November, iyi2. 



American Hee Journal 



He has made his home for many years 

 in the city of San Diego, but he often 

 visited his apiaries. G. F. Merriam. 



The following was taken from a San 

 Diego paper: 



Death called the man who introduced bee- 

 culture and deciduous fruits in California, 

 when lolin S. Harbison expired Oct. 12. 1012. 

 after a lingering illness in this city. He was 

 a pioneer of San Diego, and one of the ear- 

 liest residents of California. 



lolin S. Harbison was born in Beaver City. 

 Pa.. Sept. 2<j 182b. and was 8b years old at the 

 time of liis death. He came to CaHfornia 

 in 1854. and for .:>i years resided in Sacra- 

 mento, coming to San Diego with his wife in 

 I8ii«. and has since resided here. He brought 

 bees and trees to the early California by 

 way of Panama from New York to San Fran- 

 cisco in 1K57. He was the author of several 

 vc)lumeson bee culture. 



Mr. Harbison was well known all over the 

 coast. He was a prominent Mason, and a 

 life member of the State Agricultural So- 

 ciety. His wife. Mrs. M. I. Harbison, and 

 daughter. Mrs Hinkle, survive him. 



Illinois Prospects. The bees are ap- 

 parently going into winter quarters in 

 good shape, with plenty of good honey 

 and a snflicient force. The white 

 clover is showing in every direction. 

 1913 should be a good year for bees in 

 this region, 



••- 



Bees Besiege Honey Thieves When 



J. M. Cornelius, of Sterling, Colo., a 

 honey-producer, awoke one morning, 

 he found that during the night 15 bee- 

 hives had been looted of 50 pounds of 

 honey. He followed the dispossessed 

 bees to the home of two brothers by 

 the name of Bennett, living a mile 

 away. There he found the bees swarm- 

 ing about the house, while the Ben- 

 netts, besieged, had closed the door 

 and windows, and were afraid to go 

 out, 



Mr. Cornelius swore out warrants 

 for the arrest of the Bennetts. They 

 admitted the theft. — /■:xc/ia>un: 



Bee-I^eping <^ For Women 



Conducted bv Miss Emma M. Wilson, Marengo. 111. 



Advice on Bee-Keeping as a Source of 

 Income 



.\ letter which e.xcites no small in- 

 terest conies from a sister who has a 

 daughter who is teaching, and a son 

 who is growing into young manhood, 

 living in one of the larger cities. She 

 says in part: 



"We all have a great desire to live in the 

 country, and the thought has come that per- 

 haps we could do so and keep bees. Do you 

 think we could make a living at it ? Have 

 you any idea what it would cost to start an 

 apiary ? And do you think we could learn 

 the business, or is it overcrowded already ? 

 We are an.xious to get into something that 

 my daughter and I could take care of later. 

 for she does not want to teach always— it is 

 really too hard for her— and the only way I 

 can help in town is by sewing, and when I do 

 much of that i have headache all the time." 



Answering those questions categori- 

 cally : It is more likely you would 

 make a dead failure than that you 

 would make a living in a business that 

 requires knowledge and skill, since 

 you have neither knowledge nor skill 

 in bee-keeping. .\ capital of $ln(Ml 

 might be sufficient to give you enough 

 bees to occupy your attention. But 

 why answer any further if only failure 

 is in prospect ? 



This failure, however, is on the sup- 

 position that you start into the busi- 

 ness as a full-fledged bee-keeper, with- 

 out serving any apprenticeship. That 

 is not the only alternative. You can 

 learn the business, beginning on a 

 small scale and increasing the number 

 of your colonies as your knowledge 

 increases. Thousands have done so, 

 why not you ? The business is not 

 overcrowded so long as tons of honey 

 are going to waste for want of bees to 

 gather it, and so long as there are 

 thousands of people who eat honey 

 only as a luxury, and thousands more 

 who never eat it at all. 



Still, bee-keeping is not a bonanza. 

 Only a small percent of bee-keepers 



make their entire living from it. Gen- 

 erally it occupies only part of their 

 time, and that the smallest part. Some 

 are specially adapted to bee-keeping; 

 some are not. Yon can only tell by 

 trying whether you are or not. 



The most difficult thing in your case, 

 to the view of an outsider, is mak- 

 ing a start. It may or it may not be 

 possible for youto keep 2 or 3 colonies 

 of bees right where you are living now. 

 Some keep bees on the roofs of their 

 houses in cities. But you may not 

 have a flat roof adapted to the purpose. 

 Possibly you may have a back-yard 

 that is somewhat secluded, so that bees 

 would not be likely to sting passers by 

 on the street. 



It would be much better if you could 

 be living out in the country, at least a 

 little way, where you could still have 

 the chance to go on as you are doing, 

 and at the same time have plenty of 

 room for your bees. Not that it takes 

 so very much room to place the hives. 



.•\ hundred hives may be so placed 

 that they will need no more than 5 

 square rods of ground. But bees need 

 a good bit of elbow room outside of 

 their hives, and should have their hives 

 at some distance from the public high- 

 way. There is no small difference in 

 the tempers of bees. Some are so gen- 

 tle that they might safely be placed 

 within a rod or two of a public road, 

 while others are so cross that they 

 should not be within 10 rods. 



Let us suppose that it is possible that 

 by next spring you can be located as 

 suggested, at least a little way in the 

 country, and that you want to make a 

 start at bee-keeping. You will want at 

 least 2 colonies to start with, and not 

 more than .5. You can get a lot of ex- 

 perience with 2 colonies, and if you 

 should conclude to give them up after 

 a trial, the loss need not be great. You 

 will not buy before spring, and you 



can no doubt buy from some one near 

 by, for bees are not accepted by the 

 railroads as freight in less than car 

 lots, and expressage is very expensive. 

 It is possible, however, that by nejft 

 spring bees can be sent in light ship- 

 ping-cases by i)arcels post at reasoij- 

 able rates. Then you can increase t;o 

 double your number or more the fir^t 

 year, and with increased experience 

 the increase may be rapid afterward. 



In the meantime you will do well to 

 get one of the leading text-books on 

 bee-keeping, and read up during the 

 winter. A good bee-journal will not 

 come amiss, and if you have the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal you will have the ad- 

 vantage that whenever there is any 

 question upon which you desire infor- 

 mation your ([uestions will be an- 

 swered without any expense. 



This is not a very brilliant picture of 

 making a fortune at bee-keeping, but it 

 is about the only picture that can be 

 given in strict accordance with the 

 truth. There are not many lines qf 

 business in which there is not a better 

 chance to make big money. On the 

 other hand, there are few lines of busi- 

 ness in which a moderate income can 

 be made with the same chance for 

 health and happiness while at the busi- 

 ness. If you have the right aptitude 

 for bee-keeping you will find it a fasci- 

 nating occupation. Your true bee- 

 keeper is living his vacation every 

 day while working at his bees, always 

 provided he does not work too hard at 

 it. Many a sister living in the city 

 might be the richer to move into the 

 country and have a much smaller in- 

 come than in the city. The outdoor 

 air and exercise at bee-keeping would 

 be a rich compensation for the smaller 

 income. A cow, some poultry, and a 

 good garden would go a long way to- 

 ward lessening expenses, with the ad- 

 vantage that everything would be as 

 fresh and fine as the richest dweller in 

 the city could secure at highest price. 

 A born bee-keeper is not likely to be 

 rich, but is very likely to be healthy 

 and happy, with a long lease of life. 



The Season's Crop 



This has been a peculiar season in 

 many respects. Very early it promised 

 to be a complete failure so far as the 

 honey crop was concerned, and until 

 June 25 there was "nothing doing" 

 except feeding to keep from starving. 



Then the belated clover put in an ap- 

 pearance, and the first we knew one of 

 our colonies swarmed, and we con- 

 cluded we had better be doing some- 

 thing, so we put the supers on in short 

 order. They were put on in the after- 

 noon, and the ne.xt morning, in many 

 cases, there was honey in the supers, 

 so promptly did the bees commence 

 storing in them. Doubtful if they ever 

 commenced quite so promptly, at least 

 in such a wholesale manner before. 

 We had felt that we would be quite 

 satisfied if they would only make their 

 living, so you can imagine we were 

 quite pleased at the very sudden change 

 in affairs. We have had frequent rains 

 all summer, and quite a bit of cool 

 weather, but it has kept the clover in 

 fine condition. Mso it has given us a 

 .-rood fall flow from hearts-ease. We 



