GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



February, 1919 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



tcsian wells furnish the water for irriga- 

 tion purposes, and many fine ranches are 

 being developed. Mesquite grows plentiful- 

 ly over most of the country and is a good 

 honey-yielder. This, together with alfalfa, 

 furnishes most of the honey produced. Al- 

 tho the cultivated territory is limited, the 

 few hundreds of colonies of bees located 

 there have done very well and have never 

 failed to give a good honey crop. 



The annual meeting of the California 

 State Beekeepers ' Association has been 

 called for Jan. 29, at 2 p. m., at Exposition 

 Park, Los Angeles. The sessions will con- 

 tinue thru the next day. A fine program has 

 been arranged, and many prominent bee- 

 keepers will give their views on subjects 

 pertaining to the industry and of special 

 interest to beekeepers of the Great West. 

 Queen-rearing, honey-production, organiza- 

 tion, increase, selling the crop, and buying 

 supplies are some of the topics up for dis- 

 cussion. This is the 30th annual meeting 

 and it seems like a home-coming for the 

 beekeepers to get together once a year. It 

 has always been the practical rather than 

 the theoretical side of the industry that 

 drew the crowd. 



Eiverside County has an ordinance per- 

 taining to the moving of bees and a^so to 

 the giving of notice to the county bee in- 

 spector of the arrival of the bees. A carload 

 of bees was recently shipped into Eiverside 

 County from out of the State, and the colo- 

 nies Avere located near the orange groves. No 

 notice was given to the proper authorities. 

 The owner was arrested and fined $50, of 

 which $10 was paid, and the balance re- 

 mitted upon confession of guilt on the part 

 of the beekeeper and his pleading ignorance 

 of the law. It will be well for any person 

 shipping bees into California to inform him- 

 self of the laws on the subject, thereby 

 making unnecessary the repetition of this 

 unfortunate occurence. Altho some coun- 

 ties have ordinances so strict that they 

 practically prohibit the bringing of bees 

 into the county, it is hoped that it will 

 never be necessary to frame such for the 

 orange-growing sections. At the same time, 

 the beeman who perhaps has a small orange 

 grove, with a comfortable home on it, and 

 who pays taxes and makes his living here in 

 southern California, does not particularly 

 enjoy the idea of having a carload of 300 

 or 400 colonies of bees set beside him — es- 

 pecially by some one who is only here for a 

 few months to get all he can out of our 

 early honey flow, and then beats it for his 

 northern home, to make a crop up there. 

 When the inspector looks over these import- 

 ed bees and finds disease a-plenty — well, 

 how would you like it? If you are coming 

 to southern California with a car of bees, 

 please try to bring clean bees — colonies free 

 from disease — and then go to some of the 

 leading beekeepers in the neighborhood and 



ask them to help you secure locations. You 

 will not find them such bad fellows and may 

 avoid ill feelings in the future. 



It was very unfortunate for the beekeep- 

 ers of this part of the State that they miss- 

 ed the fine course of lectures advertised to 

 be given at Eiverside by Phillips, Coleman, 

 and other prominent beemen. Eiverside was 

 under such strict ban for the " flu " at that 

 time, that the meetings could not be held 

 on the dates set. 



One of the most needed additions to our 

 business, in southern California in particu- 

 lar, is a thoroly reliable queen-breeder, who 

 w^ill have facilities and equipment enough 

 to supply queens in numbers at the time 

 the beekeepers want them. We have sev- 

 eral apiarists, who raise some queens for 

 sale, but there seems always to be a time in 

 the spring when there is a big demand for 

 queens that cannot be met. 



A pleasant surprise to beekeepers is the 

 news that they have good prospects of get- 

 ting supplies much cheaper than they got 

 them last year. The Orange Belt Co-opera- 

 tive Exchange has already made a contract 

 whereby its members are to get foundation 

 made for two cents a pound less than they 

 were able to contract for last year. While 

 they have no contract for cans and cases 

 as yet, there is confidence that they can 

 get a better price than they obtained last 

 season. Other supplies will, it is thought, 

 not be any higher than last year, and many 

 expect much lower prices. My local lum- 

 ber merchant asked me the other day if I 

 wanted any material for hives as he was 

 ordering a car of soft pine, such as all of 

 our hives are made of. Last year he could 

 not get this material at all, which shows 

 that the war is over ajid that the Govern- 

 hient is releasing materials which were hard 

 to get last year. 



The date of the annual meeting of the 

 Orange Belt Co-operative Honey Producers' 

 Exchange has again been set: — this time for 

 Monday, Jan- 13, at 10 a. m. Eiverside is 

 the meeting place. There will probably be 

 nothing to interfere with the meeting this 

 time, as the " flu " conditions are much im- 

 proved in these sections of the State. 



Corona, Calif. L. L. Andrews. 



* * * 



In Michigan "^^^^ state Beekeepers' 



o * Association is now pre- 

 pared to furnish a list of its members to 

 advertisers or others interested. Apply to 

 the undersigned, inclosing a stamped en- 

 velope. 



The writer is trying to get together a list 

 which will contain the name of every 

 beekeeper in the State who is sincerely in- 

 terested in the production of honey and 

 suppression of disease. It is expected that 

 within a short time a letter will be mailed 

 monthly or as frequently as expedient to 

 each name on this list- The letter will con- 



