND ITALIANS. 



One of the few who prefer black bees is C. 

 Davenport, although he calls them " brown " 

 bees, and says there is as much difference in 

 brown bees as there is in Italians. In the 

 American Bee Journal he gives his reason for 

 preferring the dark bees, a preference based 

 on years of experience on a large scale with 

 both kinds side by side. That experience 

 teaches him that he can secure more surplus 

 white comb honey in his locality with the 

 brown than with Italians. He says : 



"The main trouble I find with Italians is 

 their determination to stuff the brood-cham- 

 ber at the commencement of the flow, and I 

 have never been able to overcome this trait. 

 And then, after they have put anywhere fiom 

 15 to 30 pounds of white honey in the brooi- 

 chamber which should have been in sections, 

 instead of then being willing to work in sec- 



