Jan. 15, 191-2 



39 



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p. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal. 



Before beginning outdoor feeding, take a 

 look over the yard to see that there is no 

 robbing in progress. 



Light rains followed by cold, heavy, dry- 

 ing desert winds describe the weather con- 

 ditions so far this season. 

 ■^ 



E. M. Gibson's scheme for avoiding lift- 

 ing, page 721, Dec. 1, is good; but I think 

 mine is better, for a full super never need 

 be lifted. I will give details later. 

 <^ 



In the sixth item of my notes in the Dec. 

 15th issue I meant to say that the Tremont 

 yard is 600 feet above the oranges, at an ac- 

 tual elevation of 2600 feet, since the oranges 

 are 2000 feet above sea-level. In flying the 

 three miles, therefore, the bees have to as- 

 cend 600 feet, or 20 feet to the mile. 



Mr. C. H. Miller's account of the swarm 

 of bees flying 15 miles over the desert is 

 probably correct; but it is not likely that 

 this distance was covered in a single flight. 

 It is more than probable, however that 

 their present home was located by scofts at 

 some distance from where they took up the 

 last leg of their journey to it. 



( Quoting from p. 1021 of " Honey-plants (»f 

 California," "The sage-worms in cloudy 

 weather often become abundant enough to 

 destroy much of the bloom." It has been 

 my observation that they are most abun- 

 dant in off seasons when the sage is less 

 thrifty; but I have never observed that tile 

 weather had any influence, and am of the 

 opinion that it does not. 



I have never known an instance where a 

 comb was mutilated by bees in order to af- 

 ford room for drone comb, page 516, Sept. 1. 

 They always manage to build enough drone 

 cells between the top-bars and excluders; or, 

 if no excluders are used, often utilize the 

 space between the upper and lower frames. 

 If they made a practice of cutting out comb 

 to provide room for drone-comb building 

 the value of foundation would be somewhat 

 less. 



What wovild become of our great citrus- 

 fruit industry if the growers used no more 

 system in marketing than we bee-keepers 

 do our honey? Do we not possess brains 

 enough to form a marketing organization 

 for our product? At least we need an in- 

 formation bureau to issue bulletins inform- 

 ing bee-keepers of conditions, prices, etc. 

 As it is, we harvest our crop, sell it to the 

 first buyer that comes along, at what he 

 may offer. I have known buyers to pay 

 three different prices in Redlands, on the 

 same day, for the same grade of honey. 

 That is business! We can not blame the 



buyer for his shrewdness; for so long as we 

 continue to be dupes we may expect to be 

 duped. 



-^ 

 Every one with whom I have talked or 

 corresponded on the subject of more strin- 

 gent foul-brood laws agrees that such a law 

 would be an excellent thing — for the other 

 fellow; but few are willing that it should 

 apply to them. If this should be the gene- 

 ral sentiment, the fellow who thinks he 

 does not need inspecting will, very likely, 

 wake up to the fact, sooner or later, that he 

 has some neighbors who need it, and he 

 will have no recourse but to sit and wait 

 until his neighbor is cleaned out. 



The Dec. 1st issue was the most interest- 

 ing number of the year to me, inside and 

 out. The cover picture, taken at Liberty, 

 Mo., less than 40 miles from my old home, 

 where I spent 18 years of my bee-keeping 

 life, is a most beautiful one. I can imagine 

 rabbit-tracks crossed and crisscrossed among 

 the hives. Inside I find Doolittle's excellent 

 article on excluders — one of my hobbies (if 

 I have any) — a hobby, because it is only in 

 recent years that I have learned its true 

 value, and I will preach excluders as long 

 as the present hive and system of manage- 

 ment are used. I have neighbors who do 

 not use them, and argue that, when the 

 bees need room, they will crowd the queen 

 down. That is true to a degree; but crowd- 

 ing [should be avoided, for it causes loss of 

 time. Besides, it takes 21 days from the 

 egg for a bee to hatch; three full extractings 

 are often gathered in that time by a colony, 

 which goes to show that the brood does not 

 get out of the way fast enough. I prefer to 

 let the queen go where she may until two 

 or three weeks before extracting time; then 

 put all the brood dnvn that you can get 

 down, and put on the excluder. 



JNIr. E. M. Gibson's comments, p. 721 on 

 decapitating brood, are sensible and to the 

 point. They pleased me very much. 



Elias Fox, speaking of bee-trees, page 711, 

 touches a subject dear to my heart; for of all 

 pleasures of my boyhood days (and I am not 

 over it yet) I believe hunting bee-trees was 

 the greatest. Did it pay? financially, no; 

 in pleasure and recreation, it was one of my 

 greatest assets. lean not agree with Mr. 

 Fox about penalizing for robbing a bee-tree 

 and killing the bees — that is just what 

 should be done where foul brood is prevalent. 



California bee-keepers should apply to the 

 Interior Department for permission to enter 

 forest reserves and remove bees from trees, 

 especially in infected areas. While driving 

 through a forest reserve in San Diego Co. I 

 counted nine bee-trees, from the road, while 

 traveling a distance of two miles. They 

 were all in hollow and decaying live oaks 

 that were of no actual value — most of them 

 in limbs that could easily be removed. 



