California Agriculturist and Live Stock Journal. 



kept bees will see that the iuskle is clean. 

 Although it is a common custom in the 

 northern part o! this State to leave hives 

 unprotected, we strongly recommend a 

 neat, cheap, and durable covering, to 

 protect them, not so much from the rain, 

 etc., of winter, but more from the heat 

 of summer. We find that hives placed 

 in a cool location, the bees do much bet- 

 ter than those that are exposed to heat. 

 (r_ x_ X., in Bee-Keeper's ^^a<^a^lne. 



A Few Words from Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



I feel as though I must enter my pro- 

 test against some of the sweeping asser- 

 tions made in the July number, by K. J. 

 Colburn, of Chicago, in regard to the 

 bees and honey of Southern California. 

 After giving to that section the prefer- 

 ence as the greatest honey-producing 

 country of equal area in the world, he 

 says; "I am further satisfied that its 

 distance from good markets, and liabili- 

 ties to the disease known as ' foul brood,' 

 as well as ravages from the moth, may 

 reduce the high estimate some people 

 have of it." True, we are quite a dis- 

 tance from market, but we cannot always 

 get producers and consumers together 

 California wheat is the best the world 

 produces, and it pays to ship to Europe; 

 that may yet be our best market for 

 honey; and at paying prices too. Then, 

 the yield of honey is so abundant here, 

 (in good seasons) and our losses of bees 

 so small, that we can as well aftbrd to 

 ship our honey to Chicago or New York, 

 as those who live nearer, and lose from 

 one-quarter to three-quarters of their 

 colonies every winter. As to ' foul 

 brood, ' it is something I know nothing 

 about, never having seen any of it, nor 

 met with any one who has in Southern 

 Cahfornia; but I have heard that there 

 was some of it in Los Angeles county; 

 and I am of the opinion that it will be 

 found (if found at all) on low, wet lauds, 

 or near wine vats. I often hear the re- 

 mark, that the two great drawbacks to 

 successful bee-culture in the "States 

 we do not have to contend with here - 

 foul brood and wintering. 



As for the moth, occasionally we hud 

 a worm in the hive, but not often; and I 

 believe, with Mr. Longstrcth, that a 

 strong colony, with a prolific queen, 

 need never fear the ravages of the moth; 

 but a queenless one is almost sure to fall 

 a prev to them here or elsewhere. 



Again, he says; "In regard to the 

 quality of California honey, it seems to 

 be the opinion of every person who has 

 tasted it, with whom I have talked, that 

 it cannot compare with our white clover, 

 except in looks, ' Novice' to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. But its looks sells it 

 There is quite a ditlereuce in the quality 

 of honey m different localities in South- 

 ern California. In the neighborhood of 

 Santa Barbara-where we lived five 

 years, and had some experience with 

 bees-the early honey, gathered argely 

 from altillarilla (tilarei— commonly call- 

 ed) is very fine; but the late honey 

 gathered from the " tar-weed, " niostly, 

 IS dark in color and strong in flavor. 

 The eastern part of this county, where 

 there is abundance of white sage and 

 sumac, produces as fine honey as the 

 world ever saw. The early honey is 

 equal to that gathered in Santa Barbara 

 county, from nearly the same plants; 

 and the later, gathered from the white 

 sa^e, I would venture to place b. side axy 

 white clover honey to be found by «»»/ 

 bees in any State in the Union. It is 

 clear as water, thick, and of a flavor to 

 tempt-mortals. Apiarists, who have 

 kept bees east of the Rocky Mountains, 

 and in California, give the palm to the 



white sage honey above the white clover. 

 The honey gathered from the sumac— 

 not the eastern sumac— I think is not 

 quite so light-colored, though it is hard 

 to determine, as it commences to flower 

 before the white sage is gone. The white 

 sage harvest commenced about the third 

 week in May and closed about the middle 

 of July. The sumac commenced to 

 flower the middle of June, and closed 

 about the third week in July. I have 

 conversed with those who have been m 

 Los Angeles and Han Diego counties, 

 and they say that the white sago grows 

 in great abundance in most of the moun- 

 tain regions; so, I cannot but believe 

 that the bee-keepers there get just as 

 good honey as we do. I saw a statement 

 in the liee- Keepers' Magazine, several 

 months ago, that a large shipment of 

 honoy had been made from California; 

 but it was of inferior quality, and would 

 probably remain long on the market. I 

 understand that that honey was gathered 

 in the neighborhood of Sacramento— 

 how near I know not— on " tulc" lands. 

 Now, it may be, that those persons 

 who passed judgment on California 

 honey, " tasted" of this honey; if so, 

 according to all I hc>ar, the taste of it 

 must be in their mouths yet. I do not 

 want to see California honey condemned 

 on account of it, either. I am satisfied 

 they never tasted white sage honey, or 

 they would never say "its looks sells it." 

 I am sorry to see in G. F. M.'s commu- 

 niciftion, in the August number, that 

 most bee-keepers in this locality are 

 losing money. Such is not the case hero; 

 and I do not "think the whole business 

 overdrawn." A person cannot go into 

 the bee-business in a comparatively new 

 country, like this, and tire i,i the citi/, 

 where his family can have all the advan- 

 tages of society, and make money. If 

 he° wants his "bees to gather the best 

 honey, he must 30 where it is, if it takes 

 him to the foot of a mountain, or up a 

 canyon. If he is able to keep his family 

 in town, well and good; if not, let them 

 share the hardships and deprivations, 

 and get rich, (and I believe they will, if 

 they stick to the business here) then 

 move to the city and to society. Land 

 in this or Santa Barbara counties does 

 not have to be irrigated to produce a 

 crop, but if well farmed produces splen- 

 didly. ,„ , 



\Ve started in this year with 80 colo- 

 nies of bees in the Langstrothhive; have 

 taken off 850 boxes of hcmey, averaging 

 5% to e lbs. each; shall probably take 

 off' 50 more. Have not got through ex- 

 tracting from the lower part of the hive, 

 but have averaged over 33 lbs. to the 

 hive as far as extracted. Have increased 

 8'J colonies. That will make about lj.j 

 tons extracted honey, and over 2?^ tons 

 box honey. If this is a failure, I hope I 

 may never make a worse one. 



This has been a very poor season, not 

 havin.' any rain since January Gth, to 

 amount to a shower. We had a frost in 

 April that did considerable damage to 

 the bee pasture, and a dry, hot wind the 

 9th and 10th of May that dru'd up the 

 flowers to such an extent as to nearly 

 stop the gathering of honey, and the 

 bees tore down all their queen cells. I 

 have already made this letter too long to 

 be acceptable, I fear, so will close.— i. 

 G. A'., Ventura County, Cut., in American 

 Bee journal for December. 



The bees will fasten the pieces nicely in 

 a short time, if it is done while the 

 weather is warm.— yl»ieric«n Bee Journal. 



PHOSPHORUS WHEAT TO DE- 

 STOY SQUIRRELS. 



An Easy Way to Mix and How to 

 Use. 



Mr. H. G. Batty, of Milpitas, the 



Sciuirrel Inspector for that district, fur- 

 nishes us with his way of preparing and 

 using phosphorus poison for squirrels: 



Take a five-gallon square kerosene can; 

 cut out a side, clean it; punch a hole in 

 each end of can and tie in rope for bail. 

 This makes it convenient to carry, and 

 it is the best handy vessel for the pur- 

 pose that I have seen. Fill can to depth 

 of half an inch with boiling water; add 

 one-half teacupful hot syrup, and one 

 full stick (or more) of phosjihorus. Mix 

 to a thick gruel with middlings or gra- 

 ham flour. .\.dd your wheat now, a quart . 

 at a time. Stir well until the can is full 

 as is convenient to mix. If it is too | 

 sticky, mix until dry with middlings or 

 graham, till the wheal will scatter when 

 thrown in front of the holes. I have 

 poisoned f"r the the last six years with | 

 success in this way. A tablespoonful at 

 each hole, scattered, is the way I use it. 

 My stock has run in the field all the 

 time, often a hundred head, without the 1 

 least injury. By scattering the poisoned 

 wheat, stock cannot pick it up, and the 

 squirrels will eat it better. Vew few- 

 B(Miinels will be found dead outside of 

 their holes. I have seen fields that were 

 alive with squirrels when the phosphorus 

 wheat was put out, and the next day 

 hardly one was to bo seen. We think 

 that this is the cheapest poison to use at 

 this time of the vear. I have had greater 

 success with it than with Wakelee's 

 poison. In handling the phosphorus in 

 the stick, be very careful to keep it cov- 

 ered with cold water. A good, safe way 

 to keep phosphorus is to set the can in 

 another can filled with water, away from 

 any building. In mixing, do not inhale 

 the smoke. We prefer to mix in the 

 open air, setting the can on hot bncks or 

 stone covers will tend to keep it warm 

 while mixing. 



rWe invite further reports upon this 

 subject. Wo approve of Mr. Batty's 

 wav of preparing the phosphorus wheat 

 for" poisoning squirrels; but we wonder 

 that he has not poisoned stock by scat- 

 terin" it outside about the holes. Sheep 

 or ho"s would certainly be in danger to 

 run where phosphorus was thus scattered, 

 also birds and ganio are likely to be 

 poisoned. We once saw, m Sidinas A al- 

 ley dozens of hogs lying dead from 

 noi'son bv eating the dead squirrels 

 poisoned with phosphorus The squir- 

 rels were poisoned in an adjoining heltl, 

 and went for water into the enclosure 

 where the hogs were running. ^\ e thiul; 

 a word of caution here necessary, and 

 would advise throwing the poisoned 

 r-rain into the holes, out of the reach of 

 other animals, birds and game.— Editob 

 jVoricultcuist.] 



competition on lands where water has to 

 be supplied by power, with much profit, 

 is out of the question. The average 

 depth of good flowing wells is about 

 201) feet, although the range is from 60 

 to over 500 foet. The general charge 

 for boring is — 



.First one hundred feet 40 Cents rer foot 



Becoml" " •■ "5 



TUird 90 " ' 



And so on in hke proportion. The cost 

 of seven-inch- the usual size— is seven- 

 ty .five cents per running foot (double). 

 This would make a 200-foot well cost 

 $310 complete. A 500-foot wtdl costs 

 $1,500, or more if the pipe has to be re- 

 newed. These figures wo take from Mr. 

 Geo. Byrou, of Alviso, who has just 

 completed a 200-foot well, which will 

 supply u large plantation of strawberries. 

 j The artesian region is thu strawberry 

 I field of California. Several large, new 

 ! plantations are being set out this season. 

 The finest berries in the State are grown 

 in our valley. 



Cheap Storage of Tools. 



.\ few years ago, in company with 

 several brother farmers, I visi^d one of 

 our State premium farms, located in this 

 (Knox) county. 111. Among the many 

 things worthy of commendation, was his 

 cheap and simple store-room for farm 

 implements, which stood a few rods from 

 the barn, away by itself in the corner of 

 a grove of young growing timber. Posts 

 were set in the ground on the back sidt 

 some five or six feet high. The front 

 posts were some two feet higher, and thi 

 room was about 12 by 20 feet. The root 

 boards were matched and battened; thi 

 side boards of common stiifl'. The floor 

 was made of loose boards. The door 

 was 8 feet wide and i feet high, hung 

 with heavy strap hinges on top, all safe 

 against snow, rain and sun. Here were 

 i his reaper, mower, roller, wire-tooth hay 

 rake, walking two-horse cultivators, 

 I (riding cultivators out of date), harrows, 

 plows, and room for a .sled and cutter 

 during the summer. The hen roost was 

 in another building — none were allowed 

 there day or night. Here, nt an expense 

 of 600 or 800 feet of coarse lumber, a 

 few pounAs of nails, a set of heavy strap 

 hinges, and one day's work in puttingui> 

 the building, at a total cost of about $15, 

 he had all that was necessary for the 

 object desired.— C. G. T., in Comilnj 

 Gentlemen. 



ARTESIAN WELLS 

 RIES. 



STRAWBER- 



How TO Fit Empty Combs into Honey 

 Boxes.— Take the combs carefully from 

 the frames and lay them on a folded 

 cloth, as in transferring; cut into pieces 

 a little larger than the box, slide and 

 crowd them carefully into it. Put m the 

 glass and set the box over a strong 

 colony whose hive is filled with honey. 



The lands Iving between San Jose and 

 the bay, witiiiu the artesian basin are 

 fast being converted into vegetable and 

 fruit lands. On lands where water has 

 to be raised by wind, horse or steam 

 TOwer, above the artesian basin the cul- 

 ture of such fruits Hud vegetables a.s re- 

 quire a good deal of water, has yearly 

 contracted. An abundant supply of ar- 

 tesian water on lower lands has so 

 cheapened the cost of production that 



Benevolence at a Discount. 



In our views of things, whatever baa 

 a directly beneficial influence upon the 

 physical healtli of people should not be 

 hedged in by iron-bound restrictions, so 

 that they who would trj- to adapt it can 

 not unless they submit to the exactions 

 of the monopolists. When we meet 

 with a paragraph like this in a periodical 

 of general circulation, — 



" Patterns are not for sale AU these 

 garments are fully covered by patents, 

 and infringements will be rigorously 

 prosecuted by law." 



— with the fact before us that this cast- 

 iron policy relates to an improved meth- 

 od of dress for women by which comfon; 

 and movement are promoted, we are in- 

 clined to believe that the persons who 

 ' maintain such a policy in business 

 would bottle up the atmosphere if they 

 could, and institute legal proceedings 

 against all found uncorking it without 

 having previously bought the privilege 

 of doing so. 



Our habits of thought and business 



may be all wrong in the matter, but we 



' have always believed that in things of so 



much importance as the preparation of 



