June 11, 1903. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



375 



I notice that great stress is laid upon the matter of get- 

 ting all the bees to fill themselves thoroughly with honey 

 at the time the swarm is made. But this makes no differ- 

 ence whatever so far as their staying in the hives or the 

 way they work. In fact, with me they seem less inclined 

 to desert the hive the next day if they are not made to fill 

 themselves thoroughly when swarmed. This deserting of 

 the hives the next day is one of the greatest drawbacks to 

 artificial swarming I have to contend with. 



If I get time, and the Editor will allow me space, there 

 is more about artificial swarming that I should like to say. 

 Southern Minnesota. 



[The Editor says he will be glad to allow Mr. Davenport 

 all the space he will have time to fill. — Editor.] 



Organization Among California Honey- 

 Producers. 



BY HON. J. M. HAMBAUGH. 



TO be sure, we are away out here to the extreme limit of 

 Uncle Sam's domain, upon the far-away Sunny Slope 

 of the great Pacific ; where lofty mountains crested 

 with snow pierce the azure dome, and valleys that are redo- 

 lent with sense-beguiling roses and semi-tropical plants 

 every day in the year; where the rugged, chaotic mountains 

 defy Civilization's plow-share ; where the coyotes howl and 

 the wild eagles shriek in their somber and secure retreats. 

 It is in these remote, isolated places that the wide-awake 

 and intelligent bee-keepers have penetrated, and that 

 against many and divers obstacles. They have secured nec- 

 tar in quantity and quality that has attracted the eyes of 

 the nations. The name of the California honey has gone | 

 abroad in the land, and her water-white sage honey has 

 tickled the palate and adorned the tables of the potentates 

 of the world. 



Every Californian should be proud of the name and 

 fame of her California honey, and while our sturdy pioneers 

 have been busy studying modes and methods whereby they 

 could secure quantities, and that put up in packages to meet 

 the demands of the markets and the times, there has been 

 another class of people eagerly putting into operation meth- 

 ods and influences whereby they might secure the product 

 of these toilers at the very lowest possible figures, for specu- 

 lation or gambling purposes. In this race it has not been a 

 case of the bulls and the bears. 



The honey-producers in their environments, with but 

 little machinery at hand, and that very slow-going, have 

 been at the mercy of the bears, and have simply been 

 fleeced, often being compelled to take less for their honey 

 than the most of their production. And the worst feature 

 of the business has been the grinding tendency to the 

 smaller producer — he is the most needy, has, by the nature 

 of circumstances, been ground the closest, while the large 

 producers — and especially those who produced honey in car- 

 load lots — could secure better price. These and divers other 

 causes, to say nothing of the " fad of the times," has na- 

 turally enough brought about the idea of co-operation. 

 Quite a number of methods have been presented, but it 

 seems that the work was being reserved for those princes of 

 good fellows — Messrs. Geo. W. Brodbeck and George L,. 

 Emerson — to start the ball rolling among us in earnest. 



A meeting of the bee-keepers for the purpose of organ- 

 ization was advertised for Jan. 19, at Escondido, with 

 Messrs. Brodbeck and Emerson to be in attendance. Their 

 plans and methods were clearly presented, which were in 

 part as follows : 



1st. "In union there is strength." 



2d. By joining together, freight-rates, supplies, and 

 other expenses, are reduced to a minimum. 



3d. By marking and sealing our honey we guarantee 

 its purity, thus preventing the possibility of adulteration. 

 The guarantee of purity will increase the demand. 



4th. The establishment of uniform prices and grades 

 will prevent individual competition and the consequent de- 

 pression in prices. 



5th. The combination of the small producer with the 

 large one gives strength to the former and removes him 

 from the clutches of the speculator. 



6th. The entire management will be in hands of bee- 

 keepers, with no other interests involved, assuring equal 

 benefits to all. Facilities for storage will be provided. All 

 honey will be graded and sealed by an official grader. 



7th. Members will be permitted to retail in less than 



car-load lots. Advances will also be made on consignments 

 if desired. 



They also read the Bylaws of the California National 

 Honey-Producers' Association, giving a clear analysis of 

 the work from start to finish. When an opportunity was 

 given for the bee-keepers to take stock and seek shelter 

 under its banners, there seemed to be an almost unanimous 

 sentiment in their favor, and Pres. Brodbeck and Sec. 

 Emerson left Escondido with every feeling of encourage- 

 ment and belief that their work is a sure go. 



The bee-keepers of Escondido have come up almost as 

 one voice, and taken stock, and we want to see this example 

 followed all over our State. It is time we were " getting 

 into the band-wagon." If not, brother bee-keeper, you can 

 depend on a continuation of past experience, and even 

 worse. San Diego Co., Calif. 



Rearing Queens Over an Excluder. 



BV HKNRY AT.LBV. 



MR. DOOLITTLE, in his "No. 2," on page 295, contin- 

 ues to assert strongly that good queens are produced 

 in colonies having a fertile queen. This, he says, can 

 either be done over an excluder or by putting a division- 

 board in the body of the hive, shutting the queen from the 

 cells the bees are working on rearing queens. The success 

 of this plan depends on several conditions. One condition 

 is a good flow of honey when the bees have the swarming- 

 fever ; another condition is, when bees are about to super- 

 sede an old queen. Under the above conditions fairly good 

 queens can be reared in a colony having a fertile queen. 



Now, if one tries to rear queens in the above way after 

 the honey harvest is over, or in the spring before the har- 

 vest commences, only inferior queens will be produced. As 

 the honey harvest or flow is on but a few weeks some plan 

 must be used to produce queens equally as good as are reared 

 at the season of swarming. I assert, in the strongest terms, 

 that neither Mr. Doolittle, nor any other bee-keeper in the 

 world, can rear good queens in a colony that has a queen. 

 I have tried this experiment the last 40 years in one hundred 

 different ways. I had success only when the bees were 

 gathering honey, or in cases where an old queen was about 

 to be superseded. But in none of the cases I have tested 

 could I get queens equal to those reared by bees just made 

 queenless. Bees that have been queenless a long time will 

 not rear good queens. Such bees come under the head of 

 old bees. 



One of my experiments was to cover a frame with ex- 

 cluder zinc, anti place cell-cups within, so that the queen in 

 the colony could not destroy them. The results was good 

 queens so long as there was any honey in the fields. The 

 results of rearing queens by queenless bees is so satisfactory 

 at all times that I use the system in preference to any other. 

 I can always get good queens in this way, but by the pro- 

 cess of rearing them in a hive above an excluder, or in the 

 brood-nest on one side of an excluder, the results are very 

 unsatisfactory. Why, 'tis natural for bees to rear queens 

 when they have no queens; but very unnatural to rear them, 

 except at swarming time, when there is a queen in the hive. 

 Let those who contemplate rearing queens the present sea- 

 son, try the queenless bee-plan, as well as above the ex- 

 cluder. I'll stake my reputation on the results. All who 

 try it will report good queens. 



Mr. Doolittle and I do not differ greatly on cell-cups. 

 He thinks it is much easier to rear queens by making cell- 

 cups and transferring larva:-. I think it much easier, in my 

 case, to have the bees make their own cell-cups — a thing 

 they readily do. 



Mr. Doolittle thinks, in fact he says, the queen cells 

 made as I have them made, are " so fragile that the greatest 

 care must be used in handling." 'Tis not so, Mr. Doolittle; 

 you make a wrong statement. The cells built as I com- 

 pel bees to construct them are heavily waxed, and can be 

 handled roughly and thrown about the same as peanuts. 

 Just the contrary to what you say, Mr. Doolittle, is a fact. 



" Hundreds and thousands of bee-keepers have proven 

 that bees behind or over an queen-excluding division-board 

 are brought under the right conditions to rear perfect 

 queens, etc." All I can say in reply is, that hundreds and 

 thousands of bee-keepers do not understand the right condi- 

 tions for the production of perfect queen-bees. By the way, 

 I do not believe thousands, nor even /iiindreds, of bee-keep- 

 ers have ever tested the plan in any way. 



There is no man in the world who can rear three good 

 queens out of one hundred above or behind a queen-excluder 



