April, 1914. 



American IS^e Journal 



past, I Iiope the lesson we are now 

 learning will bear fruit, and that 

 " booming " will not be quite so much 

 in evidence in the future. At any rate, 

 here's my hand as a pledge that this 

 scribbler for one will do all in his 

 power to help along saner methods for 

 the future. 



Crop Prospects Unfavorable 



Prospects are not good for a crop in 

 many sections of Ontario this year, 



owing to the drouth of 1913 killing 

 nearly all of the freshly-seeded alsike. 

 Unfortunately our own locality is 

 among the stricken places, so we are 

 anticipating having little to do this 

 coming summer, with a correspond- 

 ingly light pocket book in the fall. Oh, 

 well ! there is a lot of honey still left in 

 Ontario from last season, so perhaps it 

 will help the business in general if 

 some of us poor mortals, living where 

 the clover is scarce, do not have any 

 honey to place on the market in 1914. 



for bees here, as they have done every 

 spring for several years. The price is 

 becoming fairly well established at 

 from $5.00 to $i).00 per colony for good 

 bees in standard hives. 



Big 



California Beekeeping I 



Conducted bv I. 1-".. I'k-asants, < )range, Calif. 



Bright Prospects for This Year 



The outlook for a honey crop in 

 southern California is fair. This, how- 

 ever, does not mean that a big crop is 

 assured. There are several conditions 

 necessary to the production of a good 

 nectar flow here, the one absolutely 

 essential being plenty of winter rain. 

 Following this, weather conditions 

 must be favorable, the nights mild, 

 light spring rains, and a slight humidity 

 in the early part of the day. 



We have had good rains, an ample 

 rainfall for the advance of the season. 

 The growth of the sages, especially the 

 black, is abundant. The next two 

 months will decide what our crop is to 

 be, but the promise is encouraging. 

 The last two seasons have been fail- 

 ures on the unirrigated forage on ac- 

 count of too light rainfall, as most 

 apiaries are weak in bees. Of course 

 you can build up rapidly in a year like 

 this, but you increase at the expense 

 of honey production. A wise bee- 

 man will " average up," increase to 

 some extent and also work for a 

 harvest. 



The moving of bees from the valley 

 regions to the mountains will soon be- 

 gin by those who would rather be in 

 for the early mountain bloom than 

 wait for the orange flow. Moving 

 from one section to another, though 

 not a great distance, is practiced here 

 by many. After the honey-flow is over 

 in the mountains, bees are moved to 

 the valleys to take advantage of the 

 bean bloom. Many remain to winter, 

 build up on willow, eucalyptus, etc., 

 and move back to their home apiaries 

 in the mountains to be ready for the 

 mountain plants. Some wait for the 

 orange flow, which, roughly speaking, 

 runs from about the middle of March 

 to May first. This condition keeps 

 the inspectors pretty busy, as all tees 

 must be inspected before moving. 



American Foulbrood Under Control 



We have American foulbrood under 

 control here now. All counties that 

 have had competent inspectors for sev- 

 eral years have reduced American foul- 

 brood to so low a percentage as to be 

 easily under control. 



European foulbrood is creeping into 



new territory, and we handle it by 

 strengthening and re-queening — of 

 course with good Italian stock always. 

 I wish our scientific experimenters 

 could help us more with this disease. 

 It is still a question just hoiv the in- 

 fection is carried. Now, if we knew 

 this with the same certainty that we do 

 of American foulbrood, it would help 

 us with bee-diseases, and I hope they 

 will investigate conclusively along this 

 line. We hope Dr. Bruennich will give 

 his method of marking queens. It 

 would be a help to many, especially 

 beginners. 

 Buyers are coming into the market 



Plans for Bee-Exhibit at Panama 

 Exposition 



We Californians, north and south, 

 are planning what we hope to be one 

 of the best exhibits of the bee and her 

 products ever made, at our Exposition 

 at San Francisco next year. This is 

 intended to show everything pertaining 

 to an apiary, and will present the best 

 methods of obtaining results in honey 

 production. It is under the manage- 

 ment of Mr. M. H. Mendelson, of Ven- 

 tura county. Mr. Mendelson is well 

 known as a successful beekeeper of 

 large experience and great energy, so 

 we know the results will be forthcom- 

 ing. We are sincerely hoping for a 

 good crop of high-grade honey, so that 

 vj^ may not only reap for ourselves, 

 but be able to assist in furnishing ma- 

 terial for an exhibit of which our State 

 may be proud. It is unnecessary to say 

 that all up-to-date beekeepers of the 

 State are boosting for the California 

 exhibit, and we hope all other honey- 

 producing States will vie with us in 

 making similar exhibits at San Fran- 

 cisco in V^\h. It would help our na- 

 tional market immensely, as well as 

 assist in furnishing beautiful and in- 

 structive entertainment to the specta- 

 tors. 



Conducted by Wesley Foster, Boulder. Colo. 



Dr. Miller's Criticism 



The joke certainly is on me (page 44) 

 in thinking that I saw wood covers in 

 Dr. Miller's cellar. The fact is, I hardly 

 took a look at them, as my attention 

 was taken up with the dead bees on the 

 floor and at the door (there were only 

 a few), and the temperature of the 

 room. Yes, I think I know from e.x- 

 perience that unpainted white pine 

 hives will gape at the corners in a very 

 few years no matter how well nailed. 

 Our western sun will certainly pull 

 nails and check wood. I have the dove- 

 tailed hives in mind, too. I have been 

 told that redwood is a better wood for 

 the West than white pine, but have had 

 no e.xperience with it. 



I am pleased to have the description 

 of your cover, and would like to know 

 if the zinc just covers the top or does 

 it extend over the sides ? My opinion 

 would be that |i-inch boards would be 

 too thin for us out here, and that ^s 

 would be better. Is your cover the 

 size of the top of the hive or larger? 

 What would be wrong with nailing Js- 

 inch strips around three of the sides 

 of the top of your cover and making a 

 bottom-board of it ? You would prob- 

 ably want the strips "s to give a deep 



entrance. I have had a combination 

 cover and bottom-board in mind for 

 some time, and some of these days I 

 am going to try and make one. It 

 would be in the line of simplification 

 of beekeeping equipment. 



Overproduction and Under Distribution 



There is an idea prevalent in bee- 

 keepers' minds that with advertising 

 we can greatly increase the consump- 

 tion of honey. And such is the case in 

 very large part, but before any manu- 

 facturer or producer of an article 

 launches upon an advertising campaign 

 he first has his distributing agencies 

 established and his goods ready to de- 

 liver. What Mr. Byer calls overpro- 

 duction is nothing but under distribu- 

 tion. If every city in Canada of over 

 50,000 population had a specialty honey 

 man, or some one who bottled extract- 

 ed honey and kept all groceries, mar- 

 kets, delicatessen stores and restau- 

 rants supplied with comb and extracted 

 honey the whole year around, the dull 

 honey market would be unheard of 

 for some time, I think. 



Overstocking is more of a menace 

 than so-called overproduction. I cer- 

 tainlv think that the Canadian bee-men 



