Ariui., 1919 



G T. E A N I N G S IN BEE CULTURE 



CALIFORNIA'S BEE PROBLEMS 



Marty 'Disadvantages Out There. 



As Good Yields in the East. The 



Winters Are Hard on liees 



By E. R. Root 



CC/^H, yes!" 



\J you say. 

 "Cali- 

 fornia, tlio land 

 of sunshine, is a 

 veritable p a r a- 

 ilise for bees. 

 All you 've got 

 to do is to get 

 the wild bees, 

 that cost nothing, out of the rocks and 

 they will earn you $25.00 to $50.00 per colo- 

 ny. Yes siree! Honey just rolls in every 

 day for six months in the year. Bees work 

 for nothing and board themselves. No cold; 

 no sickness for the apiarist; no wintering 

 problem; no bee disease for the bees. Yep! 

 The gold dollars fairly roll off the sides of 

 the mountains where the sage grows, and 

 into the pockets of the beekeeper. Whoopee! 

 Let's all go to California!" 



As Good or Better Yields Elsewhere. 



Many beekeepers of the East, tired of 

 their cold and severe-winter problems, may 

 desire to come here, thinking the conditions 

 are like those named above. Would that 

 they were! I have spent some two months 

 here already, and my conclusion is that there 

 are some real and serious problems here. 

 The chances of a beekeeper making a suc- 

 cess here are no greater, if as great, than 

 in some of the good bee States of the East. 

 As large, or larger, aggregate yields per 

 colony are secured in Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, Iowa, Ontario, or New York, in 

 spite of their long severe winters. I am not 

 so sure but that the Rocky Mountain States 

 may be ahead in yield per colony. 



As a matter of fact, the Eastern States 

 usually secure their main cro]) in a month or 



211 



six weeks ' time 

 During the rest 

 of the year the 

 bees require 

 only intermit- 

 t e n t attention, 

 and during the 

 winter months, 

 no attention if 

 outdoors, and 

 \ery little if in the cellar. 



A Difficult Wintering Problem. 

 In California, as pointed out in the last 

 issue, there is a real wintering problem. 

 The cool nights, down nearly to freezing at 

 times, and the warm days are very hard on 

 the bees, and any one back in the East who 

 imagines there is no cold, no chilling of 

 brood, no bee mortality in California, is 

 seriously mistaken. Unless one happens to 

 be where there is plenty of eucalyptus and 

 other sources of nectar, there is great dan- 

 ger also of starvation; and too many times 

 the careless beekeeper has relied on winter 

 flows that do not materialize, and his bees 

 starve or are so weak as to be good for 

 nothing . It is estimated by sojue good bee- 

 keepers in the State that colonies ought to 

 have in reserve from 30 to 50 pounds of 

 honey, because they say if these stores are 

 not actually needed, they can be extracted 

 in the spring just before the first new crop 

 comes in. There is no question but that an 

 ample reserve of stores is a good investment. 

 The real wintering problem here is that 

 the breeding that goes on during the winter 

 very often does not make up for the loss 

 of the old bees that go to the fields and 

 never come back, on account of chilly winds 

 or the cold. Cold? Yes, during December, 



No. 1. — Apiary of L. W. Wells, at Somis, Calif. This is a characteristic view of the thousands of api- 

 aries scattered over the hillsides of California during the winter. Notice that the bees are in two-story hives. 



