882 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



BEEICEEPENG IN CALIFORNIA 



P. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



No rains of consequence this 

 autumu to date, Oct. 12. 



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The loqnot buds are eominj:: out, 

 and bloom will appear in Novem- 

 ber, with eucalyptus following 

 closely. 



My home demand became so great for 

 good honey that I was obliged to buy that 

 I might take care of local orders. I sold a 

 little too close earlier in the season. 



There is said to be a house in the city of 

 Redlands that now holds eight swarms of 

 bees, all of which have entered of their own 

 accord in places of their own selection. 



The best honey season for the past iifteen 

 years was in 1905. Tiie first rain that sea- 

 son Avas on Dee. 31, 1904. This was follow- 

 ed closely by frequent and heavy rains last- 

 ing until the first of Mav. 



The " Backlot Buzzer '" tells of the trou- 

 bles of a man who was afraid his bees 

 would get hay fever from working on gold- 

 enrod. Come to think of it, I wonder if it 

 could be the bees I found recently under the 

 pepper-trees had sneezed themselves to 



death. 



* * * 



If all of those recipes for cooking with 

 honey were in the household of every fam- 

 ily the results would be good without 

 doubt; but cou fined to an issue of a bee 

 journal read mostly by beekeepers the re- 

 sults cannot be so widespread. Yet it is a 

 commendable undertaking. If the use of 

 honey for cooking could be put under the 

 fad of style the results would be obtained 

 in a very short time. 



left a good force of young bees with which 

 to enter the winter months. 



The day of automobiles as a necessity is 

 at hand. The time was when they were 

 considered a luxury; but as the age gi'ows 

 faster, more rapid means of transportation 

 is an absolute necessity. A man with sever- 

 al apiaries cannot afford to lose time with 

 the ordinary horse as motive power, if he 

 can get an auto. 



« « • 



Dr. Miller, you ask what I do with old 

 combs in transferring as described on page 

 Gin. All of good qualitj^ are cut out and 

 sold as bulk comb honey. The old combs I 

 melt up for the wax and honej'. The solar 

 extractor is the ideal place, for in that both 

 honey and wax can be saved. The honey 

 coTnes in handy for feeding purposes. 



In a certain warehouse in southern Cali- 

 fornia there is a number of cases of last 

 year's honey. Some of the cases are bulged, 

 and leaking from the pressure of sour hon- 

 ey. It does not pay, boys — it positively 

 doe? not pay to extract nectar. Ripe clean 

 honey is the market-builder, and every one 

 sliould work to that end. Preach it to your 

 neighbor, and, above all things, don't forget 

 it yourselves. 



* » * 



I will venture the opinion that the late 

 rains leaving the white clover in such excel- 

 lent condition do not in any manner insure 

 a clover crop next season. I have seen just 

 such seasons in the East myself, only to be 

 followed by a cold and almost snowless 

 winter, with dry April and May. The old 

 Indian was asked how the corn crop was 

 going to be. He replied, " Don't ask me — 

 ask July and August." As to a honey crop 

 from wliite clover, April and Maj' must be 

 consulted. 



The honey season at this date (Oct. 12) 

 m.ay be said to have closed. A few scatter- 

 ing places may be yielding a small amount 

 of nectar, but for the most part we are 

 beginning tlie consumption of stores ratli- 

 er than the production. Bees in this local- 

 ity are in excellent condition where suffi- 

 cient stores have been left for winter. The 

 blueeuil has yielded enough to cause a very 

 healthy brood-rearing condition that has 



Another case of American foul brood has 

 bern discovered in my Tremont apiary, just 

 two hive-spaces from where a case was 

 removed last spring. The coml;s and bees 

 will likely find their way to a bonfire as the 

 cheapest way to get rid of a single case. 

 However, I wish it distinctly understood 

 that I do not recommend this process where 

 thei'e are several cases. I will never be 

 guilty of burning a hive while in my right 



