146 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



March 5, 



any part of their work — that is why they nearly always build 

 their cells on the outside, or lower edge, of the combs. 



If we make longitudinal, or even perpendicular, openings 

 through the combs, after removing the queens, say 24 hours 

 afterwards — or when they have ascertained their loss — they 

 will build a number of queen-cells along these openings, be- 

 cause they can do so without injuring any of their brood, while 

 doing the repairing. 



Feed, to a colony that is rearing queeen-cells, is beneficial, 

 if furnished sparingly and only at night, over the brood, so as 

 not to excite robbing. The feed we use in spring differs from 

 that which we would give them in the fall. It would be some 

 thinner, and be given often, and in small quantities. During 

 a good season, feeding is superfluous, and the weather and 

 conditions of the bloom should be considered. 



Hamilton, III. 

 [Concluded next week.l 



Bee-Keeping and Living in Southern California 



BY DR. E. GALLUP. 



I know of one choice location for an apiary for sale. 

 There are about 5 acres set out to fruit, and 75 acres of till- 

 able land, and two good springs of water. A man that wants 

 to work could fix it up in splendid shape in short order. There 

 are but very few good, choice bee-ranches for sale, as the 

 most of the bee-keepers know when they have a good thing, 

 and are bound to keep it. It is not every one that can get 

 hold of a place that he can raise fruit, stock, etc., in connec- 

 tion with an apiary, and you Eastern people must understand 

 that one can plant corn from March to July, some grain from 

 November to April — he can choose his own time to plant, sow 

 and harvest, and not interfere with his bee-keeping at all. 

 So that in a poor bee-season he is always prepared to make a 

 good living, anyhow. 



Read what Prof. A. J. Cook says about California as a 

 bee-keeping State, on page 2. He admits that he may be en- 

 thusiastic, and so am I. If I were a little younger man, 1 

 would drop every other business and go into bee-keeping 

 again. The obstacle of a low price for honey will certainly be 

 overcome as soon as the bee-keepers unite and get down to 

 business. Bees can be kept so as to be self-sustaining in our 

 poorest seasons, and in good seasons with extracted honey at 

 5 cents per pound, the profits are large, especially where one 

 or two men can take from 20 to 30 tons in a season. Bees 

 gather something in the valleys the entire year. 



A swarm clustered in a hedge across the street from me 

 the latter part of June, 1895 ; I hived them, and they filled 

 their hive and a super. I have taken out six combs of honey 

 and used it in the family. The hive is now full, and the bees 

 have worked constantly with the exception of six days, and 

 now (.Tan. 8) the mercury stands at 70^ in the shade on the 

 north wall of the house, and every afternoon the young bees 

 have their sport the same as yours do in June. They are 

 carrying in pollen and breeding right along, and of course, 

 gathering some honey. 



I am asked what the prospect is for the next season. That 

 I cannot tell. We have had but very little rain so far. but one 

 thing I have noticed — our late rains (if we have them) pro- 

 duce the best seasons, both for crops and honey. Orange 

 county has thousands of acres of moist lands that produce 

 every year, rain or shine. Then we have a splendid system 

 of irrigation for our dry or fruit lands. The land-owners own 

 the whole system of irrigating canals, so the expense is but 

 nominal. All the expense is for keeping the canals or ditches 

 in repair, and paying men for looking after and delivering 

 water. We have the best system of irrigation, and the cheap- 

 est. Our water is not owned and controlled by a grasping 

 monopoly that can raise the price of water at any time they 

 see fit. 



I look forward to the time when bee-keeping will be car- 

 ried on to quite an extent in our valleys, and I find, on in- 

 quiry, that there is a great sight more of it than formerly. 

 People are becoming educated, and learning that bees are not 

 such a nuisance in the fruit-orchard as they supposed. Orange 

 county is located right on the coast, so we have none of the 

 oppressive heat that they have in the interior. The farther 

 one gets from the Old Pacific, the more he feels the heat. 



Eastern people have an impression that we are so far 

 south that it must be excessively hot in summer, and many a 

 one that has spent the winter here is sure, and positive, it is 

 so warm in winter that it must be extremely hot in summer; 

 but in summer we have the cool, health-giving breeze that 

 comes up every morning at about half past 8 o'clock, directly 



from the ocean. Our warmest weather is in April and Sep- 

 tember, before the coast winds get established, and after it 

 ceases. 



There, I have written the above in answer to numerous 

 inquiries. Orange County, Calif. 



Poisonous Honey — Do Bees Ever Store It ? 



Br NOVICE. 



On page 825 (1895) is reprinted an article from the New 

 York Sun, which purports to give an account of the poisoning 

 of two persons from the use of honey coming from a locality 

 where the montain laurel is abundant. I am glad that J. W. 

 S. calls the attention of bee-keepers to this publication. A. I. 

 Root in the " A B C of Bee-Culture," apparently lends credit 

 to the notion that the honey gathered from mountain laurel is 

 poisonous. I submit to the readers of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal that it is time to find out whether there is any truth at all 

 in the idea that btes in this country ever store honey that -is 

 deleterious to man. For one, I must say that I am a skeptic 

 on this subject. I do not believe that in the order of Nature, 

 the bee, which seems to have been created for man, should 

 rujt have been gifted with an instinct that would protect it, 

 and man himself, from the consequences that would result 

 from gathering poisonous nectar. 



This n priori conclusion is supported in my own experi- 

 ence by facts. Last spring, when I began to extract, there 

 were not less than 40 acres of land within a mile of my apiary 

 covered with this mountain laurel. The creek in whose 

 swamp it grows, runs within 100 yards of my house, and I 

 extracted honey from all my colonies at least twice while the 

 laurel was in bloom, and though every family in the town ate 

 of the honey, not a single whisper has been heard that the 

 honey was not wholesome. I am a professional man, and 

 have not up to this time produced any honey for market. Most 

 of my crop of 70 gallons for the season past, has been given 

 away to friends, and only six gallons sold this year, so that it 

 may be understood that I have no interest in disguising the 

 truth, and that I am impartial in this matter. I know that 

 bees visit mountain laurel here, and that the honey they store 

 is perfectly harmless. 



Not being a botanist, I do not know that there is only 

 one variety of mountain laurel. I have mailed to the editor a 

 leaf of the shrub we call mountain laurel. The vulgar name 

 is " ivy," and it is true that the leaves are poisonous to cattle. 

 A hungry cow will chew the leaves when opportunity offers, 

 sometimes in the winter, and it results in loss of muscular 

 power, trembling of the limbs, and in extreme cases death 

 takes place unless strong stimulants are given. 



The leif is of a dark, glossy green. The shrub or bush 

 grows in sandy creek swamps, and to the height of from 10 to 

 15 feet. The flowers are in clusters of a pale pink color with 

 specks of darker pink. The petals are joined together in 

 such manner that they form an irregular-sbaped cup, and are 

 singularly delicate and handsome in appearance. It is an 

 evergreen. Now, if this be the mountain laurel, I can truth- 

 fully and confidently assert that the honey is not poisonous. 



The statements to the effect that the purchaser of honey 

 in the country may chance to buy honey that is poisonous, are 

 calculated toinjure the sale of honey in the markets every- 

 where, and I suggest to the readers of the "Old Reliable" 

 that it is desirable that this matter be thoroughly canvassed 

 in the bee-papers. Let those who keep bees where mountain 

 laurel grows speak out, and if it is untrue that mountain 

 laurel honey is poisonous, the truth should be made clear to 

 the world. 



Our good friend A. I. Root, in his hand-book on bee-cul- 

 ture, furnishes an illustration of the mode in which people 

 come to rash conclusions upon insufficient evidence. He pub- 

 lishes a very accurate drawing of the flower of the yellow 

 jessamine, which perfumes our Southern forests in February 

 and March, and states upon the authority of a Southern api- 

 arist that the pollen of the jessamine is poisonous to bees. 

 The apiarist knew that the root of the yellow jessamine con- 

 tained an element used in medicine, which, when taken in 

 large quantity, produced the effects of a poison. He saw his 

 bees dying with symptoms of a disease which would be recog- 

 nized by many apiarists, and which disease infected apiaries 

 at the worst in February and March, may be seen in every 

 month in the year. He concluded that the yellow jessamine 

 was responsible for the death of his bees. There are scores of 

 Southern apiarists whose bees range among the flowers of the 

 yellow jessamine, who could tell Mr. Root that the very esti- 

 mable genleman whom he quoted was altogether mistaken. 



