JUNE 1, 1P15 



437 



BEEKEEPING IN CALEFOKNIA 



P. C. Chadwick, Redlands, CaL 



AYe welcome tlie " Dixie Bee,'' 

 and would suggest that it be the 

 queen of the department pages. 



« « « 



The future at this date is all 

 guesswoi'k. The button-sage bloom 

 will be increased but little if any. 

 Whet her the rain will cause a heavier flow 

 of nectar from the limited amount of bloom 

 cannot be foretold. There will not be more 

 than 50 per cent of a normal bloom, which 

 will be sufiicient if it fields well. The white 

 sage never looked better, and the same is 

 true of the wild alfalfa. I am expecting a 

 slow flow from all these sources, and a pro- 

 longed season, but what tlie net results will 

 be I cannot say. 



t * * 



Beautiful sunny southern California'. 

 Yes ! Xo ! \YeU, I guess not so you could 

 notice it during the past three weeks (May 

 8). It is doubtful if worse weather has ever 

 visited this section than that we have just 

 had. On April 13 a storm struck here that 

 did not entirely abate until May 8. Cold, 

 hail, snow, heavy rain, and very Little sun- 

 shine has been the progi'am. During this 

 period the temperature reached the lowest 

 point of any day in May for 34 years. For 

 three hours on April 30 my Tremont ai^iary 

 was in the midst of a> heavy snowstorm. 

 Bees were driven out of the supers, and 

 forced to cluster for protection. In many 

 localities not in the orange districts feeding 

 became necessary, and the entire bee busi- 

 ness came to a sudden standstill. The best 

 part of the orange season passed under 

 these conditions, with the finest chance for 

 a record-breaking orange-honey crop at 

 iiand. Afore than 5^/^ inches of rain fell in 

 this locality. 



• * « 



The past three weeks has afforded an 

 opi»ortunity to study the effect of bad- 

 weather conditions on field bees, and I have 

 ira|»roved the time with experiments. I am 

 better satisfied now tlian ever before that 

 bees will not stand the exposure many think 

 they will. During the time of these experi- 

 ments the temperature ranged between 40 

 and 50 degrees, and showers were frequent, 

 with but very little intervening sunshine; 

 but we were not without sunshine to 

 an extent that thousands of bees were 

 enticed to the field, only to be the \'ic- 

 tims of cold rain. I proved to my entire 

 satisfaction that nine out of ten bees will 



die if thej- are wet during tlie day and not 

 able to dry or warm up before the next day. 

 In one experiment I watched the actions of 

 a small bunch which had fallen to the 

 ground when a swarm had been shaken into 

 a basket during a shower. This bunch con- 

 tained perhaps a hundred bees. The day 

 they were rained upon afforded them no 

 opportunity to return to the hive; but on 

 the other hand they were wet several times 

 dui'ing the day and night. At the end of 

 tlie second day the entire outer layer of bees 

 had died. Thej^ were removed from the 

 cluster, after which more rain fell, the 

 second day more had died. Out of the 

 entire number not one bee was alive at the 

 end of the third da}-. 



Some were carried in a basket and set 

 indoors. At the end of the third day most 

 of those had died. I do not believe that the 

 mortality rate in bees was ever heavier than 

 during the past three weeks. I had one 

 colony of bees which were working in a 

 shallow super, drawing combs, that were 

 not able to muster force sufficient to return 

 to the super to-day (May 11), to continue 

 comb-building, although the day has been a 

 hot one. Fifteen dead bees were counted on 

 the sidewalk within a distance of two blocks. 

 \Yetting in cold weather is fatal to bee life. 



A bee-sting has always been looked ujdou 

 by me as a painful little joke, and I have 

 wondered many times at some of the stories 

 written of bee-stings causing the death of 

 persons. That day is over with me. On 

 May 4 the effects of a sting came near end- 

 ing in a tragedy, and I wish here to warn 

 those who are poisoned severely by their 

 stings to avoid them if possible. I had just 

 come home in dinner on the date mentioned, 

 and my wife came to the back steps to greet 

 me. F>efore she was aware of any danger 

 a bee (without warning) stung her on the 

 head just above and a little back of the ear. 

 Tlie suffering was intense from the very 

 first. 1 took her into the house, removed 

 the sting, and applied some ammonia, but 

 to no avail, for she began to turn white, and 

 coughed violently. This was followed by 

 vomiting, loss of sight, and turning purple. 

 Meantime I saw danger, and called a physi- 

 cian. 



In thirty minutes from the time she was 

 stung the doctor was present. The first 

 move he made was to test the pulse. Tiici: 



Continued on paOe 439. 



