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125 colonies. Twenty-tivc of these 

 had Carniohiti queens, and 100 with 

 Italian queens, about 20 per cent, of 

 which were mismated, mostly with 

 Carniolan stock. 



Up to date, I have for the entire 

 apiary, 60 per cent, of swarms, while 

 for the 25 Carniolans I have nearly 90 

 per cent, of swarms, which makes less 

 than 50 per cent, for the Italians. 



I have extracted once from several 

 colonies run for extracted honey, and 

 the greatest amount taken from pure 

 Italians is 43 pounds ; the greatest 

 amount taken from mismated Italian 

 stock, is 42 pounds ; and the most 

 taken from Carniolans, is 30 pounds. 

 The least taken from pure Italians is 21 

 pounds, and the least from Carniolans, 

 is 15 pounds. 



To illustrate further : My little boy, 

 12 years old, has 10 colonies, part are 

 worked for e.xtracted, and. part for 

 comb honey. On July 1, I extracted 

 from 4 colonies — all that were ready — 

 3 Italians and 1 Carniolan ; the Carnio- 

 lan had swarmed a few days previous, 

 and neither of the Italians have 

 swarmed yet. I took 10b pounds from 

 the 4 hives, and only 15 pounds of this 

 came from the Carniolan ; while one 

 of the Italian colonies gave 43 pounds. 



The only case of sections ready to 

 betaken off is on a hive containing 

 pure Italians. The first swarm for the 

 season was Carniolans, the last to date 

 was Carniolans, and that, too, from 

 the same queen that cast the first 

 swarm. She was hived on one comb 

 and nine empty frames, and one case 

 of sections, on June 8. The ease of 

 sections is about half full. 



I think now that I shall be over 

 1,000 pounds of honey short for the 

 season, by having Carniolans instead 

 of Italians. Perhaps " a hint, etc.," is 

 sufficient. 



Liverpool, Ills., July 2, 1890. 



CALIFORNIA. 



Do BecH lUake Hoiiej ?— The 

 Rai§in Industry, etc. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 



BY D. B. WIER. 



For once our editor is wrong. He 

 has not referred to Webster ; when he 

 does do this he will see that there is 

 no sophistry used by any one who has 

 written on this subject, who holds that 

 bees do make honey. As well might 

 he hold that a man cannot make 

 lemonade, the miller tlour, the farmer 

 cider, etc. 



To make, means to contrive, to 

 form, to mold, press, drive, mix, to 

 change in form, etc. For instance, if 

 we make a sugar syrup, and then mix 



with it one thousandth of its Imlk of 

 formic acid, it is no longer sugar syrup, 

 for we have iiiialo or changed it by the 

 addition. It may not be honey tech- 

 nically speaking, but it is no longer 

 simply sugar syrup. Now, if wo add 

 to the mixture a certain amount of 

 citric acid, and let it stand sometime, 

 we may have not m.ade honey, but we 

 have made nearly exactly its equivalent. 

 Besides, we have the most ancient 

 and respectal>lc authority on chemical 

 and scientific matters in the world 

 dead against him. I refer to Mother 



Goose's melodies, page , where we 



find— 



"God made man, 



And man made money ; 

 God made bees. 



And bees made honey." 



This should settle the question 

 permanently. For M. G. does not 

 say that bees are the only parties who 

 can make honey, so leaving the in- 

 ference to be drawn that any one else 

 may make honey who can bring the 

 proper ingredients together and then 

 mix or combine them. If Brother 

 Newman (for I to am an editor on 

 " the best country weekly in Califor- 

 nia," hence brother) will feed a new, 

 clean swarm of bees, in confinement, 

 on pure sugar syrup made (see how 

 these makes and mades come in) from 

 the best Dutch cut loaf, and after it 

 has remained in their possession one 

 mouth in their combs, if he can change 

 it back into crystallizable sugar again, 

 we will all give it up that bees do not 

 7nake honey. 



Yet this stored honey may not taste 

 like that which the bees gather from 

 linden, sweet clover, white clover, sage 

 brush, tar weed, or bug-juice, but 

 after the bees have manipulated it, it 

 is no longer sugar, or sugar syrup ; it 

 is to all intents and purposes honey — 

 not white clover, basswood, tar weed, 

 bug-juice, etc., honey, but simply pure 

 honey, i. e., sugar honej', instead of 

 tar weed, etc., honey. 



If we were going to run this thing 

 into the niceties and technicalities, our 

 editor would find himself landed into 

 a verj' close, small corner, for a com- 

 mittee of experts woidd first have to 

 decide what is honey. The natural 

 sweets gathered by bees are so varied 

 in all their characteristics, that when 

 the problem was solved, what is honey, 

 every other compound of sweets gath- 

 ered by bees from other sources that 

 was not essentially like what was de- 

 clared to be honey, would have to be 

 ruled out ? Honey gathered b3' the 

 bees from hoarhound and incense cedar 

 is offensive to the taste of some, yet 

 it is certainlj- honey. ■ Honey gathered 

 from the juice of some grapes would 

 be ver}' poor, but that from our royal 

 Muscats — when fully ripe, are w-ell- 



uigh as swci't and pure llavored as any 

 honey — might be very good ! 



My formi'r article on this subject has 

 brought me scores of inquiries again 

 from all over the country. .Since I 

 have been in California I have tried 

 carefully to write nothing but the ex- 

 act truth on all subjects. In my first 

 letter I recommended parts of this 

 county highly for apiaries. I meant 

 ever}' word I wrote in that article. I 

 did not recommend this little city of 

 Petaluma for that purpose. Why ? 

 Simply because in summer there is too 

 much wind, and often cool wind. This 

 is exceedingly grateful to us usually, 

 but a little rough on a bee with a full 

 cargo on board, and as these summer 

 winds are constantly from the same 

 direction, and strong enough to pre- 

 vent a loaded bee reaching home, I 

 should not call it a good place for 

 apiaries. Yet in the same block in 

 which I reside, are five hives, from 

 which the owner has taken ten pounds 

 a week, for a long time this spring, of 

 splendid honey, yet there are thou- 

 sands of locations in the countj- with- 

 out an}- drawbacks whatever. As with 

 fruits, so with bees. If we are going 

 to make a business of either, we should 

 in the start select the best location, all 

 things considered. 



North of here in Mendocino county 

 one might find as choice locations as 

 there are in the world for bees and 

 honej', and within six miles of the 

 railroad ; yet it might cost him |5,000 

 to get a wagon road out — too much 

 mountain. 



Lake count}', one of the most de- 

 lightful and finest counties of the 

 State, "The Switzerland of America," 

 is very nearly a paradise for soil, pro- 

 ducts, health and comfort. Yet with 

 no railroad, and 25 to 40 miles of 

 motmtain road to get into or out of it, 

 it is a poor place to grow corn in for 20 

 cents a bushel, or honey at 5 cents a 

 pound, and then haul it out. 



I said the foot-hills of Kern county 

 are good for bees, and meant it. Yet 

 on the floor of the valley right around 

 Bakersfield, apiaries might do royally 

 well. I did not say so, for I was sure 

 the foot-hills were the better. Yet at 

 Bakersfield, with its thousands of acres 

 of alfalfa in bloom the year around, 

 and the whole ground carpeted in wia- 

 ter and spring with the sweet alfillaree 

 — also a grand grazingplant constantly 

 in bloom, and the bloom of the millions 

 of fruit trees and vines, apiaries might 

 find a poorer place. But there is a 

 constant summer wind up the valley, 

 even stronger than here, and it is a hot 

 wind instead of cool, that might worry 

 the bees somewhat. 



As for land prices in this .State, the ' 

 question is like answering the one, 

 "How big is a piece of chalk ?" all de- 



