Jan. 19, 1905. 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



37 



is a thing of the past, but its failure to live and prosper is 

 not the fault of any one man. The organization was 

 formed for the express purpose of marketing honey col- 

 lectively in car-loads through a single head. The stock- 

 holders refused to fulfill the purpose of its creation by 

 adopting by-laws and giving the Association control of 

 their honey when ready for market. 



Not more than 10 percent of the stock issued was fully 

 paid for, and without any honey to handle it was not sur- 

 prising that '■^ the condition o/ tlie business Jor the pait year 

 looked bad". The only wonder is that any one would ex- 

 pect a business to succeed without cash, credit, merchan- 

 dise, or other resource to start on. Tall oaks from tiny 

 acorns grow. But it takes time and plenty of sap. Of 

 course, the " benefits received were very slim ". 



The editor of The Recorder was himself a member of 

 the Board of Directors of the Central California Honey- 

 Producers' Association, and, with the other members of 

 that body, directly responsible to the stockholders for the 

 conduct of its business. If any discredit attaches to the 

 management he should either accept his just share or else 

 make it clear that he was in the minority in all its trans- 

 actions ; in which case it will be hard to make the mana- 

 ger's one pair of shoulders carry it all. H. L,. Weems. 



-V (£ontnbutcb ^- 

 Special drttclcs 



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California as a Home and for Bee-Keeping. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 



MR. BROWN, a long-time bee-keeper of Ontario, Can- 

 ada, and as long a subscriber to the American Bee 

 Journal, asks me many questions about California. 

 Similar questions have been asked by a good many of late, 

 and though I have replied to such inquiries before, it has 

 been some time since, and the numerous new subscribers 

 that come in each year will certainly find it wholly new. 

 The fact that Mr. Brown, one of our most experienced and 

 intelligent readers, desires further details makes it seem 

 probable that the matter will not be without general in- 

 terest. 



It has been my privilege to live in four of our States — 

 Massachusetts, Illinois, Michigan, and now California. Of 

 these, it seems to me California is incomparably superior as 

 a home. Indeed, if one has pleasant employment, I do not 

 see how he could wish for more than a home in this beauti- 

 ful Southland. The scenery is certainly all that one could 

 wish. The rugged mountains with their bared cliffs and 

 the ever-varying hues of light and shadow become more and 

 more entrancing as one lives among them. I have heard 

 it said of California, as I have often heard it said of Wash- 

 ington, D. C, that any one who has sojourned here for a 

 short period is never content to live elsewhere. I believe 

 our grand old mountains have much to do in creating this 

 fondness. The climate of California has even more to 

 recommend it. It is always summer. Even this day alter 

 Christmas I have been choring around without coat or vest, 

 and with no discomfort. To me the summers are equally 

 pleasant with the winters, and I should regret to feel that I 

 could not always spend my days in this blessed laud of 

 warmth and sunshine. 



I am also very much attracted to California because of 

 its great variety of fruits. There is not a month of the year 

 that we can not pick ripe fruit from tree or vine. Not only 

 is the variety of our fruit surprising, but its quality for the 

 most part is equally worthy of praise. Of course, in these 

 days of rapid transportation, any table anywhere in our 

 land may always be graced with the finest of fruit, yet there 

 is a pleasure in stepping out and picking it from one's own 

 tree — watching it grow and mature — that I find most 

 delightsome. It would take a pretty big inducement to 

 wean me from the splendid orchards of our Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



I should also mention water as one of our great attrac- 

 tions ; not its abundance, for that is our great lack, but the 

 fact of the possible absolute purity of our water is to me 

 one of the prime attractions of our regions. Let me take 

 Claremont as an example. Our water is pumped some hun- 

 dreds of feet. It is received into a covered reservoir with 



two separate compartments. From these it runs in under- 

 ground pipes till we draw it from our hydrants. Thus we 

 see that there is no possible chance of - taint, and such 

 dreaded scourges as typhoid fever may surely be barred 

 out. What is true of Claremont may and will be true some 

 day of nearly our whole region. 



I have kept the best for the last. I now refer to our 

 people. I doubt if for intelligence and morality they are 

 surpassed anywhere in the world. We might almost be 

 called New New England. And as I have lived in Massa- 

 chusetts I am free to say that I think the "New "is an 

 improvement. There is a generous responsiveness, a will- 

 ingness to lend a helping hand among the people of South- 

 ern California that one rarely sees. So far it has been a 

 very prosperous country, and it is possible that it is this 

 that has awakened these generous impulses in our people. 



But now we come to the other side of the question, the 

 delights of living in this region are so many and so patent 

 that they have been noised abroad. The salubrity, too, of 

 our climate brings many here for health. This may make 

 it difiicult at times to secure just the employment one would 

 like. Yet it seems to me that this depends very much upon 

 the person. As for myself, I have often wished that I 

 might be two or three men, for I am sure I could keep each 

 one happily employed. Thus, while I would not wish to 

 induce any one to come here with the certain expectancy 

 for work to their hands and to their living, I have never yet 

 seen willing hands idle. Indeed, there has been a good deal 

 of complaint of scarcity of labor in our orchards. Surely, 

 orchard work is very pleasant, though it is particular work, 

 and I can readily see how by a little carelessness, or want 

 of interest, one would soon cease to find employment. I 

 doubt if there is any more interesting manual work in the 

 world than caring for an orchard. At the same time I 

 doubt if there is any work that requires more painstaking 

 care in every detail. Orchard culture here is intense, car- 

 ried on in a perfection that is truly admirable. Thus, the 

 slovenly or indifferent worker will surely have trouble to 

 find employment. 



I have often written of bee-keeping. When we get a 

 good honey-year we eclipse the world. Enthusiasm, how- 

 ever, will be modified when I state that such years are not 

 oftener than one in three. The second of the three will be 

 indifferent, while the third will be attended by actual abso- 

 lute failure. Even with this showing our best bee-keepers 

 average 75 pounds per colony per year, and the honey crop 

 of a single season, with some of our apiarists, reaches to 

 several car-loads and to several thousands of dollars. 



Mr. Brown asks if we would need to serve an appren- 

 ticeship here. I think not. Bee-keeping is much the same 

 everywhere. Here we have no trouble with winters, but, of 

 course, in our years of drouth feeding is strictly in order. 

 The expert bee-keeper would at once see the point, and a 

 little talk with a good apiarist would make him capable of 

 handling his bees profitably. Such men as Hatch, Ham- 

 baugh, and others— excellent bee-keepers East— come here 

 and take a front seat at once. I do not think that any one 

 who has made a success of apiculture in the East need fear 

 to try it here. If he selects his location carefully I do not 

 think he could do better in any other part of the world. 



If I have not answered Mr. Brown as fully as he wishes, 

 or if any reader of the American Bee Journal wishes more 

 information and will ask specific questions, I shall be glad 

 to answer them as best I may. 



Eos Angeles Co., Calif., Dec. 26. 



No. 2.— What is the Best Bee-Hive? 



BY ALLEN LATHAM. 

 (Continued from page 22.) 



IN spite of all I have said in favor of the closed-end frame, 

 X should hesitate to adopt it and hang it lengthwise of 

 the hive, for it needs to be hung crosswise of the hive, 

 that is, parallel to the entrance, if it is to fulfill its mission. 

 In like manner little is to be gained in hanging frames 

 across the hive, if at the same time they are free-hanging, 

 for crosswise hanging and closed-ends are a pair which 

 must go together— complements which make a whole. 



Read what is said on pages 468 and 469 (1904). There 

 yon may learn that most of the fraternity are against a 

 crosswise-frame, while, though several are non-committal, 

 only one or two come boldly out in its favor. Permit me to 

 take up the objections as offered and treat them as they 

 deserve. 



First, a few prominent bee-keepers say that such a 



