APRIL 15, 191 r, 



(heir bees. When we met him lie had on his 

 overalls, for he had just come from his shop 

 where lie was preparing some supers. 



Mr. Hutchinson, the greatest bee editor 

 this country has ever had, once remarked to 

 us that the man, other things being equal, 

 who wrote an article on a hive-cover with 

 a pencil daubed w-ith bee-glue usually wrote 

 something that smacked of experience. Mr. 

 Hixby is evidently one who draws inspira- 

 tion direct from his bees; if so, all the 

 better for the Western Honey Bee. 



In speaking of the orange country for 

 beekeeping, Mr. Bixby made this significant 

 remark : The citiiis region makes a good 

 bee country, but not an extra-good honey 

 country. In other words, the orange-groves 

 will furnish honey fast enough to build up 

 colonies amazinglj-. and one can raise bees 

 very easily ; but it is not so easy to get the 

 honey. The only way to accomplish this is 

 to make all colonies strong. The brood of 

 all the weak colonies is given to the fair 

 ones, so there will be nothing in the yai'd 

 except strong ones. With these one can get 

 a crop of orange honey if the season is any 

 way fair. W^here orange is followed by 

 sage or some other stores, one has a good 

 honey eountiy. But it is not often that one 

 can have this combination. 



Government Honey Cook-book 



A'arioi'S ways in which the housewife can 

 use honey to advantage are suggested in a 

 new publication of the United States De- 

 jiartment of Agi'iculture. Farmers' Bulletin 

 No. 653, "Honey and its Uses in the Home." 

 This bulletin is now ready for distribution, 

 and can be secured free of charge by drop- 

 ping a line to the Department. 



Kvei'v beekeeper or any one else interest- 

 ed in the use or sale of honey should secure 

 a copy of this bulletin at once. It is cram- 

 med with suggestions for the broader use 

 of honey as a substitute for high-priced 

 sugar, and with recipes for delicious cakes. 

 cookies, and other dainties. Many of the 

 recipes have already been published in this 

 and other magazines, and the suggestions 

 have been gathered from many sources, but 

 at the same time tiie Department has been 

 making experiments which sliowed that 

 many of the old recipes are unnecessarily 

 elaborate. 



Any sus))icion that the |)ublic may have 

 regarding the adulteration of honey is dealt 

 a hard blow by I lie statements. "There is 

 now. it is believed, little adulterated ex- 

 tracted honey on the market,'' and "Comb 

 honey is practically certain to be the ])iiie 



product of the liive, because it can be adul- 

 terated only by processes which cost more 

 than they save." 



Wliolesale attention was called to this 

 bulletin, and much of the valuable matter in 

 it was brought out, by a press notice of the 

 Department, which was sent to every news- 

 pajier in the United States for release April 

 14. 



Tine OId45mnie Prejedice of ttlie Freit- 



growers agaimslt Bees Practically 



all Gone 



Everywhere we go throughout this great 

 West we find that the old-time prejudice 

 against the bees, on the jiart of the fruit- 

 gi'owers, has practically disappeared. It 

 exists in a few sections among the ignorant 

 and those who would naturally be preju- 

 diced against any industry except their own. 

 All up through the great orchard districts 

 of Oregon, bees are coming more and more 

 into demand. We find the same thing in 

 California, esjiecially in Santa Clara Coun- 

 ty. Tlie growers of prunes and apricots 

 are especially friendly toward the bees, and 

 aie inviting the beemen to put bees in their 

 orchards everywhere. 



There was one little section in Oregon 

 where some of the apple-gi'owers were 

 foolish enough to set out syrup poisoned 

 with arsenate of lead to kill bees. They 

 succeeded all right, and destroyed large 

 numbers of them, practically ruining all 

 beeyards of the vicinity ; but that foolish 

 prejudice has iiractically disappeared, and, 

 so far as we know, there is no more poison- 

 ing of bees. 



There ai'e other localities where bees are 

 not thought to be essential to proper fruit- 

 age. The following is a case in point : 



An Apple=orchard of 15,000 Acres in 



the Pejario Valley, Cal., where the 

 Trees are Sprayed while in Bloom ; 

 Some Astonishing Revelations 



In connection Avith Prof. C. W. Wood- 

 worth, of the University of California, situ- 

 ated at Berkeley, we visited one of the most 

 famous and ])erhaps the most extensive 

 a])ple-gTOwing region in the world. In a 

 little area in the Pejari© Valley, with Wat- 

 sonville as a center, there are shipped out 

 annually 4000 carloads of apples. The 

 whole area comprises something like l.i. 000 

 acres, nearly every foot of whicii is devoted 

 to the growing of apples. The only vari- 

 eties gi'own are tiie Newtown and the Bell- 

 llowei'. Other fruits, siu-li as strawberries 



