Marc II, 1019 



C! T, K A X T \ R IN BEE CULTURE 



Unimproved desert land in tlie Iniiierial Viilley. 

 The soil is so soft and fine that the wind 

 blows it into hillocks around the brush. This land 

 will be made available for cultivation as soon as 

 irrigated. 



In case the acreage of cotton should grow 

 less, the acreage of alfalfa will grow more. 

 In that event the yield of honey would 

 probably be increased. 



At present there are nearly 600,000 acres 

 under irrigation in the valley. There will 

 be about 300,000 more made available as 

 soon as new irrigation plans are completed. 

 At present there are only a little over 400,- 

 000 acres under cultivation, of which about 

 200,000 are devoted to the growing of plants 

 that yield honey. 



All told, there is something like 15,000 

 colonies in the valley, with about 50 or 70 

 beekeepers. It will be readily seen that 

 from this ratio there are very few backlot 

 beekeepers. Most of them are producing 

 honey on a commercial scale. 



Practically all of the available bee-ranges 

 are taken up with bees and beekeepers. 

 There is no chance for a new man to come 

 into a territory unless he buys out some 

 beekeeper. I know of only one who will sell 



t)iit, ami that is only on account of age, the 

 rest of them preferring to stay in the busi- 

 ness because it pays to keep bees in this 

 valley. 



Foul brood has got a strong hold in the 

 \alley. Three years ago the disease was 

 well under control; but it appears that one 

 beekeeper went to the Board of Supervisors 

 and told them that they did not need an in- 

 spector, or that they were paying too much 

 for him, with the result that the appropria- 

 tion was cut almost to nothing, and inspec- 

 tion all but discontinued. Disease, in the 

 mean time, got a strong foothold. 



Just before I left I was invited by J. W. 

 George, the pioneer beekeeper of Imperial 

 Valley and one who has done so much to 

 ndvance the industry, to appear before the 

 Board of Supervisors of the county. Mr. 

 George made the main plea and I followed. 

 He went on to show that the disease was 

 getting a big start in the valley, and that 

 unless something was done at once the hon- 



Hives owned Ij.v .(olin Nippert at Imperial, Calif. 

 It seems to be the practice during the winter 

 thruout California to contract the entrances of the 

 colonies down to a very narrow space that will ad- 

 mit not more than two or three bees at a time. 

 There are two reasons for this. One. is to conserve 

 the heat of the colony, and the other is to check 

 robbing. Most colonies are wintered in two-story 

 hives, one of the stories containing the stores and 

 the other the colony. 



Shedded apiary of W. W. Culver near Calexico, 

 Calif. This is a typical example of a slied covered 

 with arrow weed. Wires placed over the top bind 

 the weed so that it does not blow off. This particu- 

 lar apiary, says the owner, always gives him good 

 yields because it i.s sjjlendidly protected by the 

 windbreaks of the tl'ees on the north and the east, 



.''■inietliin^; of an idea of the cotton industry and 

 of the productiveness of the soil can be gained 

 by looking at this picture where there are 65.000 

 bales of cotton stored in an open field; it rains only 

 about once or twice during the entire year in the 

 valley. This cotton will be shipped before it gets 

 wet down. 



