JULY 1. 1915 



535 



Not far away is the greenhouse. 



not need their services. I am positively sure 

 that tliis was the case last year, for in all 

 my experience in the beekeeping business, 

 last year I think Avas one of the poorest in 

 this section, for gathering honey, that I 

 ever saw, although I secured some comb 

 honey, and put my bees into winter quarters 

 in pretty good condition without feeding. 

 Some of the beekeeper's in this section did 

 not do as well. 



1 use ten-frame double-walled hives. This 

 present beeyard is directly opposite a large 

 cemetery. Tliere are a great many people 



passing within a few rods — thousands of 

 them. In fact, it is almost the same as be- 

 ing in the city — arc lights, sidewalks, paved 

 streets, etc. Many come into the yard and 

 look at the bees, very often going nearer 

 than they should with children. They go 

 in past my beeyard, and within a few feet 

 is my greenhouse where we sell flowers. I 

 am yet to have a single complaint. My bees 

 are thoroughbred Italians, but each one 

 carries a sting just the same, 

 Syracuse, N. Y. 



SOME INCON\ENIENCES IN A BEEKEEPER'S PARADISE 



BY S. M. CAMPBELL 



This is the beeman's paradise, but, of 

 course, there is always some "bitter mixed 

 with the sweet." We can go out in a big 

 orange-orchard and look across waving 

 fields of green leaves and ripe oranges and 

 see trees that have five or six bushels of 

 golden fruit. Just above them on the 

 inountain-side we can see pure white snow. 

 Early in the morning, when the sunlight 

 makes this glisten and sparkle, and the 

 oranges gleam with gold, it is indeed a 

 beautiful sight. 



When tlie orange-trees are in blossom one 

 can shake the trees, and the "honey" will 

 <«me down just like a shower of rain. It 

 is not honey, of course, but nectar as thin 

 as water, for it takes about five gallons of 



the raw nectar to make one gallon of ripe 

 honey. The bees evaporate the honey out 

 of it and make it thick and delicious. 



There are about 30,000 colonies of bees 

 in this county, and the output is about 

 ninety carloads of honey yearly, nearly all 

 of which is shipped to eastern markets. 

 Ventura County is mountainous, as, in fact, 

 is all of this part of the state. The moun- 

 tains vary in height from small hills up to 

 mountains thousands of feet in height — 

 some of them ten or twelve thousand feet 

 high. 



We had quite a trip last summer to one 

 of the outyards about fifteen miles up i!i 

 the mountains. A party of us started one 

 morning about nine o'clock. Our " boss," 



