FEBRUAKY 15, 1915 



139 



BEEEiEEPING IN CALIFORNIA 



F. C. Chad wick, Redlands, Cai 



'^ 



learn." 

 quotation 



'Po-day. Jan. 28, we are in midst 

 oi' tlio heaviest rain of the season. 



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Dr. Miller says, page 7, Jan. 1, 

 " Really, one great beauty of bee- 

 keeping is that you never get to 

 the end — always something more to 

 This reminds me of the following 



I.carn as though j'ou expect to live always ; 

 Live as though you expect to die tomnrrow. 



The remarks of the C. C. Clemons Produce 

 Co.. page 37, Jan. 1, are sound and of 

 importance. Wesley Foster also covers about 

 the same ground. The marking of honey in 

 the individual amounts should be as near the 

 e.xact weight as possible. Then the customer 

 knows what he is getting and is willing to 

 pay for the amount received. But, as Mr. 

 Clemons says, when a section is stamped 

 eight ounces and actually contains thirteen, 

 it is not easy to persuade the buyer that he 

 is getting long measure. The American 

 people are not used to long weight, and are 

 likely to look with suspicion on any one who 

 is so un-American as actually to grive some- 

 thing away. Mr. Clemons has been in the 

 honey-market for many years. I have been 

 in his establishment when it was known as 

 that of Clemons & Cloon ; but later the 

 name was Clemons & Mason. 



This year I marked all of my cans with 

 a small label, which read. "Guaranteed sixty 

 pounds net." When filling my cans I set 

 the scale to balance at one pound in excess 

 of the sixty pounds called for. Tn this way 

 T kept well within the law, felt well satisfied 

 with my measure, and sufFered no great loss. 



Tn commenting on the last item, page 7, 

 •Jan. 1. the editor in speaking of destroying 

 foul-brood combs uses the word " burn." If 

 there is any word that can be found that 

 grinds my nerves in connection with the 

 eradication of foul brood, it is that word 

 burn. I wish for the sake of those who liave 

 had their bees destroyed by fire, simply to 

 accomplish the same results that might have 

 been accomplished by hot water, the word 

 burn had never apy)eared in connection with 

 the treatment of disease. A few yeare ago 

 one of our county inspectors made the as- 

 sertion before the state r-onvention that he 

 had burned a number of perfectly liealthy 

 colonies because they had been shipped into 



his county contrary to a county ordinance. 

 I am hoping that I may live to see the day 

 wlien wo shall have a national law regulat- 

 ing the transportation of bees, thus elimin- 

 ating all state and county ordinances. 

 County ordinances may be all right in the 

 hands of an inspector who can maintain his 

 good judsTuent after having become an 

 official (if he had any to start with) ; but 

 with the chances involved the risk is too 

 great. Many of our county ordinances are 

 principally used as a fence to keep other 

 bees out. In at least one instance of which 

 I know, an inspector from another county 

 inspected a shipment for Imperial Co. which 

 he accompanied in person to that county, 

 and they " stuck." Others have been turned 

 back, 



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California beekeepei-s should not be mis- 

 led by the discussion of the A. Swahn letter 

 by Dr. Miller, p. 979, Dec. 15, and J. G. 

 Brown, p. 27, Jan. 1. I consider the argu- 

 ment of Dr. Miller sound as affecting the 

 greater part of our state, and I believe with 

 him that Mr. Alexander's situation was one 

 in a thousand. There are places in the 

 alfalfa districts of the Imperial Valley, as 

 well as some parts of the San Joaquin, 

 where the harvest might be increased by an 

 early division of colonies. But as a rule in 

 the greater portion of the state — in fact, the 

 entire nation, the practice would be detri- 

 mental ratlier than beneficial, so far as in- 

 creasing the quantity of surplus honey 

 would be concerned. I infer that Dr. Miller 

 believes in one large force of bees to a hive 

 rather than a slightly greater number divid- 

 ed into two hives, and in this I believe he is 

 entirely right. There is no doubt the Alex- 

 ander plan will work in a few localities; but 

 in most parts of our state, as I have said, 

 it would accomplish very little for the in- 

 crease of tlie crop of the same season. I 

 never figure the increase of colonies in the 

 results of my season's crop. If they are 

 increased by natural swarming, the loss as 

 a I'ule to the parent colony will more than 

 offset the gain from the swarm; but if by 

 dividing, the gain of both will as a rule not 

 equal the loss of the united colony. So my 

 plan is to figtire so many colonies spring 

 count. I have never seen a colony so strong 

 that I thought it would be better divided, or 

 would produce more in two hives. Give 

 them room according to their strength and 

 they will do the rest. 



