340 



November, 1912. 



many bee-keepers ignore the existence 

 of this market. Their eyes are fixed 

 on some far-away country. They fail 

 to see the home market. From my own 

 observation bulk-comb honey, put up 

 Texas fashion, would solve the prob- 

 lem. I have talked to some about this, 

 and they nearly all disagree with me. 

 They seem to think that such methods 

 might answer very well in " wild and 

 woolly Texas," but not for graceful, 

 ;esthetic California. I differ with them, 

 and know whereof I speak.' It is my 

 opinion that California can consume 

 all its own honey. 



Glucose is imported into this State 

 by the train load. It is stacked up in 

 all the grocery stores in large quanti- 

 ties, and yet honey is the principal 

 article of export from San Diego. It 

 is sent to the poor, poverty-struck 

 countries of England, Germany and 

 Holland. Rich and opulent California 

 uses glucose for the children's lunch. 

 To a large extent the bee-keepers are 

 to blame for this state of aflfairs. They 

 put up their honey in a way not appre- 

 ciated by the consumers. The common 

 package for honey here is the Ball- 

 Mason jar, and, in my opinion, it is a 

 poor package. It is too fragile and too 

 expensive. Paper jars or tin cans (2 

 pounds) would be far better. The b- 

 gallon can simply throws the honey 

 business into the hands of the com- 

 mission men, jobbers and wholesalers. 



I have traveled all over Texas, and it 

 strikes me the people are very little, if 

 any, different from the people here. 

 Life and property are fully as safe as 

 here, and in some cases the laws are 

 superior — the Homestead law for ex- 

 ample. For 30 years the Southern 

 Pacific and Santa Fe railroads have run 

 this State — with an iron hand. Lately 

 it has reformed, and laws copied from 

 Oklahoma and Texas hav^ been en- 

 acted. From 1890 to 1900 California 

 attracted no immigration. From 1900 

 to 1010 it did better, but from 1910 to 

 VMi) promises to furnish a phenomenal 

 record. Ere long Los Angeles promi- 

 ses to overtake all the cities of this 

 country except three. Not only so, 

 but little towns are springing up every- 

 where, promising a fme local market — 

 if bee-keepers will cater to it. 



One might think the opportunities 

 have all been appropriated. On the 

 contrary, there are all sorts of open- 

 ings for capable bee-men. Plenty of 

 apiaries may be had that are "run 

 down at the heel," and need care. It 

 is no longer necessary to live a hermit 

 life in the mountains, with the coyotes 

 for company at Sunday dinner. You 

 may live in town, keep an "auto," and 

 look after your bees 20 miles away with 

 much ease. 



The right way, in my opinion, is to 

 have an acre lot near the p.ost-office, 

 church and school, build a tent house 

 and live like a king. A tent house 

 costing $2.50 is better to live in than a 

 $10,000 bungalow. The chief health 

 officer of Chicago, in a speech here 

 last winter, said he did not see what 

 people wanted with houses, tents were 

 so much better. 



With a good garden, a cow and a 

 flock of chickens, you are independent 

 of grocers and butchers. All zuhilt-r 

 long you may have fruits and vegeta- 

 bles from your own garden. By doing 



American Vae Journal 



this you are not in such a hurry to sell 

 your honey " at any old price." 



Tlie line of fruits and vegetables is 

 long, and it is intensely interesting to 

 watch the different plants develop. We 

 have only had our place 18 months, 

 but the results have been very satis- 

 factory. We have had a little crop of 

 peaches from trees that came by mail. 

 VVe will probably have strawberries, 

 blackberries, raspberries and melons 

 for Christmas, all from our own lot. I 

 find that in many spots a considerable 

 number of tropical fruits can be grown 

 with success, notably avocados, cheri- 

 moyers, zapotes, jujubes, bananas, plan- 

 tains, mangoes, etc. Among vegeta- 

 bles you may have cassava, chayotes, 

 rosella, couve-tronchuda, sea-kale, and 

 a lot of others. 



There is no necessity of any one 

 punishing himself and injuring his 

 health by trying to get along on two 

 meals a day The expense of living is 

 less than it is back East. If you have 

 no money, come anyway, work is 

 plentiful, and homes can be bought on 

 "tick." Failing in this you can go 

 south of here and get deer, bear, prong- 

 horn antelope, mountain sheep, etc., 

 in abundance, and game birds by the 

 million. 



Do not think we are "out of the 

 world " here. We are not. I heard 

 every shot at the first battle of Tia 

 Juana, Mexico, and saw the red flag of 

 the Socialists flying over the Custom 

 House. After the second battle Gen. 

 Orozco and his men passed our door 

 prisoners of war. Later Madame Sarah 

 Bernhardt, "the Divine Sarah," passed 

 by on her way to Coronado Beach. 

 Emma Goldman gave us ? lecture on 

 dramatic art, and Joseph Eels, the rob- 

 ber philanthropist, gave us a call. The 

 Pacific fleet throws its search light 

 quite often on our house, and 

 the concussion of its 10-inch guns 

 shakes our windows and causes us to 

 lose sleep at times. For $3.00 one 

 may go to Ensenada, Lower California, 

 and see one of the grandest bee-coun- 

 tries on earth yet unoccupied, or you 

 can stray down as far as the burning 



beach of Mazatlan, where strawberries 

 and cocoanuts grow side by side. Or, 

 you may visit the famous city of Aca- 

 pulco and dream of Spanish galleons 

 loaded to the gunwale with silver from 

 the mines of Potosi. 



We have good churches and better 

 schools than " back East." What more 

 does one want ? 



Chula Vista. Calif. 



Troppman's Devices for the 

 Apiary 



BY GEORGE W. YORK. 



Mr. George Troppman is one of the 

 few bee-keepers in this most northern 

 (Bonner) county of Idaho. He is an 

 ingenious mechanic, and is ever con- 

 triving short cuts in bee-keeping. He 

 has an apiary of some 20 colonies, and 

 works for both comb and extracted 

 honey. 



A HIVE-NUMBERING PLAN. 



A picture of Mr. Troppman's apiary 

 is shown herewith. It was taken to 

 illustrate his method of numbering 

 hives, but for some reason it failed to 

 indicate it. Perhaps it can be explained 

 so as to be fairly intelligible. 



He takes a piece of 4 '4x4 '4' section 

 for each hive, and puts the figure or 

 figures on it as large and plain as pos- 

 sible. The piece is then slipped back 

 of a small spring that is tacked on a 

 rear vertical edge of the hive. On the 

 other side of the piece of section may 

 be written any records desired con- 

 cerning that particular colony, 



I believe Mr. Doolittle also uses 

 pieces of sections for the record part, 

 and lays them under the hive-covers. 

 But on the outside of the hive, as Mr. 

 Troppman has them, they serve a 

 double purpose. The figures, being 

 large and black, can be seen some dis- 

 tance away. 



A SIMPLE F0UND.\TI0N CUTTER. 



The illustration herewith gives a 

 good idea of Mr. Troppman's way of 

 cutting comb foundation for sections. 



Mr. Geo. Tkoi'I'MAN. of Idaho, and a Part ok His .\i'iakv. 



