V"'Fnui-AR\-. 1910 



n T, K A N r X S 1 N P. K K C r T, T r R K 



NOTES FROM CALIFORNIA 



Great Bee '^nges Still Unoccupied. 

 Big Attendance at 'beekeepers' 

 Courses. Farmerettes in the Apiary 



By E R. Rood 



CA L I V U M 

 a i a , t li o 

 greatest bee 



and honey State 



i 11 the Union, 



w i t h ]>rospec'ts 



f further il e - 



velopments b e - 



yond that of 



any other com- 

 inoinvealth, is where I shall be making my 

 home for the next two months. The beauti- 

 ful climate, the sceuei'y that is the equal of 

 any in the world, and last, but not least, the 

 wonderful beekeeping possibilities, all hold 

 out an alluring hand of welcome to an Ohio 

 editor who, they say, is needing rest and 

 a change. 



Some Vast Bee Ranges. 

 When I first came here I intended to stay 

 only a month; but when I heard of the vast 

 bee-ranges up in the mountains where there 

 are no bee -, and of other ranges from which 

 carloads of honey are coming, I felt that I 

 must stay long enough to investigate the 

 first-mentioned ranges. It should be stated 

 in all fairness that many and most of them 

 are out of reach, for the reason that there 

 are no roads to them as yet. These ranges 

 of sage and wild buckwheat will never be 

 good for anything but bees; and as soon as 

 they are made available by roads there will 

 be an enormous increase in the production 

 of honey. There is too, so I am told, terri- 

 tory now available that is not occupied. 

 California's Great Beekeeping Possibilities. 

 Eight here let me snv that there is terri- 



tory here that is 

 o ver sto c'k e d . 

 There is not a 

 particle of need 

 of this, and 

 there should be 

 a law to stop 

 the encroach- 

 ments of poach- 

 ers. I shall stay 

 here long enough to find where there is room 

 for everybody who would like to come out 

 here for his health and the fun of keeping 

 bees. But it is only fair to say that a ten- 

 derfoot may get only expensive experience 

 (of the kind that Josh Billings tells about) 

 without even the fun or funds, for it is not 

 all gold out here. But so great are the pos- 

 sibilities for bees that the Governments of 

 the United States and of the State of Cali- 

 fornia jointly arranged last November and 

 December for a series of short courses in 

 beekeeping in the State, taking in a series 

 of localities. In spite of the influenza, 

 which was bad, the courses, with one excep- 

 tion, were well attended. Beekeepers every- 

 where have declared that they were of 

 great value; and so strong has been the re- 

 quest that they be repeated this coming 

 winter that they will undoubtedly be given 

 again, beginning at Riverside, which, un- 

 fortunately, had a rigid influenza ban when 

 the courses were held there this year. 

 Successful Beekeepers' Study Courses. 

 The remarkable thing is that the bee- 

 keepers — not amateurs but pioneers — sat 

 thru the long sessions night and day for a 



Fig. 1. — The celebrated Mendleson apiary at Piru, Calif. This is acknowledged to he the prettiest and 

 most orderly keipt apiary in all California. Its owner is very methodical and orderly in his habits. Every- 

 thing must be neat and clean. This is one other reason why he prefers farmerette beekeepers. 



