April, 1915. 



American Hee Journal 



to cover from 100 to 200 colonies. They 

 are built by placing two rows of posts 

 parallel with a cross beam at the top, 

 and over this seven or eight wires are 

 stretched lengthwise, making the width 

 about 10 or 12 feet. These wires are 

 covered with arrow weed, a peculiar 

 brush that grows on all overflow land 

 to the height of 5 or 6 feet, perfectly 

 straight, and contains thick leaves 

 which make it ideal for shade. 



"The honey is generally light amber, 

 some seasons very light, other seasons 

 darker. It compares favorably in color 

 with the light amber honey produced 

 in the coast counties. It is very mild 

 in flavor, and must not be confounded 

 with the dark strong honey produced 

 in other parts of the State from alfalfa. 

 In the early days, before the reclama- 

 tion of the land, some honey was pro- 

 duced from wild hollyhock and another 

 plant or shrub called ' grease brush,' 

 which was very dark and with a strong 

 flavor. With the reclaiming of the 

 desert this has entirely disappeared. 



" With the formation of the county 

 the Board of Supervisors saw the ne- 

 cessity of the protection of the bee 

 industry. We have always had an in- 



spector of apiaries, and the conse- 

 quences are that the county is practi- 

 cally free of brood diseases. All bees 

 are kept in standard movable frame 

 hives. Several years ago to further 

 safeguard the industry, the supervisors 

 adopted an ordinance then in force in 

 several other counties in southern 

 California for the prevention of the 

 shipment of bees from districts or 

 counties where disease was known to 

 exist, giving the inspector power to 

 declare a quarantine if necessary. The 

 danger of importing brood disease 

 has practically been eliminated. 



"Generally speaking, the crops are 

 not very large, but the certainty of 

 crops appeals to a person more than 

 one year of large crops with an almost 

 entire failure other years. Again it is 

 perhaps more expensive to maintain 

 an apiary in this county, owing to the 

 fact that there is practically no waste 

 land where apiaries can be located and 

 rents are from $20 to $50 for each loca- 

 tion. Also all colonies are assessed at 

 $2.00 each. The Bard district in this 

 county produces some mesquite honey 

 which is of very good quality. 



" A. F. Wagner." 



but they do not bloom until the regular 

 blooming period comes. Of course, as 

 the spring opens so does beekeeping, 

 which makes the season earlier than in 

 the central and northern part of our 

 country, and naturally it closes later. 

 Then, too, the sources of honey vary. 



Our industry has put on a great 

 growth here of late, since we have 

 come down to more reasonable expec- 

 tations and have risen higher in the 

 knowledge of our business. 



Bee-Keeping 



In Dixie^ 



Conducted by J. J. Wilder. Cordele. Ga, 



Failures 



If success lay in the path of every 

 one who entered beekeeping, ours 

 would soon be a crowded business. 

 Removing and marketing honey is 

 where many fail. Much of our honey 

 granulates or candies. It should not 

 be removed until the market is ready 

 for it; then remove it, pack it, and 

 ship it at once, and it will be consumed 

 before it granulates and causes trouble, 

 for the longer it is removed from the 

 bees, the less fit it is for the market. 

 This applies only to chunk and ex- 

 tracted honey. Comb honey in one- 

 pound sections should be removed and 

 packed as soon as finished. We have 

 warm weather suitable for removing 

 and packing honey during the winter 

 months. 



At this time (March 10) we have lots 



of colonies with almost their entire 



last season's crop still on. The honey 



is as good as, if not better than it ever 



was. The market has not been ready 



for it, and when it is it will be removed, 



and not before, even if some is left to 



go on in the new crop. This is better 



in two ways, for the bees are in the 



very best shape under these supers of 



honey. 



^ • » 



Beekeeping in Florida 



Owing to the climate and possibilities 

 of development in Dixie, much has 

 been said concerning it as a bee and 

 honey country. As a rule, opinions of 

 it are far from right. Bees gather lit- 

 tle or no honey through the months of 

 December, January and February, for 



even this climatically favored country 

 has its seasons when natural vegetation 

 rests. Trees and almost all kinds of 

 forest plants stop grow'ng and shed 

 their leaves. Naturally the bees rest 

 also. 



Vegetables of almost all kinds grow 

 and flourish wonderfully during this 

 time, and cultivated trees such as the 

 citrus fruits also grow if fertilized, etc.. 



The Caucasian Bee 



Editor Root of Gleanings in Bee Cul- 

 ture, under editorials for March 1, has 

 this to say about Caucasians: "The 

 question whether or not they swarm 

 to excess should not be given too 

 much consideration. The real ques- 

 tion after all is, are they money 

 makers ?" Thi; is the question in a 

 nut shell. But are they ? I will an- 

 swer " yes, so far as they have been 

 adopted." There have been some few 

 limited experiments that would not 

 substantiate me in this. 



While many beekeepers have made a 

 great success since they adopted the 

 Italian bees, there have been many 

 miserable failures also with them. With 

 me the Italians would not breed up, 

 and the old bees carried over from the 

 previous season rapidly disappeared, 

 and colonies were greatly reduced in 

 strength. In this condition they con- 

 sumed stores at a time when they 

 should have been making a living. 



The Caucasians were gaining in 

 strength every day when the Italians 

 were barely holding their own. When 

 the main flow came they built up some 

 and stored a little honey in the brood- 

 chamber, but long before the next flow 

 they were again reduced in numbers. 

 On the other hand, the Caucasian pre- 

 dominated, multiplying fast in number 

 of colonies by artificial increase, and 

 at the same time producing large crops 

 of honey each season, which gave my 

 business a good backing and kept it 



J. J. WILDEK AT HIS WINTICR HOME IN BRADENTOWN. P'LA. 



