G28 



TMW mm.mmiGmm mmm jO'WmMMJL, 



Calilbriiia Honey Crop.— On p>iKe 

 5T1, Mr. J. F. Browu, ot Virginia, said tliat 

 the Eastern market reports gave tt)e impres- 

 sion tliat tlib California lioney crop was 

 "very large," and tliat tliis was used as a 

 lever to reduce tlie price of lioney generally. 

 We suggested that the honey-produeeri ot 

 California report the true condition of 

 affairs theie, and thus aid in sustaining 

 prices, for the benefit of all honey pro- 

 ducers. We have received quite a nuuiber 

 of reports from that State, and will here 

 present them to our readers. Jf any one 

 desires to use an extra copy of this Bee 

 JouHNAL by sending it to their retailer or 

 jobber, they can have another copy to keep 

 " file " complete, by sending for it at once— 

 before our stoct is exhausted. 



Editor of the American Bee Jouk 

 NAi, :— At your request, (paue 571) 1 send 

 vou a report of the houey crop in San 

 Diego county, California. From the best 

 information 1 can get, it will not exceed 

 three hupored thousand pounds, or less 

 than half the crop of 1888. The largest crop 

 ever raised in this county was in 187S, 

 when over llii-ee million ponn«l!<i was 

 produced, and a total of about seven million 

 pounds in Southern California. 



I see an estimate of this year's crop of 

 honey published in a San Francisco report, 

 which Is three hundred thousand pounds for 

 Southern California. I believe this can be 

 safely cut in two, and the one-half will ex- 

 ceed the actual product for this year. 



The rapid settUinent and clearing up of 

 the heretofore wild lauds in this county, as 

 well as in ailjacent counties, has in a great 

 measure deslrnyed the bee-keeping industry. 

 Itis only in the remote dislricts that any 

 considerable attention is given lo the busi- 

 ness. 



Fruit-growers generally are clamoring for 

 the removal or destruction of all apiaries iu 

 reach of their orchards or vineyards. Their 

 requests are generally being complied with, 

 or the incendiary torch does the work if it 

 is not. 1 have "killed" and "broken up" 

 over 700 hives of bees within one year, and 

 had about 350 hives set on fire (probably ou 

 purpose) within the same period. 



The price of honey has not been remun- 

 erative for some years, and very little atten- 

 tion, as compared with former years, is now 

 given to the business. 



TliR introduction of bee-keeping in this 

 county in a great measure destroyed the 

 sheep and cattle business, and now in turn 

 the fruit and vineyard industries have de- 

 stroyed bee-keeping, over a large extent of 

 the county. These changes are in accord- 

 ance with'the eternal fitness of things, and 

 the world at large is the gainer, though 

 many there are who have suffered financially 

 thereby.— J. S. Harbison, San Diego, Calif. 



In reply to your request for a report of 

 the honey crop ot California, I enclose a re- 

 port just received from the Western Api- 

 arian, of Ventura county. I think it a fair 

 statement. You will see that the average is 

 very small. There is not an average crop 

 in any county iu California. Some repoit 

 almost an entire failure. 1 extracted .50 tons 

 last year. My largest average was in 1884, 

 viz : 2.37 pounds per colony. I have figured 

 up the average since 1880, and 1 find it, to be 

 70 pounds. 



The following report will give the desired 

 information for the whole county, and also 

 present the names of most of the apiarists 



of this county. 1 have not had any faith 

 ii the honey crop since my return from the 

 East la-t spring. I extracted from one 

 apiary only. I nave left the bees in fiist- 

 class condition, and iilenty of honey in the 

 super-. I did expect to extract 6 tons, but 

 decided to leave it with the bees.— W. T. 

 KiciiARDsON, Simi, Ventura Co., Calif. 



The following is a Statistical Report of 

 c ilonies of bees and tons of honey of api- 

 arists of Ventura county, California, tabu- 

 lated by L. E. Mercer, of the Western Api- 

 arian : 



Name. Address. Tons. Cnlonies 



EncinosM... PiruClty...3 .... 80 



Dunn, Knbt " .... >.<.... 380 



Mawfet— " .... 6 .... 210 



Conawav, J- A " 4 2.50 



Whitaker, W " .... 3J^. ... 300 



Whitaker, T " .... 3 .... 125 



Stoct^n, G •' .... 2\4.... WO 



Diinton, H. D " .... •■i}4.... 1-50 



Uolser, John " .... 2 .... Ill 



Heas(mer, Ben " .... 1 .... 100 



Keasoner. O. P " .... 3} .<,... 400 



SeaUler,W& George " ... 2 .... 275 



Drake, C M Springville. i IfiO 



Stewart, S " .... 13 .... 287 



Fox, S . . " .... 5 .... KiO 



Stewart.J. M " ....2 ....1.50 



Oliver, P " .... 3".r.... 170 



Savers &Divenport " .... 1K-... 100 



Rapp,J. J NordhofE....10i.i, .. 275 



Cooper, J. D " K ■■■ 07 



Svoni, Robert " 3 65 



Willis,.! G " .... 8 .... 380 



Sophei, P. M " .... 3 .... 90 



ShehhiisF " .... 4^-... 180 



Bariow.sT " .... i.<.... 75 



Steward, G E " ....3 ....1.50 



Gridley, S. C " .... 5 .... 380 



VauCurHii.A " .... }^.... 70 



Bay, George " .... 4i.<.. .. 160 



Irelan.l, J.D " ....3)^... 340 



Denison, J. W " .... 2 .... 80 



Jepson, T Fillmore 2 75 



M'-Iutyre, J. F .... " ... 10)^.. .. .580 



Kinnev, Cvrus " .5)^' 1.50 



Arundell,T " ....14 ....6(i5 



Keene.Josiah " .... 3 .... 60 



Strathern, R " .... 1}4. . . . .500 



Wilkin, R Ventura.... 3^.... 355 



Mendleson, M. H . . " ....5 ....315 



Reynolds, Geo " ....3 ....200 



Walker, Lew " .... 6^.... 400 



McFarland, J " .... 1 ... .55 



Fox,John " ....4 ...400 



Mercer, L.E " ....16 ....1400 



Bronks,J.M " .... 4)^... . 104 



Quesnel, — " ....10 ....300 



Healey, C " .... 3 .... 300 



Twining,— " .... ii....l00 



Bassett, — Santa Paula. 1 75 



Alexander, W. D . . " .... 7%. . . . 335 



Suf ers, J " .... 1 .... 100 



Hoar.C.E Ventura 3 .... 130 



Easley, Woods " ....6 .....500 



Richardson, W T.. " ....2 ...1300 



Carniichael, — " 1 450 



Lowrey, E. S Santa Barbara 4>.^ 175 



Mayhaui, S Springville .2 150 



In answer to the request on page .571, 1 

 will say that from every source that I can 

 gain reliable news, the honey crop in South- 

 ern California will not average over one- 

 third of a crop, and in some localities it is a 

 total failure ; aud when you take the honey 

 crop of Southern California out of the Cali- 

 fornia honey crop, there \svery little left. 



The crop in this locality was for the fol- 

 lowing prices : Extracted, from 5 to 6 cents ; 

 comb, from 9 to 11 cents ; the latter in one- 

 pound sections.— A. J. Foss, Fallbrook, San 

 Diego Co., Calif. 



In response to the request for honey-pro- 

 ducers of California to give an estimate of 

 this year's crop with former years, I would 



say that it is about equivalent to last year's 

 crop in the counties of Los Angeles, Ven- 

 tura, Santa Barbara, San Dieuo, and San 

 Bernardino, which includes the great honey 

 fields of Southern California. Most of the 

 crop has been sold at cents per pound. The 

 crop is about one-half of wliat it should be 

 in an average season. The hot weather 

 since July 1, precludes the ide.i of a fall 

 flow of honey in this region, unless the early 

 rains help out.— C. N. Wilson, Los Ange- 

 les, Calif. 



By request I will s'ate the exact amount 

 of honey in this locality. 1 have extracted 

 about 13,500 pounds ot honey this sea.son 

 from 175 colonies, fall count, while 1 had 

 16,000 pounds last year from 1.53 colonies, 

 fall count. Neighbor B.. who keeps a good 

 many black bees, has 13,000 pounds of ex- 

 tracted honey against 35,000 last year. M. 

 has 10,000 pounds this year, against 18,000 

 pcmnds last year. F. has 18,000 pounds 

 against 48,000 pounds last year. He lost over 

 100 colonies last winter. And so it is all 

 over San Bernardino county. Only a few 

 bee-men in the best locality (foot-hills) re- 

 port about equal to last year. If there is a 

 big honey crop in California, it is not known 

 here. For the last two daxsa strong north 

 wind has set in, and bush fires are raging 

 all around here, destroying all the sage ; so 

 our prospects tor next year are not excel- 

 lent.— W. v. EicuTER, San Bernardiuo,Calif. 



for September 

 year's crop of 



The Rural Cnlifnrnian 

 gives this estimate for this 

 honey in California : 



This year's crop of California honey Is in 

 good demand, two-thirds of it has already 

 changed hands at fair prices to the pro- 

 ducer. The yield for the season will not 

 exceed half what was counted on by the 

 bee-keeper in April last, and for the inter- 

 ests of those permanently engaged in the 

 business, itis perhaps best just as it is. A 

 large crop of honey requires a large outlay 

 for help in the handling of bees in tlie early 

 part of the season, and of late years it is 

 very difficult to get efficient, reliable help 

 for the apiary in Southern California. A big 

 yield of honey requires a large stock of pack- 

 ages in which honey is marketed, and 

 vfliether one has comb or extracted honey 

 it will cost one cent a pound to pack it for 

 market. Then with a large crop comes low 

 prices, and the honey producer finds large 

 outlay ; an immense amount of labor, and 

 small pay. The high price this year, grows 

 out of the fact that we have had three years 

 in succession short or half crops, and the 

 market bare in August. 



The honey crop has been almost a failure 

 here— only about 1.50 tons of honey in the 

 county. That much, 1.50 tons, or 15 carloads, 

 is a good deal of honey, but we often have 

 in this county 600 tons. Our crop is 32,000 

 pounds. Honey is selling here in Ventura 

 at 6)^ cents in OOpound tins.— L.E.Mercer, 

 Ventura, Calif. 



The honey crop this year is about 3,000 

 pounds, while last year, with a less number 

 of colonies of bees, we secured nearly 7,000 

 pounds of honey. The crop this year has 

 averaged about 30 pounds to ihe colony of 

 bees.— J. Sanders, Box Springs, Calif. 



The lioney season here is very poor. A 

 frost in the beginning of May injured the 

 Alfalfa, I think, so that it did not bloom as 

 well as usual, and has yielded honey very 

 sparingly. My scale hive gains on au aver- 

 age one pound per day. Many colonies have 

 stored nothing in sections. I did not have 

 a single natural swarm. It is the poorest 

 honey season I have known in the county 

 for nine years.— Wm. Muth-Rasmussen, 

 Independence, Inyo Co., Calif. 



