Feb. 15. 1912 



101 



DSE[E[PDra(a DM (B^LDF(D[^raD^ 



p. C. Chadwick, Redlands, Cal, 



January is rapidly passing, with little 

 rain of any consequence, and barely enough 

 moisture to keep the surface growth alive. 

 We have only about eight more weeks in 

 which we may reasonably expect rain, mak- 

 ing the outlook at best rather dark. 



A book that I value as highly as any in 

 my library is " Langstroth on the Honey- 

 bee," i)ublished in 1870, two years previous 

 to my birth. Jt was presented to me in 

 18S6 by Mr. E. A. Rhea, of I^oring, Kansas, 

 and was the foundation of my knowledge of 

 bees. 



A capinng-melter is not a great necessity 

 here. If there is sun enough to warm the 

 air sufliciently to extract, you can usually 

 get your clippings melted in a solar extract- 

 or; and what little honey goes out with the 

 drained cappings will very likely come in 

 handy to feed weak colonies later on. 



Those in reach of the orange may get the 

 usual orange How, for the month has been 

 exceptionally warm, and breeding has start- 

 ed in earnest; many queens have spread 

 three or more combs of eggs. I consider 

 this of no advantage to those on sage ranges; 

 for if the dry weather should continue it 

 w ill cause heavy breeding, which will mean 

 large consumption of stores that may be 

 greatly needed before another season. 



I was offered 25 cts. for the best wax de- 

 livered at Ix)S Angeles, but an eastern buy- 

 er offered '1S}< cts., F. O. B. 1 wrote to Los 

 Angeles, regarding the other offer, and re- 

 ceived this answer: "Your party who is of- 

 fering •iS'i cts. is, in our judgment, over- 

 shooting the mark." I shipped the lot, 202 

 lbs., east and received check for $57.57 — $7.50 

 more than I could get in Los Angeles. 

 Most of our Southern California wax finds 

 its way into IjOS Angeles, where at times 

 the receii)ts are quite heavy, and prices 

 slump beyond rea.son. 



-^ 



During the winter many sojourners from 

 various parts of the country, who are inter- 

 ested in bees, have called on me, and I have 

 enjoyed these visits very much. To those 

 who may yet come, I would ask that you 

 call at my home, 725 East High Ave , after 

 7 P.M., where you may have an hour or two 

 and welcome; but do not expect me to begyou 

 to come to our State, or you will be disap- 

 pointed. If you are succeeding where you 

 are, why change? I f not, find out the reason, 

 for it may be your own fault, and a fault not 

 easily cured out here. There are more pay- 

 ing locations, not taken, in many States east 



than there are in this State. You of the 

 East have cold winters, to be sure; but loss 

 from actual cold is much less than the aver- 

 age bee-keeper thinks; for every colony that 

 dies is said to have "winter-killed," regard- 

 less of other conditions Our normal mor- 

 tality rate here is over 10 per cent. 



My first bee-hive was a "George"— the 

 only one, to my knowledge, ever manufac- 

 tured on a rush order by this process. 

 George, whose last name is Kutchenthal 

 had been married to my sister but a short 

 time, and had not acquired a very large 

 stock of tools. I was helping him plant 

 corn on my fourteenth birthday, when I 

 found a swarm of bees on a bush— the first 

 swarm I had ever seen. I wanted them bad- 

 ly, but had no hive. George came to my 

 rescue with a sharp hatchet and a 1 X P 

 rough pine board. He soon had a hive chop- 

 ped out and nailed. The hiving was suc- 

 cessfully accomplished, and the foundation 

 laid for my first apiary. Thanks to George 



The advisability of compensating for col- 

 onies destroyed by inspectors, mentioned 

 by J. L. Byer, p. 5, Jan. 1, like all questions 

 has two sides. There have been cases iri 

 this State where inspectors have been guilty 

 of no less than wanton destruction of prop- 

 erty in their over-zealousness to enforce the 

 law. On the other hand, some have been 

 so grossly negligent that conditions in places 

 have become deplorable. An inspector 

 should be a man of good judgment, and 

 should try, as far as po.ssible, not to destroy 

 any thing of value. Several cases have 

 been called to my attention where quanti- 

 ties of hives and combs have been burned. 

 There is no excuse whatever for such drastic 

 action. The wax and hives are not diseased 

 and, if thoroughly boiled, could be saved. 



Our so-called State association has been 

 called for Feb. G, 7, 8, at Los Angeles, which 

 will be long before this reaches the readers 

 of (Jleanings. It is my earnest hope that 

 the various organizations over the State may 

 be amalgamated into what may be properly 

 called a State association, our so-called State 

 association being in reality no more than a 

 Southern California organization, and 

 should be so termed until all our smaller 

 ones are included with us in one grand and 

 truly State organization. 



Since writing the above. Gleanings has 

 come to hand, and I have read the words of 

 Mr. Harry K. Hill, page 55, Jan. 15, and for 

 the most part I agree with him. The north- 

 ern brothers feel that it is a case of the tail 

 trying to wag the dog, which belief, I be- 

 lieve, is not entirely unfounded. 



