MAY 15, 1912 



DS 



[PDK!]® Dra ®aLD[F(D)[^raoa 



p. C. Chadwick, Red lands. Cal. 



All beekeepers in San Bernardino County 

 who will assist in organizing a county. club 

 will kindly communicate with me at once. 



Thousands of colonies were moved to the 

 orange districts during the dry-weather 

 scare. Nearly all of these will be returned 

 to the sage-fields if they should give prom- 

 ise later of a fair yield. 



Orange County is said to have the strong- 

 est county club in the State. Ninety-five 

 jier cent of the crop of the county is pro- 

 duced by those represented in the member- 

 ship, which is organized into a splendid 

 working body. 



Our county bee inspector, Mr. Herron, 

 openly defies the beekeepers to cause his 

 removal from ofRce. Those who think our 

 foul-brood laws are adequate may have the 

 job. I prefer to use my energy in getting a 

 law that will leave the matter in the hands 

 of beekeepers. He will go then. 



While passing a white-clover law'n a few 

 days ago I noticed about forty bees indus- 

 triously working on the bloom. Within a 

 short distance were quantities of orange 

 blossoms fairly dripping with nectar. I oft"er 

 no explanation, other than to suggest that 

 the bees were "tender feet," just from the 

 East, that didn't know a good thing when 

 they saw it. 



WARMER WEATHER NEAR THE COAST MAKES 

 UP FOR THE FOGS. 



This morning (April 24) there was a heavy 

 fog-bank visible toward the coast, ten or 

 twelve miles away. This condition is much 

 more prevalent nearer the coast than here 

 in ihe inland sections, giving us the advan- 

 tage during the orange flow. This advan- 

 tage, however, is largely offset by the warmer 

 weather and more even climate under the 

 influence of the ocean, nearer the coast, en- 

 couraging earlier breeding, which results 

 in stronger colonies to work on the orange, 

 whenever the weather is suitable. 



HATCHING BROOD CAN STAND A LOW TEM- 

 PERATURE. 



In spreading brood my observation is that 

 it is wise to put sealed combs (hatching 

 preferred) on the outer sides of the brood- 

 nest: for if cold weather should drive them 

 in dangerously close, the sealed brood will 

 stand a lower temperature without injury 

 than young larvic This was very forcibly 

 impressed on my mind last season when, 

 three days after having transferred a colo- 

 ny, I ncjticed bees hatching from scraps of 

 brood-combs after having been exposed to 

 a temperature ranging as low as 40 degrees. 

 The loss would be greater if the sealed brood 



should perish than if only eggs or larvtp; 

 but if there should be danger of that, it 

 would be better not to spread. Spreading 

 is really never safe until one's bees can 

 cover niore combs than they have brood. 

 4>- 



ORANGE BLOOM WITH SNOW ONLY THREE 

 MILES DISTANT. 



On April 12 my bees, three miles back in 

 the foothills, and at an elevation of several 

 hundred feet, were snowed under for a few 

 hours; while in the valley below, oranges 

 were blooming, waiting for the visits of the 

 bees. Such a contrast is rarely equaled in 

 this country. The entire week was very 

 cold; the quantity of stores consumed was 

 alarming; many colonies having an ample 

 supply under ordinary conditions almost 

 reached the starving-point by the end of 

 the week following the storm, as the weath- 

 er that week was so cloudy that the bees 

 could take very few flights. 

 4^ 



AVERAGE YIELD IN CALIFORNIA. 



Wesley Foster's estimate, in American 

 Bee Journal, of 50 pounds, extracted, per 

 colony, as quoted by Dr. Miller, p. 223, Apr. 

 15, as being an average for specialists would 

 not apply in California. I think 100 pounds 

 would be a conservative estimate, taking 

 into consideration that some years, out- 

 side of the orange and alfalfa districts 

 there is practically a total failure. The av- 

 erage yield per colony, for Orange County, 

 California, in 1884, was 700 lbs. per colony; 

 in 1905 the yield for Southern California 

 was oOO pounds average. These, to be sure, 

 were exceptionally heavy-yielding seasons, 

 but would figure largely in the average. 



SAGE FLOW DOUBTFUL. 



The rain question is no longer an unset- 

 tled factor in reckoning conditions on which 

 the honey crop of 1912 will depend. 



A local weather observer reports the storm 

 from April 7 to 15 as being the heaviest for 

 April in 28 years, nearly 4 inches having 

 fallen during that period. This, added to 

 what had previously fallen since March 1, 

 makes 9 inches of late rain. The ground is 

 thoroughly soaked to a good depth. At 

 this writing (April oO) the sage seems still 

 uncertain as to yielding; and after making 

 close observations I can see no great hope of 

 more than a light flow, 'i'here will surely 

 not be any great profusion of bloom, for the 

 growth does not indicate such. I may be 

 wrong; but it seems to me that the late rains 

 are forcing it out of its season. The result, 

 I venture, will be little more successful than 

 forcing certain other plants out of season. 

 Tha'- there will be some bloom is quite cer- 

 tain; l)ut many of the older bushes will 

 bloom very little, if any; and whatever the 

 yield may be, it w'ill come late. 



