22 



PACIFIC trp:k and vine 



HThe Apiai-y 



April is tlieuionth in whicli all col- 

 onies should be examined. We usually 

 have some nice days in which to do this 

 work. If any colonies have died during 

 winter, remove the combs of honey that 

 remain and place them under some other 

 strong colony before robbing begins. 



If any colonies have become queenless 

 others can be procured from the South 

 and substituted. Do not let the colony 

 dwindle away for the want of a queen, 

 for it may j-ield you fifty or even a hun- 

 dred pounds of honey the coming season. 



The bottom boards should also be 

 scraped and cleaned from the accumu- 

 lated cappings which always gather there 

 during winter. 



On top of the hives you will probably 

 And ants gathered in the packing with 

 thousands of eggs ready to hatch. Clean 

 them out and sweeten up the hives in 

 general. It may be that some need a 

 coat of paint. 



Get ready for the honey flow and give 

 the bees every chance to build up. Sec- 

 tion boxes and brood frames should also 

 be gotten in readiness. It is easy to 

 manage bees when the preparatory work 

 is properly done. 



I would set the combs from which the 

 bees have died during the winter in an 

 empty hive body and place them under 

 a strong colony and close up all openings 

 except the entrance under the lower 

 body, compelling the bees to pass over 

 the unoccupied combs continually when 

 leaving or entering the hive. In this 

 way the combs will be kept free from the 

 wax moth until such time as they can be 

 use<l for swarms or some other purpose. 



When the queen gets crowded forspace 

 in the upper body she will go down and 

 commence laying eggs in the empty 

 combs below. These combs of hatching 

 brood can be used to great advantage in 

 building up weak colonies or making 

 nuclei. 



The wide-awake farmer does not wait 

 until his bees have swarmed and are 

 clustered on a tree top before he thinks 

 of preparing a hive for them. All pre- 

 paratory work, such as making and paint- 

 ing hives, wiring brood frames and get- 

 ting the the section boxes ready for the 

 anticijiated honey crop, shouhl be done 

 at leisure times during winter and early 

 sjiring, before the rush of other work 

 takes place. How easy it will be to man- 

 age a dozen or more colonies of bees next 

 summer, if everything is set in readiness 

 now. For instance, if a swarm issues, it 

 will only be the work of a few minutes to 

 take a hive from the barn and hive the 

 swarm into it. If a hoiiev flow burnts 



forth suddenly what satisfaction it wil 

 you to know that you have on hand a 

 few hundred section boxes ready to set 

 on the hives at once. If this work is put 

 off until summer time it is more than 

 probable it will not be done at all. 



When feeding the bees be careful and 

 not spill any of the sweets about the 

 apiary, for robbing is often started in this 

 way. When bees find they can obtain 

 honey close by they loathe to go to the 

 fields in search of it. It is the experience 

 of beekeepers generally that those bees 

 which once oecome robbers very .seldom 

 if ever take up the duty of gathering 

 honey from the fields again. 



MUCH PLANTING OF 



VINES THIS SEASON. 



This year will be a banner one fo;- 

 the planting of vineyards in the vicin- 

 ity of Lodi, and the number of vine." 

 going into the ground will be sufficient 



tct swell the acreage to vast propor- 

 tions. The unprecedented pields of the 

 past few seasons and the exceptionally 

 good prices received for the product 

 has induced the planting of hundreds 

 of acres. While some are planting 

 resistant stock, the majority are of the 

 opinion that the added expense is 

 greater than the business warrants, 

 and are going ahead in the old way, 

 upon the assumption that when the 

 phylloxera appears is the time to flght 

 it. 



In the immediate vicinity of Lodi, 

 among those who are planting vines 

 are the following: George F. Schuler, 

 Karl C. Benck and L. M. Haight of 

 Stockton have finished planting 100 

 acres of St. George resistant stock. 

 They have the largest acreage of res- 

 istant vines in this vicinity. 



In the Acampo district, Woods Bros, 

 of Stockton are putting in 125 acres on 

 their place north of the river. Keen 

 Brothers have finished planting 125 

 acres, A. Ray 30, J. McKinley 20, Ing 

 Brothers 100 acres, and there are num- 

 erous others. 



In the Woodhridge district N. V. Wil- 

 liams and E. A. Lee are planting 50 

 and 20 acres respectively and many 

 others are increasing their acreage. 



^ \ iii w i Hi i MM BAKER'S ■■ ■ I— i^ 



'TRAGELESS HARNESS^ 



I 



No WhsWIelrees — No Traces 



This harness is indispensable to every fruit grower — vineyardist or 

 orchardist. Saves time, labor and patience. Pays for itself many times over 

 every season in the saving of injury to trees and vines ani damage to grow- 

 ing fruit, which always occurs from the use of ordinary whiffletrees and 

 traces. One of the handiest of farm equipments. 



We have hundreds of testimonials from every State, like the following: 



Dear Sirs: Florin, Cal. July ?. l'>02. 



I put your liarness on a span of horses that weiph close to 14(K> lbs, 71u-y iMuke ren- 

 ters in a vinevard for two week^ at a stretch and seemed not to notice thekt they were in 

 a. different h&rness, though one is a very nervous horse. I never had as murh pleasure 

 in plowing as I did with tliat liarness. No broken vines, no stepplnt: over traces and no 

 traces to catch. It makes vineyard plowing a pleasure instead of hard work. 



V. V. ROBINSON. 



Don't delay — write lis to-dav for ilhistrated catalogue of this val- 

 uable harness, mailed free. Live agents wanted evervwhere. 



B. F. BMER C0MPANY,2l3Main St., Burnt Hills, N. Y.,U.S.A. 



HOOKER & COMPANY. Distributing Agents, 



16-18 Druniiii St., S.tm Friinc isco, Cnl. 



I 



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