374 



November, 1915. 



American l^ee Journal 



they should bring. Merchants should 

 know and display the different grades 

 of extracted honey as they now do 

 comb honey, and should enlighten 

 themselves as to the prices they should 

 pay for the different grades. 



It gives a beekeeper a mild shock to 

 deliver an order of several cases of 

 water-white honey to his local grocer, 

 who has ordered the best, and have 

 him question the price when asked 

 only 6 cents, saying he can buy honey 

 at 3^^. This happened in our locality 

 this season. The grocer had heard of 

 amber honey selling at 3^i cents, and 

 honey was honey to him— nothing 

 more. And while he is an intelligent 

 man, running a lucrative business, it 

 took considerable explanation on the 

 part of the beekeeper to convince him 

 of the difference. This instance is 

 cited merely to show the need of edu- 

 cating our market in order to keep 

 prices, especially retail prices, anything 

 like where they should be. And this, 

 I suppose, fellow beekeepers, is up to 

 us. 



Our fancy grades of white honey are 

 not bringing us what they should, even 

 under present depressions, and partly, 

 at least, because the consumer does not 

 know the difference. 



The National Association is doing 

 its duty in this respect, and all other 

 associations should be affiliated with it. 

 A harmonious united effort is what we 

 need. There is a movement afoot in 

 southern California for something of 

 this kind, tie progress of which will 

 be reported later. 



California in the Fall 



Our honey-plants both wild and cul- 

 tivated, upon which we depend for sur- 

 plus, are now enjoying their autumnal 

 rest. They have come to their perfec- 

 tion with the season's rainfall or the 

 provided irrigation flow, yielded their 

 quota of nectar-laden blossoms, fruited, 

 and the crops, useful to man, have been 

 gathered. Even the thrice useful bean 

 has been harvested and the straw baled 

 and sold as roughage for the dairy 

 cow. 



The California landscape is now 

 tawny and brown, relieved only by the 

 green of the orange and eucalyptus 

 groves and the dark purple of the dis- 

 tant mountains. The sages are unob- 

 trusive masses of brown and gray, and 

 are shrivelled to mere ghosts of their 

 former selves by the heat of summer 

 and the dry winds of autumn. The dry 

 heads of the wild buckwheat are a rich 

 chocolate-brown, persisting on the 

 stem and almost as much prized for 

 dry bouquets as the beautiful white 

 immortelle which silvers the canons in 

 spring. 



But always there is something for 

 encouragement, even for a bee. The 

 dry stubble fields are now covered 

 with the silver foliage and small white 

 blossoms of the drouth-weed and the 

 green and purple of the bluecurl. This 

 last is sometimes called turpentine 

 weed, on account of its strong scent. 

 It is really a beautiful plant, seen either 

 at close range or <•« mass,; as it casts a 

 soft purple haze over the fields. Like 

 its sister bluecurl, the showy "Romeo," 

 its stamens are also blue or purple and 

 much exerted, or extended beyond the 



BLUECURL Ok TURPENTINE WEED 



corolla tube and recurved^hence, the 

 name bluecurl, commonly given to 

 both species. 



From both the strong scented blue- 

 curl and the drouth-weed, the bees 

 gather considerable nectar. This is 

 quite a help for winter stores. The 

 bluecurl range is e.xtending year by 

 year over our stubble fields, encroach- 



ing on much of the drouth-weed's here- 

 tofore undisputed territory. 



The creamy clusters of the fall- 

 blooming eucalyptus are covered with 

 bees to such an extern that their hum 

 is almost like that of a swarm. There 

 are also several species of wild com- 

 posites which attract bees along the 

 dry mountain streams at this season. 



Conducted by Wesley Fostes. Boulder. Colo. 



The European foulbrood situation is 

 apparently affected more by locality 

 and the seasons than is American foul- 

 brood. Dr. Miller, you say that it is a 

 waste of money to melt up combs 



affected with European foulbrood, and 

 you are doubtless correct in your 

 locality with your seasons, but any but 

 the most stringent methods have met 

 with practically an entire failure here 



