JrxE. 1919 



G 1, K A N I N O S I N K E V. C V T, T U K E 



ft FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Northern California, 



.Last fall in 

 most sec- 

 tions the honey How shut off abruptly and 

 not a few colonics went into winter with 

 the spores of American foul brood in their 

 honey. During ]\Iarch and April the wea- 

 ther was decidedly unfavorable. The fre- 

 quent cold and windy days during this time 

 compelled the bees in many instances to use 

 up almost their last ounce of honey. Where 

 bees were not fed either last winter or early 

 this spring the loss thru starvation has been 

 consi(terable. The loss thru American foul 

 brood has also been great, owing in a measure 

 to the large consumption of old honey. Euro- 

 pean foul brood in the valleys has been almost 

 a negligible affair despite the fact that the 

 conditions for its growth and development 

 have been ideal. Along the Sierra foothill 

 districts, however, European has proven a 

 very serious matter and this is especially 

 true thruout Tuolumne County. On the 

 whole where bees have been supplied with 

 ample honey they have bred up to normal 

 strength, and where disease can be gotten 

 under control a good crop this year is ex- 

 pected. The flow from orange and mustard 

 was nearly normal during April and, at the 

 beginning of May, with favorable weather, 

 increased perceptibly. 



During the latter part of March and the 

 beginning of April our section of the State 

 was favored by a visit from A. P. Sturte- 

 vant, specialist in bacteriology of bee dis- 

 eases, of the U. S. Department of Agricul- 

 ture. Mr. Sturtevant during his stay with 

 us covered considerable territory and im- 

 parted much valuable information regard- 

 ing the diagnoses of brood diseases. He 

 said that with one exception he found that 

 the problem of differentiation between 

 American and European foul brood was 

 more baffling in Stanilaus and Sacramento 

 Counties than in any other sections where 

 he had carried on investigations. He stated, 

 furthermore, that the number of cases of 

 American and European found in the same 

 colony and even in the same comb were far 

 greater in this section than in any other 

 which he had visited. F. W. Burtch, secre- 

 tary of the Central Valley Honey Producers ' 

 Co-operative Exchange called a special meet- 

 ing of the beekeepers within the territory of 

 the Exchange in order to meet Mr. Sturte- 

 vant. The gathering was well attended and 

 certainly most appreciative of the fine work 

 which the government is undertaking in 

 their behalf. The diagnosis of brood dis- 

 eases is not nearly as complex as most of 

 our beekeepers supposed, and many of them 

 after Mr. Sturtevant departed remarked that 

 not for many dollars would they have miss- 

 ed his talk on the subject. Valuable as 

 his demonstrations were with the micro- 

 scope, it was his candid and thOro talk on 

 the "symptoms" which impressed the bee- 



keepers the most. It was the getting down 

 to the finer points in the symptoms and a 

 careful study of these symptoms at the vari- 

 ous stages of the disease which helped so 

 much to clarify and make it possible in al- 

 most all cases without the aid of a miero- 

 scope to make a correct diagnosis. It will be 

 unnecessary to describe the symptoms of the 

 principal diseases, for E. R. Root has taken 

 care of this subject quite adequately in the 

 May issue of Gleanings. Every beekeeper 

 must try to familiaiize himself as much as 

 possible with the various stages of the trou- 

 ble and not rest till he knows w^hat he has, 

 and likewise bear in mind that j^rompt and 

 proper treatment, weather conditions per- 

 mitting, is imperative. M. C. Richter. 

 Modesto, Calif. 



In Southern California.— ^'" 'It" l^'' 



weather has 

 prevailed over southern California for some 

 time. Conditions, in general, have not been 

 favorable for honey production. This is 

 often the case during our orange-honey flow, 

 when cool nights, foggy mornings, and cold 

 weather prevail for several days or even 

 weeks at a time. As the ground is quite 

 dry where the trees have not been irrigated, 

 these moist fogs help considerably toward 

 a secretion of nectar. Altho I have not 

 heard of that profuse secretion often re- 

 ferred to as sweetening up the horses and 

 harness as they come in contact with the 

 blossoms, the flow has been good most of the 

 time since the trees came into bloom. A 

 man of long experience in orange-growing 

 told me that five hours after he began ir- 

 rigating his trees, he could see the effect 

 on the blossoms. They looked fresher, open- 

 ed out better, stayed on the trees longer, 

 and the bees were much thicker aroun<l 

 them. 



Today, May 4, at 11:;!U a. m., the ther- 

 mometer stood at 60 degrees. This is too 

 cold for orange-honey production. Of course, 

 every day is not this cold, but we dislike 

 seeing any such days when the trees are in 

 full bloom. 



The sage country does not promise much 

 honey. The rainfall of practically all of 

 the territory depending upon this kind of 

 moisture is below normal. The Imperial 

 and Palo Verde Valleys will perhaps get 

 their usual crop as they depend entirely 

 upon irrigation. Some of the reports from 

 San Diego County say that they will get a 

 fair crop. That county reports more rain 

 than Riverside, Orange, Los Angeles, or San 

 Bernardino Counties. The fact that they 

 have this extra rainfall will help their 

 great w^hite sage ranges, which furnish hon- 

 ey during June and July. "When the orange 

 honey is made, Riverside, Orange, Los An- 

 geles, and San Bernardino Counties will 

 likely have the bulk of their crop produced. 



