206 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping in California 



p. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



Thousands of colonies have been shipped 

 to the alfalfa fields of Nevada, Utah, and 

 Idaho during- the past two years, and others 

 are still going. A good old-fashioned honey 

 crop in California would have a strong in- 

 fluence in checking sliipments. 



* *- * 



The good rains of which I spoke in the 

 last issue stopped abruptly, and we are 

 again anxious for weeping skies, for our 

 season for rains is growing shorter day by 

 day, with yet far too small a rainfall to hold 

 the honey-plants thi'ough the blooming pe- 

 riod. The sage that escaped the frost is do- 

 ing finely, and has an exceptionally healthy 

 color and growth. The oranges will be 

 blooming in a short time in profusion; so 

 if we get plenty of rain to aid the sage, who 

 knows but we may yet die rich? 



* * * 



The California State Beekeepers' Asso- 

 ciation will, in the future, be known as the 

 Consolidated Honey-producers of Califor- 

 nia. When our foul-brood law was intro- 

 duced in the State legislature, one of the 

 features of the bill was that it placed the 

 appointment of the inspectors largely in 

 the hands of the association. The law-mak- 

 ers, upon investigation, found that there 

 was no legal organization on record known 

 as the California State Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion. The situation was gi'asped quickly by 

 the officers of the association, and a meet- 

 ing called to organize under the laws of the 

 State to give a legal standing as well as a 

 legal name. There had previously been an 

 organization known as the California State 

 Beekeepers' Association which was official- 

 ly dead, but the name could not be used 

 again in an official way, so the name stated 

 above was chosen. 



*- » * 



I recently had the pleasure of entertain- 

 ing Mr. C. C. Matthews, of Idaho, and Mr. 

 M. H. Mendleson, of Ventura. Mr. Mat- 

 thews is in California buying bees to ship to 

 Idaho. He is a beekeeper with much ex- 

 perience, and will doubtless succeed. Mr. 

 Mendleson needs no' introduction from me; 

 but I must say I have rai'ely enjoyed a visit 

 from any one more than this one. With so 

 many years of experience among the bees, 

 and such a large producer, he is a landmark 

 in California beedom. I also had the plea- 

 sure of signing a petition for a son of Mr. 

 M. Seager, who is out for the office of 

 County Inspector, and has the solid backing 

 of our county association. The elder Mr. 



Seager is a beekeeper of long experience, 

 having been in the bee business in Califor- 

 nia for the past 37 years, and a good friend 

 of the writer. 



e- * * 



Utah is now wrestling with a foul-brood 

 law that makes inspection at the State line 

 necessary on all shipments of bees entering 

 the State. We in California are now try- 

 ing to get a law to overcome the evils of 

 county ordinances of an uncertain nature, 

 and make it possible for the clean and care- 

 ful beekeeper to transport his bees from 

 one part of the State to another, and make 

 it impossible for an inspector such as we 

 have had in San Bernardino County to hold 

 the office for ten years over the protest of 

 the beekeepers. I believe with Editor Root 

 (p. 139, March 1) that a federal law should 

 be enacted at once; not only, as he says, to 

 stop the unprincipled tramp beekeeper from 

 spreading disease, but to have a condition 

 of cei'tainty in law that Avill give clean bees 

 a clean bill of health for shipment from one 

 State to another, avoiding the necessity of 

 State quarantine laws that seek to correct 

 an evil and make a worse one. 

 * * * 



Iowa State convention recommended the 

 amendment of their present foul-brood laAV 

 to prevent the shipment of bees into that 

 State. I thought California had all of the 

 insane notions there were on this subject; 

 but here comes Iowa with a notion as bad 

 as any we can produce. It. is to be hoped 

 our legislators will not allow the beekeepers 

 to persuade them to repeal the inter-state 

 commerce law without giving the national 

 Congress at least due notice of their inten- 

 tions. I doubt very much if the ruling of 

 our California Agricultural Commission 

 would prevent the shipment of bees from 

 Utah to this State, if a test case wei'e made 

 in the United States Courts, unless it could 

 be shown that the bees or fixtures actually 

 contained evidence that the alfalfa weevil 

 was being transported to this State. I do 

 not believe any court would hold that the 

 mere fact that there was danger of the 

 weevil being brought in would be sufficient 

 to stoi3 a shipment of bees, or any thing 

 else for that matter. There are few ships, 

 of the many that land at our harbors daily, 

 from which there is not danger of disease 

 being contracted ; yet the ships come and 

 go, being subject to quarantine regulations, 

 to be sure, but not i^rohibited from landing 

 if no contagion develops within a reason- 

 able time. 



