JAKUARY, 1919 G I> E A N I N G S IN BEE C U T> T U R E 31 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



iiig two distiiu't diseases — American and 

 Europoan — even tho our government special- 

 ists are agreed that the two are quite dif- 

 ferent. 



Twice the Orange Belt Co-operative Hon- 

 ey-Producers' Exchange has had to call off 

 its annual meeting on account of the "flu." 

 The last date set was Dec. 6, but, as the ban 

 is still in force in Riverside, the meeting has 

 again been postponed. This exchange con- 

 sists of San Bernardino and Riverside Coun- 

 ties, and includes by far the largest orange- 

 honey-producing territory of any exchange 

 in the State. Orange honey is the very ear- 

 liest of our California product and is often 

 on the market soon after our Eastern 

 friends take their bees from their winter 

 quarters. 



Last winter proved to be one of the mild- 

 est ever known in southern California. For 

 just about one year no rain fell in our part 

 of the State. The eucalyptus bloomed all 

 winter and furnished honey abundantly. 

 Anyone having bees near a large number of 

 these trees found the hives getting heavy 

 with honey in the winter. Some apiarists 

 were able to extract considerable almost 

 pure eucalyptus honey. The bees built up 

 and were strong early in the season. Those 

 who moved their apiaries or already were 

 in reach of the orange groves reaped a rich 

 harvest from that source. After some 20 

 years of experience, I never expect to see 

 a better honey flow from the oranges than 

 we had last season. December is none too 

 early to begin getting ready for the orange 

 honey. A colony short of stores now will 

 be slow in starting to build up in the spring. 

 There seems to be plenty of sugar available 

 for bee-feed, and, from what I can learn, the 

 beekeepers are quite generally availing 

 themselves of the opportunity of feeding 

 wherever it is necessary. Ordinarily, when 

 honey was cheap, little anxiety was felt as 

 to whether a colony got thru the winter 

 safely or not; but now, with the high prices 

 for the crop of the last two years, it looks 

 as if we really owned something worth 

 while in a few colonies of bees. 



Perhaps California has experienced in the 

 year 1918 one of the most satisfactory hon- 

 ey seasons in its history. The crop was 

 not a large one; but all got some honey, 

 and many a good crop, while everybody re- 

 ceived a big price. Heretofore beekeeping 

 has been looked upon by the great majority 

 of people of moderate means as a side 'issue 

 along with something else, or as a vocation 

 for an old man, some one who likes to get 

 a little easy money without much work. 

 When some of the beekeepers who had been 

 quietly goin on, ' ' saying little but sawing 

 wood," as the old adage goes, began to 

 deposit ten, twelve, or fifteen thousand dol- 

 lars in the bank as returns for their honey 

 crop), even the bankers began to sit up and 



take notice. Honey production will here- 

 after be looked upon as a pursuit deserving 

 a place beside other worth-while industries. 

 Many are asking questions and becoming 

 interested in the business. When some par- 

 ties found that the writer had as much mon- 

 ey invested in beekeeping operations as 

 they had in a 10-acre orange grove, they 

 were amazed. They thought that a few 

 hundred ' ' beehives ' ' did not amount to any- 

 thing, and that all a beekeepjer has to do is 

 to work a little during the honey season, 

 take off the honey, and get his money — with 

 nothing to do the balance of the year. Many 

 are now willing to invest thousands of dol- 

 lars in the business in the beginning; while 

 those who have been making a success the 

 past years, have worked up from a very 

 small outlay. War conditions, together with 

 the restrictions on sugar, have caused the 

 public to use honey almost universally. 

 Thousands of people w^ho never used it be- 

 fore have found out that they like this 

 sweet substitute, and they will hereafter use 

 it regularly. People come to my place and 

 hesitate about buying a five-pound bucket 

 of extracted honey, saying that they do not 

 eat much honey and that five pounds would 

 last them a year or two. In many instances 

 they come back in two or three weeks say- 

 ing, ' ' We all seem to like that honey, and 

 it is so good for the children, ' ' and they 

 continue to buy. These things all combin- 

 ed to make 1918 a most encouraging year 

 for the southern California beekeeper. The 

 future of beekeeping was never brighter 

 than it is for 1919. We cannot expect to get 

 the high prices of war times; but we are 

 better satisfied with our pursuit, have a bet- 

 ter standing among the industries, and are 

 well content to make beekeeping our life 

 work. L. L. Andrews. 



Corona, Calif. 



* * * 



In Minnesota.— °" account of the 



prevalence or influ- 

 enza the State Board of Health placed a ban 

 on all state gatherings; and, consequently, 

 the Minnesota beekeepers were not allowed 

 to hold their annual meeting during the first 

 week of, December as planned. Instead the 

 meeting will be held January 2 and 3, in con- 

 nection with the annual short course at the 

 University Farm — that is. if the ban is lifted 

 in time. At this writing a second wave of 

 the epidemic has struck Minneapolis, and 

 over 20 of the schools have again been closed. 

 The outlook for the beekeeping industry in 

 Minnesota is especially promising at this 

 time. While harmony has prevailed among 

 the various departments in the past, there 

 has been a lack of teamwork. But now, 

 largely thru the efficient work of our spe- 

 cial field agent, Mr. McMurry, plans have 

 been worked out which, I believe, will re- 

 sult in much greater co-operation in the fu- 



