MAV 15, 1915 



395 



BEEKEEPING IN CALIFORNIA 



P. C Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



Old Dutch Cleanser is excellent 

 for rcmovini;- propolis from the 



hands. 



» » » 



Dr. Miller, page 261, April 1, 

 advises planning ahead to have 

 extra combs of honey to feed bees 

 instead of making candy. No better advice 

 could be given regarding this matter. 



• * « 



Look at the picture of a ten-dollar honey- 

 liouse, page 327, April 15, and see if you 

 think it could be built for that price in 

 California. It looks to me as though it 

 would take two carpenters a day to build 

 it, which would figure eight dollars for 



labor alone. 



» • • 



Uncle Sam has kindly sent me one of the 

 new cook books for using honey. It has 

 some dainty recipes that I am anxious to 

 have tried. 



Later. — I see my wife looking at those 

 recipes, which makes me believe something 



good is coming. 



* * * 



Redwood hives should always be nailed 

 with cement-coated nails. When redwood 

 gets wet the water and wood have a ten- 

 dency to form an acid that eats metal very 

 rapidly. The cement coat j^revents this to 

 a great extent. I use a seven-penny cement- 

 coated box nail for nailing my hive bodies, 

 covers, and bottoms. 



« • • 



Louis H. SchoU, in the March 15th issue, 

 says: "But after all, the secret is to begin 

 to prevent swarming before the desire to 

 swarm has ever awakened in the colonies." 

 Splendid advice — splendid ! In one apiary 

 of 170 colonies I have not had a single 

 swarm issue this season. No cells have been 

 clipped to prevent it, and other apiaries in 

 the vicinity have been wild with swarming. 



♦ • • 



The editor's remarks on Dr. A. J. Cook 

 are well deserved, and entirely fitting the 

 man. I have smiled on several occasions, 

 especially at our state conventions, when 

 some small caliber opened up a rapid fire 

 on this big 42-centimeter character. Dr. 

 Cook has left an indelible impression on 

 the beekeeping world as well as in other 

 lines, and no amount of criticism of this 

 versatile character can undo what he has 

 done. We need more men like him — big, 

 broad, scientific men. 



I am indebted to Mr. E. Oekerby, of 

 Western Australia, for a government pam- 

 phlet entitled " Bee Farming." It contains 

 some very interesting information regard- 

 ing the bee industry in that great and only 

 partially developed countrj'. I have more 

 to say of this later. Mr. Oekerby is but a 

 boy in years, but a man in knowledge. He 

 is one of a company of some thirty-five boys 

 who are selected from the Young Australian 

 League, which is much the same as the Y, 

 M. C. A., to tour the United States to gain 

 knowledge and experience through travel. 

 No boy can be selected for this trip who 

 does not come up to a certain mental, physi- 

 cal, and moral standard. The expense of 

 the trip is paid partially by the Australian 

 Government, partially by the parents of 

 the boys, and partially by money derived 

 from entertainments given by the talent of 

 the company. No one in this company is 

 allowed the use of tobacco — in fact, they 

 have no desire for it. They are now travel- 

 ing toward the East. Should any of my 

 readers meet with them, treat them kindly. 

 They are bright boys, but most of them are 

 poor. 



« * « 



Rainfall has been quite general over the 

 southern part of southern California, rang- 

 ing in amount from one-fourth of an inch 

 to one and one-half inches. The extreme 

 southern end received the most. As far 

 north as Ventura and Santa Barbara coun- 

 ties no report of rain is given, " and the 

 presumption is that none of consequence 

 has fallen that far north. The value of it 

 remains to "be seen; but it is my opinion it 

 will be of no great help this season to any 

 thing except possibly the Avhite sage and 

 late buckwlieat. The button sage has not 

 developed as it gave promise of doing at 

 one time. There is little hope in many 

 localities from this source, and nothing very 

 big may be expected from it in any place. 

 Hope for a crop from it has already been 

 abandoned in some localities. The orange 

 bloom was never better, and never yielded 

 more nectar; but the best part of the bloom- 

 ing period has passed with the sun under 

 the clouds, and the bees unable to work. 

 The crop from this source has been more 

 than half lost by bad weather. In fact, 

 the general outlook at this writing for 

 orange and sage lioney is anything but 

 promising. 



