236 



THE BEE-KEEPERS' KEVIE-W 



Income. My rents run from $0 to $15, 

 $25, $50 and more. If we had a series 

 of good years, our rents would have 

 been greatly advanced. Rents should 

 not be above $25, but on these large 

 ranches, we have to pay higher. I 

 have splendid landlords, men of honor. 

 Poor ranges are dear at any price. A 

 good bee range is worth much more 

 rent, providing we could have a series 

 of good 3'ears. 



The furthermost range is only three 

 miles from transportation by rail, and 

 50 miles from ocean steamers. 



Ranges should be selected as close 

 as possible to transportation, or the 

 profits will be lost in hauling. It is 

 better to own your ranges, providing 

 you have control of territory, otherwise 

 it is better to rent from large ranch 

 owners who will protect you. 



The season of 1904 has been disas- 

 trous to many bee men here. The loss 

 of bees has been great, and many have 

 given up the business. 



Since I have been in this State I have 

 fed only about 500 lbs. of feed brought 

 from out side resources. One year I 

 fed 9 tons, that was in 1898; since then 

 I have fed about four tons of sun ex- 

 tracted honey, which I set aside for 

 that purpose. 



I have always gotten my bees through 

 without mnch loss. 



One neighbor lost 600, out of 1,200, 

 last fall with his warehouse full of 

 honey at that. 



The extra amount of bees I have 

 gotten through has always paid well 

 for the expense of extra assistance for 

 a limited time of attention. 



Ventura, Calif., Jan. 6, 1905. 



'.G^w tlie Largest Bee°Il©epe-r li^ tSie 



B. A. HADSELL. 



^7HE time has fully come when, if we 

 ^~ expect to compete with other in- 

 dustries and accomplish much, we 

 must get in line and run our business 

 on a large scale. 



I received my boyhood education in 

 bee-keeping, in Ohio, nearly 40 j'ears 

 ago. The American Bee Journal was 

 my favorite source of knowledge, and I 

 studied everything to be found on the 

 subject. I, too, invented a movable 

 frame-hive, transferred bees and raised 

 queens; but wintering proved the hard- 

 est problem to solve. 



Ten years ago I resolved to make a 

 business of bee-keeping, and, after a 

 thorough investigation in the alfalfa 

 valleys in Arizona, I commenced by 

 taking bees on shares, working o/er 



store boxes into ten-frame Langstroth 

 hives. After building up the home 

 yard to about 300 colonies I commenced 

 establishing out-apiaries, and now 

 hcive an even dozen. 



I live in the middle of an irrigated 

 valley, one mile and a half wide and 

 twenty miles long, containing about 

 eleven thousand acres in alfalfa, with 

 the river and heavy mesquite on one 

 side, desert and mesquite on the other. 



My farthest out-apiaries are ten 

 miles east and ten miles west of home. 

 Myself, or other bee-men, have apiaries 

 of 100 to 200 colonies every mile or less, 

 throughout this valley. We usually 

 buy an acre or more on which to place 

 our apiary, or else pay a rent of 60 to 

 180 pounds of honey a year. 



