OCTOBER 1, 1913 



671 



Beekeeping in California 



p. C. Chadwick 

 Editor Root, page 593, recommends the 

 Burt system of preventing swarming, as 

 illustrated on page 610. The Burt s\-stem 

 may be all right at times; but with our cool 

 nights in C'alifornia it is a very difficult 

 matter to preserve heat sufficient to get the 

 outside rows of sections completed at best, 

 and any additional air-admitting space 

 should be avoided. Tliis is only in keeping 

 with what I have been preaching for a long 

 time, that plenty of room will retard swarm- 

 ing by keeping the colony cool ; and to my 

 notion it is better than the Burt plan. By 

 his plan the bees are simph- forced to re- 

 main at home to help keep the brood warm 

 by sheer force of numbers, while a hive 

 might be maniijulated in a manner that 

 would i)ermit many of the hive force to 

 enter the field rather than to remain to hov- 

 er brood. I am not sure but that it would 

 be more profitable to allow swarms than to 

 make a condition that will cause loafing 

 inside of the hive to prevent swarming. The 

 plan has been tried to some extent in this 

 climate, and will reduce swarming as claim- 

 ed; but in at least one instance I have 

 known where a beekeeper used small rocks 

 to prop up his hives for ventilating pur- 

 jioses when it would have been more ap- 

 propriate to wrap them in blankets to pre- 

 serve wliat heat they were able to make. 



Early in the year I mentioned having 

 questioned a number of members at tlie 

 State convention concerning the color of 

 alfalfa honey, and that many were of the 

 opinion that the difference in color was due 

 to darker grades becoming mixed with it, 

 also stating that I was of the opinion that 

 the pure alfalfa was wliite. Jn the April 

 issue of the Wesfeni Honey Bee. Mr. Harry 

 K. Hill took issue with me. stating that he 

 gets at least three different shades during 

 the season. In the May issue Mr. L. L. 

 Andrews says of orange honey : " Some sea- 

 sons it is much whiter than other's, and a1 

 times much milder. In the June issue I 

 cited the fact that every form of nature fol- 

 lows its law, each form on the line on which 

 it was created, and that it could follow only 

 the line given it, regardless of the opinion 

 of man, and that a plant could not under 

 the laws of nature produce more than one 

 color of nectar. In the July issue Mr. Hill 

 says that his observations were taken at a 

 time and place that left no room for doubt 

 on the matter, and intimated that climatic 

 conditions might have sometliing to do with 

 the vanation in color. In the same issue 



, Redlands, CJal. 



Mr. Bixby says that he has been " wraslin " 

 with me for two years trying to convince 

 me that the white-sage honey from the dis- 

 integrated granite of the foot-hills is much 

 lighter in color than that from the dobe 

 lands. Why not alfalfa also"? Then he 

 adds, " These fixed laws of nature all liave 

 so many exceptions that they wiggle a little. 

 Locality makes a lot of difference." He also 

 says, " Nectar from cultivated buckwheat is 

 often so light in color during the fii"st tew 

 days of the flow as to be readily mistaken 

 for clover honey, except for the rank odor." 

 I presume Mr. Bixby does not take into 

 consideration that the difference in soil lias 

 any effect on tlie color of white clover, as he 

 makes no mention of the fact, and does not 

 qualify his statement with a soil condition; 

 and in this, at least, I believe he has weak- 

 ened his own argument. In the September 

 issue such able men as Mr. J. W. George 

 claim that alfalfa is not white, while others 

 claim that climatic conditions have an in- 

 fluence. Alfalfa honey may not be w'hite — ■ 

 my strong contention has not been- that it 

 was, though I have not fully given up the 

 idea yet — but my main contention is that, 

 if it is not wliite, it must have a color pe- 

 culiar to its nature, and that it does not 

 change color with the wind nor the moon 

 nor soil, nor does any other plant. If it 

 does, then my twenty-five yeai*s of obseiva- 

 tion have been set at naught, for that would 

 be entirely at variance with my observa- 

 tions. If there were no fixed color for the 

 nectar of the vai-ious honey-plants, the mere 

 name orange, alfalfa, white clover, bass- 

 wood, etc., would mean nothing so far as 

 color is concerned, as it might range any- 

 where from white to dark amber from the 

 same sov.rce. 



It will take a lot of evidence to prove to 

 me that climatic conditions or soil have any 

 influence on the color of nectar, any more 

 than the atmosphere or the color of the 

 food that I eat has any effect on the color 

 of my blood ; for, as I have said, it is not 

 consistent with nature; besides, I am not 

 willing to admit that I have no assurance of 

 the color of honey I shall get from the 

 orange alone or sage alone, though these 

 trees and plants are growing on several 

 kinds of soil within reach of my apiary, 

 and there is always a variation in climatic 

 conditions duiing the honey-flow. 



This question is at least worth discuss- 

 ing; but I believe the majority of beekeep- 

 ers will sustain me on mj- opinions of this 

 matter. 



