368 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Beekeeping in California 



p. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



A beekeeper expressed the foreboding 

 that it would be very difficult for the pro- 

 fessional apiarist to protect himself from 

 the ravages of black brood with so many 

 uncared-for colonies to contend with. I 

 take a different view of the situation, for it 

 is my opinion that, after a locality is in- 

 fected with the diseases, there will be a few 

 of the truly watchful and painstaking with 

 the field iDractically to themselves. 

 * * * 



The foul-brood law proposed by the State 

 Association was passed with only one or two 

 unimportant changes. It carries an appro- 

 priation of $10,000, which amount is not to 

 be used for general inspection work, but 

 each county must still pay its own inspector, 

 though the appointment and dismissal are 

 almost entirely at the will of the beekeepers. 

 I believe that we now have the best foul- 

 brood law in the United States. Inspectors 

 will hereafter be appointed on merit, and 

 not to pay political debts. Inspectors will 

 not be able to draw 16 to 20 dollars per 

 month during the winter months for office 

 time, but will have to " jDroduce the goods " 

 or get out. If the State Association has 

 accomplished nothing more, this alone is 

 worth all the beekeepers have paid into the 

 treasury. A copy of this law will appear in 

 these columns later. 



MIDDLEMEN CONTROLLING PRICES IN SPITE 

 OF THE LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. 



Dr. Miller, p. 172, speaks of the women 

 of several large cities taking a hand in the 

 egg market and reducing the price to a 

 point where they could be purchased by 

 the poor, also the apple market in Chicago, 

 and thinks the farmer received no less for 

 the produce on the market at the time. The 

 doctor is, no doubt, right so far as the 

 produce involved was concerned ; but when 

 it came to restocking the market for the 

 next raid, the dealer would take into con- 

 sideration this very feature of the situa- 

 tion, and pay prices accordingly. When 

 such means are used to reduce the price on 

 produce in storage, purchased at a low 

 figure, it may work all right ; but when it 

 comes to a market controlled wholly by the 

 supply and the demand, the result would be 

 that the farmer would get the worst of the 

 deal. About the only way this situation 

 can be met is to make it easier and cheaper 

 for the farmer to get his produce to the 

 consumer — not to the 'dealer, but to the con- 

 sumer's kitchen, and that seems to me to be 



the only way it can be done; for if it pass- 

 es through the hands of one or two middle- 

 men there is too much temptation to com- 

 bine and fix prices, as I am told has been 

 the case in Los Angeles for a number of 

 years. There the supply has very little to 

 do with the market. The price is agreed 

 upon b}' the retailers; and if the supply is 

 larger than the trade demands at the price 

 fixed they are dumped to clean up the over- 

 supply, and the gi'ower is paid a price that 

 will enable the dealer to carry on this kind 

 of wasteful business. Many a poor child 

 might enjoy the pleasure of a dish of ber- 

 ries if the price followed the supply instead 

 of the berries being destroyed to maintain 

 an arbitrary price that does not help the 

 producer. 



This matter will be given attention by 

 our legislators some day, and I should not 

 be surprised if the national government 

 would be the first to take the matter up 

 after they find it can not be done by tariff 

 laws, which are to a great extent local in 

 nature. Transportation rates reduced to a 

 reasonable figure would be of more benefit 

 to the American people than all of the 

 free-trade or tariff laws that can be devised, 

 if middlemen's profits were reduced in a 

 like manner or eliminated almost altogeth- 

 er. The middlemen have to live, to be sure, 

 but not in this particular line of work; for 

 the time is coming in this land of ours when 

 more men must be producers and fewer live 

 on the work of those who do produce. This 

 applies to the bee business as well as any 

 other agricultural pursuit. 



SUDDEN DROP IN TEMPERATURE KILLING 

 FIELD BEES. 



There is one condition that I believe I 

 have never mentioned in these columns, that 

 affects the early spring honey crop perhaps 

 more than any other; and that is, the mor- 

 tality rate of field bees. California seems 

 to have a cause that is peculiar to this cli- 

 mate. The loss of which I am speaking is 

 due to a sudden change in the air from 

 warm to cold wliile the bees are in the field, 

 which causes them to become so numb that 

 they are unable to reach the hive. In con- 

 nection with tliis I may say that our fine 

 climate is due more to the sunshine than to 

 any other one thing; and without the sun- 

 shine we have just as cool and cliilly days 

 as are found in New Jersey or any other 

 eastern State during the spring months. 

 Indeed, variation in temperature between 



