MARCH 1, 1913 



Beekeeping in California 



p. C. Chadwiok, Redlands, Cal. 



. How would this sound — cellar wintering 

 in California? Not as strange as it would 

 have sounded at one time. 



While Editor Root, Dr. :Miller, and Mr. 

 Byer are spari'ing over the question of how 

 bees winter on solid combs of honey, the 

 most of us are wondering how they ever 

 reached the winter with so much honey any 



When I read the letters of those old-tim- 

 ers who were subscribers to Gleaxings 

 shortly after I was born I feel quite young; 

 but when I stop to think that I mvself was 

 a subscriber back in the eighties I feel that 

 I am getting old fast enough. 



FEEDIXG UXNECESSARY IN THE SPRING IF 



THE COMBS ARE ALREADY WELL SUPPLIED 



WITH STORES. 



After stimulating some of my colonies for 

 ihree Aveeks with sugar syrup I opened them 

 in order to see the results of my kind care, 

 and was gratified to find much brood start- 

 ed. Curiosity led me to open some others, 

 and they had as much as or more than the 

 ones I had been feeding. I doubt if there 

 is much gained by feeding a normal colony 

 that has i^lenty of stores, for the purpose 

 of inducing them to rear brood. Pollen is 

 a greater aid in that direction, and more to 

 be desired, than additional stores. A weak 

 colonj^ short of stores would doubtless be 

 encouraged to more liberal use of its meager 

 supply of stores if there were more coming 

 in daily; but where stoi'es are no object one 

 must look to other conditions to induce 

 brood-rearing, and notliing is better than a 

 supply of pollen adequate for each day's 



PROSECUTION WARRANTED IF DISEASED COLO- 

 NIES ARE SHIPPED WITH FULL KNOWL- 

 EDGE OF THE OWNER. 



Mr. Wesley Foster, Feb. 1, answers my 

 query as to whether a carload shipment of 

 bees that were prevented from being ship- 

 ped into Colorado were knoAvn to be diseas- 

 ed. For the most part I like Mr. Foster's 

 answer; but on one or two points I wish to 

 make a suggestion. He says, " Our Colora- 

 do law is broad enough so that I think an 

 inspector would be upheld in destroying all 

 diseased bees upon arrival. This would 

 not be just unless the disease was being in- 

 troduced into a clean district." I will agree 



with Mr. Foster that, in a case of this kind, 

 stringent means should be resorted to; but 

 at the same time I do not believe that a 

 man's propertj' should be destroyed for the 

 benefit of society unless society is willing 

 to comj^ensate for its loss; for to tlii-ow the 

 burden on the indiA-idual when the benefits 

 are enjoyed by the entire community would 

 be manifestly unjust ; and it seems to me 

 poor law also. The same would be true 

 anywhere. I have opposed the destruction 

 of bees, diseased or othenvise, where they 

 were shipped in good faith as being free 

 from disease, but were later found to be 

 diseased. If it is found necessary to de- 

 stro}-, there should be some compensation 

 for the loss unless they were sliipped witb 

 the knowledge that they were diseased. 

 Then I believe they should not only be de- 

 stroyed, bat the shipper should be vigorous- 

 ly i)iosecuied. 



PROSPECTS FOR HONEY. 



Conditions in California seem to have 

 changed for the better. We have just had 

 another inch of rain, which helj^s to add 

 new hopes at least. Indications now are 

 that there will be sufficient orange bloom 

 to supply those who are depending on it for 

 their main flow. I have given the sage very 

 close inspection, and find that some of it is 

 damaged bej'ond my greatest fears, while 

 much of it is injured less than I had sup- 

 posed. The situation in this locality is about 

 like this: In the small valleys and bottoms 

 of the canyons the bloom is not only killed, 

 but much of the wood (at least that part of 

 the wood from wliich the bloom comes). 

 On the sides of the canyons there are in- 

 creasing signs of life; but the signs are de- 

 ceiving at this point ; for while there are 

 plenty of green leaves on the t-\vig-tips, the 

 bloom-buds within are dead. As we go on 

 up the canj'on sides the green increases rap- 

 idly, and a point is soon reached where 

 there is no indication that there had ever 

 been a freeze. This condition rules, no mat- 

 ter how small the canyon or what the eleva- 

 tion, and is onlj^ in keeping with the old 

 and well-known fact that the cold air holds 

 its position below the warm, hence the froz- 

 en and dried tops in the little valleys and 

 the bright green higher on the canyon sides. 

 It is really remarkable to see how well de- 

 fined these lines are shown by the green and 

 the lack of it. Forty or fifty feet up the 

 canyon sides, above bushes that are brown 

 and dried from frost, there are bushes that 

 seem never to have been touched. 



