AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



^89 



Bee-Keepiiii In California. 



W. A. I'RYAL. 



An error (apparently typographical) 

 on page 107 makes me state that the 

 top of the spire of the Catholic Cathedral 

 in Sacramento, Calif., is " 234 feet 

 higher than the top of the dome of the 

 Capitol." 



[A semicolon after word " feet " will 

 make all plain and truthful. — Ed.] 



For four or five years past my bees 

 have been in charge of inexperienced 

 persons. Last year I spent only one 

 day among them. This year I shall give 

 them a good 4eal of attention, as I need 

 ^ore out-doonb»»»ercise than I had been 

 'getting for some years. Bees and fruit, 

 with perhaps occasional attention to a 

 city pursuit, will claim my time. 



I have now 50 colonies — there were 

 about 60 before Christmas, but with 

 weak colonies and robbing, 8 or 10 suc- 

 cumbed to the inevitable. 



It is always " the survival of the 

 fittest " in a California bee-yard. Still, 

 I have made it a rule to protect hives as 

 much as possible against robbers by 

 stopping up cracks and contracting the 

 entrances. 



As hives were short last Spring, some 

 of the late swarms were put in boxes ; 

 some being apple, and other fruit boxes. 

 Then there were 9 box-hives full of bees 

 and honey, that were given to us by a 

 friend a mile away. He did not care to 

 keep them longer, as he lived on a well- 

 traveled road, and was afraid that the 

 bees would sting horses and persons who 

 passed by. 



Already I have commenced to trans- 

 fer. The weather is fine. We have had 

 our usual complement of rain, and the 

 days are bright and sunny. There is a 

 large Australian gum, or eucalyptus, 

 forest a few hundred yards south of the 

 apiary, is whei'e the bees find ample 

 flowers to work upon. Then the Cali- 

 fornia laurel, willow and other flowers 

 now in bloom furnish nectar. 



We have to transfer now, as the hives 

 will have too much brood later to make 

 it easy to perform that, at any time, 

 pleasant operation. I have found in 

 hives T tore to pieces to-day (Jan. 27) 

 three or four combs well filled with 

 brood — young bees coming out in goodly 

 numbers. 



In transferring I find that the box- 

 hives have a large surplus of honey — far 

 more than the bees need. After giving 

 the new hives all the honey the bees will 

 require, I will strain what is left as it is 



dark and thick. I think I shall sell it to 

 tobacco manufacturers. 



Then there is a lot of old comb — some 

 being good. The latter I shall save to 

 use in frames, as I will run the apiary 

 for extracted-honey. I have disposed of 

 most of the wax I have rendered this 

 month to painters in Oakland, at a fair 

 price. I can sell all I can produce. It 

 is of a beautiful yellow color ; the best I 

 ever saw. 



This reminds me that I have been 

 thinking of starting one or two out- 

 apiaries in an adjoining county, one of 

 which will be principally devoted to wax 

 production. If I get enough wax I will 

 set up a factory to have it made into 

 wax candles for use in chui'ches and 

 educational institutions. The Catholic 

 clergy find it no easy task to always find 

 pure wax candles for use in their 

 churches. True, all the candles used in 

 the church are not required to be of 

 pure beeswax, but there are times when 

 they must be ; and, then, at the masses 

 more or less genuine beeswax candles 

 must be burned. 



As I have the acquaintance of a large 

 number of the ministers of the church 

 named, I may be able, should I de- 

 termine to make candle-making a side 

 issue, work up quite a trade, and get 

 more for the wax in that way then if it 

 were sold in bulk at wholesale rates. 



North Temescal, Calif. 



Preparing Bees for Winter. 



JOHN D. A. FISHEK. 



We have had several very pleasant 

 days when the bees had a nice flight. 

 To-day, at noon, I concluded to examine 

 my bees, and see in what condition they 

 were. I found all but one hive in splen- 

 did condition, with plenty of stores, and 

 well clustered. My queens have a nice 

 lot of brood started, judging by the 

 colony I examined closely, whose queen 

 was lively. 



In November, when preparing my bees 

 for Winter, I take off the surplus ar- 

 rangements, and if the bees have plenty 

 of stores I take newspapers and cover 

 over the frames, taking care that the 

 paper is at least double in thickness, and 

 projects out over the sides and ends 

 about 2 inches. Then I put the cover 

 on, and the bees are ready for Winter 

 just where the hives were in the Sum- 

 mer. The 2 inches of paper that pro- 

 jects out over the hive turns down in a 



