GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



January, 1919 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Northern California P^^;^^g ^^? 



first week 

 of December the beekeepers of northern 

 California experienced the best series of 

 meetings ever held in this part of the State. 

 Government experts and the editors of 

 Gleanings and the American Bee Journal 

 gave valuable talks. Practical beemen, 

 among whom was Charles J. Edson, related 

 their methods of practice. It was interest- 

 ing indeed to learn how the Edsons pro- 

 duced more than 100 tons of honey each 

 year for five consecutive years. 



Manager Justice, of the State Exchange, 

 threw his usual pep into exchange meetings. 

 The Sacramento local exchange is gaining 

 rapidly in membership. At the annual meet- 

 ing the members elected Mrs. M. E. Engel 

 of Chico as president, and Mrs. Cecelia P. 

 Eobinson of Esparto secretary-manager. The 

 membership of the Exchange is very fortu- 

 nate in securing the services of Mrs. Robin- 

 son, who, unquestionably, will show herself 

 well fitted for her task. On the concluding 

 day of the meetings the following spontane- 

 ous memorandum to the Dean of the Col- 

 lege of Agriculture of the University of 

 California was presented: 



We, the beekeepers in attendance at the bee- 

 keeping short course at the University Farm, Davis, 

 respectfully desire to present in this memorandum 

 an expression of our wishes relative to further edu- 

 cational work in beekeeping. The present short 

 courses provided by the University and the Federal 

 Department of Agriculture have impressed us vrith 

 the desirability of such vi^ork. We recommend : 

 that there may be made the division of, or substi- 

 tuting for, the present correspondence course in 

 beekeeping so that it shall deal with beekeeping 

 topics and practical beekeeping; that additional 

 courses, and, if possible, courses of longer duration 

 in beiekeeping, be provided in future years; that 

 provision be made for such courses for both begin- 

 ners and commercial beekeepers ; that provision be 

 made for continuous co-operative extensive iield 

 work in beekeeping for intimate personal instruction 

 in beekeeping practice; that regular college work 

 be given in elementary and advanced beekeeping 

 with correlated courses in botany, bacteriology, 

 meteorology, inheritance, and animal behavior: that 

 comprehensive publications on beekeeping topics be 

 published by the University, including a revision 

 and republication of Richter's " Honey Plants of 

 California." In order to save valuable time we 

 request that provision be made for the routine diag- 

 nosis of samples of brood suspected of disease. This 

 work now done by the Federal Department can not 

 be reported upon with sufficient promptness because 

 of the great distance. 



When provision can be made it would be highly 

 desirable to have investigations made on beekeeping 

 topics especially applicable to California conditions. 

 This might profitably include investigation of the 

 unused honey resources of the State. 



Respectfully submitted by authority of 135 per- 

 sons in attendance!. 



(Signed) Chas. J. Edson, Secretary pro tem. 



In Southern California.— ^^' *^ f. V' ^ ^ 



conditions 

 in southern California are, I think, very 

 satisfactory, so far as predictions for a 

 1919 crop are concerned. We have had some 

 rain, in fact, a good average for this time 

 of the year. We have had considerable 

 high drying wind, but we expect this over 

 most of the southern part of the State in the 

 fall of the year. Grass has not started 

 much yet, but fruit buds are showing up 

 well; and, if the beekeeper gets ready, I 

 feel sure that he will be well repaid in 

 next season 's return. 



During November and December in south- 

 ern California the rearing of brood ceases 

 entirely in the majority of colonies; in fact, 

 only in those colonies having a very vigor- 

 ous young queen can any brood be found. 

 In inspecting a colony for signs of disease 

 at this season of the year, about the only 

 sure way is to look for the dried scales in 

 the cells. If scales should be found, a. close 

 watch should be kept, and if the colony 

 shows, at any time, a weakness in bees, it 

 should be removed to a distance far enough 

 away to make sure that no chance is left 

 for other colonies to become contaminated 

 by robbing. Unless the colony is strong in 



Modesto, Calif. 



M. C. Eichter. 



" Kactus " apiary of L. L. Andrews, which is moved 

 to get the oranse and then back to the wild buck- 

 wheat. Martillija poppy is seen in the foreground. 



bees, I feel that the best and safest way is 

 to destroy the bees, render out the wax, and 

 disinfect the frames and hive. 



The writer was just talking to an ex- 

 tensive beekeeper who gave out the infor- 

 mation that he had been looking over his 

 apiaries and had found many colonies light 

 in stores. These he had been feeding. He 

 had left them all, so he thought, with plenty 

 of honey for winter. Other hives he found 

 with no bees at all, and, upon inspection, 

 he found strong evidence of European foul 

 brood. These colonies showed no signs of 

 disease at the close of the honey flow. I 

 combated this disease strenuously during 

 the years of 1916 and 1917 in my apiaries, 

 and during 1918 found almost no evidence 

 of European but considerable American foul 

 brood. Many of us out here in California 

 are still open to conviction as to there be- 



