1909 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



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MR. MONROE S HOME. 

 The rear portion was made of timber cut by Mr. Monroe in what was then the redwood forest across the hills from Oakland, thir- 

 ty miles away, and hauled by the chopper in one load over a primitive road fifty-six years ago. Some of the old clapboards are yet 

 on the house, and are plainly visible in the picture. The hand-split and shaved redwood shingles, which lasted forty years and 

 more, were succeeded by sawn ones of the same wood. 



this fall. I found him very busy winding up 

 the season's work, the main portion at the time 

 of my call being drying prunes and husking al- 

 monds. 



He is thoroughly posted in all things progres- 

 sive in farming and orchard lines. He took up 

 the study and care of bees some six years ago, 

 commencing in a small way; but he soon bought 

 out an apiary across the valley. After this he 

 purchased colonies and swarms wherever he could 

 get them within twenty miles. To-day he has 

 an apiary of over 100 colonies, many of which 

 are in hives of divers shapes and makes. He has 

 chosen the regular Langstroth frame, and many 

 of his hives are of the eight-frame dovetailed pat- 

 tern; but he believes it would be better if he had 

 all his beei in ten-frame hives. Although the 

 past two years have not been good ones for hon- 

 ey, still his crop was sufficiently heavy to pay 

 him for the trouble bestowed upon the bees, and 

 more. So pleased is he with the result that he is 

 seriously considering discontinuing that portion 

 of his horticultural work that comes during the 

 honey season. This accounts for his working 

 over a portion of the peaches, plums, and apri- 

 cots in the orchard to prunes and almonds, as 

 the latter do not come in with a rush; and, be- 

 sides, they can be harvested long after the honey 

 crop has been attended to. He has produced 

 both comb and extracted honey, but he believes 

 extracted honey will pay the better, except in 



years when the bees work on flowers that yield 

 dark-colored nectar. Speaking of the honey re- 

 sources of the valley and hills about, he considers 

 them poor, owing to the valleys being cropped 

 with non-honey-secreting plants (except fruit- 

 trees which bloom too early to be of any great 

 use to the apiarist, as the colonies have not suf- 

 ficiently built up to put a sufficient nectar-col- 

 lecting force into the orchards. Of course, this 

 nectar stimulates brood-rearing, and is valuable 

 on that account). The hills, which are of a black 

 adobe nature, are not covered with tree and plant 

 growth such as one sees in most other portions of 

 California, especially on the east and north side 

 of the hills and mountains Nearer Mt. Diablo 

 there are better ranges. There is a variety of 

 soils, and, possibly, more moisture. 



While Mr. Stewart has some Italian bees he 

 seems to prefer the blacks. He has some Cau- 

 casians which he likes fairly well; but he be- 

 lieves that, if he were to give his attention to 

 selecting and breeding blacks he could perfect a 

 strain that would be the equal of any bees in the 

 world for hardiness and "workability." He 

 says these bees have been more than half a cen- 

 tury in California, and they may be said to form 

 a class and race all by themselves. I shared this 

 view with hitn, and I have committed myself to 

 it in writing on a previous occasion. Who knows 

 but the California " native " or brown bee will 

 be bred for export the world over.? Such a thing 



