1902 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



459 



EDITORIAC^ 



I OMITTED to state, in our last issue, that 

 Rambler will keep the readers of Glean- 

 ings posted as to his present whereabouts 

 and doing-s by means of "blackboards" 

 that will be given from time to time. The 

 second blackboard is g^iven at the close of 

 his article in this number. The first one 

 was given on page 436 of our last issue. 



The spring has been decidedly backward, 

 in the Northern and Central States at least. 

 But all nature seems to be trying to catch 

 up. We have been having in our locality 

 beautiful "corn weather," which means 

 hot weather, and frequent and copious rains. 

 All nature is putting on its gayest decora- 

 tions; and the trees, fully leafed out, are 

 now at their prettiest green. 



Perhaps our readers have not observed 

 that we have been giving eight extra pages 

 throughout the entire year — sometimes six- 

 teen. And perhaps they did know it, for 

 we are getting encouraging letters, and our 

 subscription-list is jumping up at a steady, 

 healthy pace. To make our journal better, 

 -we hope our readers will tell what they 

 like and what they do not like. 



pridgen's new book on oueen-rearing. 

 Some time ago, as our readers will re- 

 member, I announced that W. H. Pridgen, 

 of Creek, N. C, an expert queen-breeder, 

 was about to write a book (the same to be 

 published first in these columns), giving 

 the latest methods of queen-rearing as de- 

 veloped by him from the original Doolittle 

 system. He sent in his introductory arti- 

 cle; but after that was published he made 

 some very important improvements by which 

 it seemed necessary to defer the matter un- 

 til he could test these improvements and 

 thus place his very latest discoveries before 

 the bee-keeping world. He has taken near- 

 ly a year to develop and test his ideas, and 

 the article by him in another column is the 

 first one of the new series. Some of the 

 matter will necessarily be elementary, and 

 go over old ground, while much of it will 

 be new and original. 



MORE ABOUT THE PEAR-BLIGHT SITUATION 

 IN CALIFORNIA. 



I HAVE before me a copy of the Hanford 

 Daily Sentinel of May 5, containing quite 

 an extended report from Mr. Charles Down- 

 ing, probably the most extensive pear-grow- 

 er in the vicinity where pear-blight has 

 made such fearful havoc in Central Cali- 

 fornia. This report is to the effect that 

 trees that were covered with mosquito-net- 

 ting were almost entirely free from the 

 blight, while those exposed to the visits of 

 bees and other insects were badly blighted. 



It appears that the bee-men endeavored. 



in good faith, to get all the bees out of the 

 vicinity in order to make a test. But one 

 lot of bees escaped attention, for it seems 

 well nigh impossible to get ^z/^rjj/ bee-owner 

 to comply with agreements made by the As- 

 sociation. It was these few bees, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Downing, that scattered the 

 blight in the other trees. If there is any 

 thing in this, nothing can be accomplished 

 unless every bee-keeper should move his 

 bees away from the orchards while the trees 

 are in bloom; and even then perhaps noth- 

 ing will be accomplished unless all the wild 

 bees and insects are taken care of. 



The situation in the pear-blight region is 

 complicated, and there may be trouble ahead 

 for the bee-keepers in that vicinity. There 

 are thousands and thousands of colonies 

 and carload after carload of honey produc- 

 ed. It is possible that the pear-blight might 

 disappear of itself. If it does not, there is 

 almost sure to be a clashing of interests, 

 and the National Bee-keepers' Association 

 as well as the Central California State Bee- 

 keepers' Association may be asked to see 

 that justice is done to the bee-keeper. 



There is a possibility (and this would not 

 be at all strange) that the report offered by 

 Mr. Downing is biased; for when a man's 

 pocketbook is hit so hard that he thinks 

 ten thousand dollars has been taken out of 

 it, he would naturally make the case against 

 the bees as strong as possible. I have met 

 personally the principal parties on both 

 sides, and I believe in the main they are 

 represented by fair men. If the fruit-men 

 will not make unreasonable demands the 

 bee-men will meet them half way. 



ANOTHER OFF YEAR FOR SOUTHERN CALI- 

 FORNIA; PRICES FOR THE COMING YEAR. 



The copious and refreshing showers which 

 our friends in Southern California had 

 some weeks ago did not have the expected 

 effect on the honey flora. From ten to 

 twenty inches of rain usually insures a 

 honey crop; and Mr. Mendleson writes that 

 he never knew a season before when the 

 same amount of rain did not result in a fair 

 yield of honey. Mr. G. W. Brodbeck says, 

 in a recent letter, that his bees are getting 

 some honey near the coast, but that the crop 

 will be very light; and "from present re- 

 ports, unless we have rain soon, which is 

 not likely. Southern California will not 

 produce fifty carloads of honey this sea- 

 son." Just contrast that with the inflation 

 reports that went out a few weeks ago 

 through the daily press, to the effect that 

 this would be the greatest year on record 

 for honey in California, and that there 

 would be 500 carloads! 



From various letters that we have receiv- 

 ed from the southern counties I am now 

 convinced that this will be an off year, and 

 that California will not cut much of a fig- 

 ure in the Eastern markets. There will 

 be some honey, of course; but it will make 

 no great flurry, and therefore prices all 

 through the United States ought to be and 

 will be reasonably firm. 



