1907. 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



219 



ment. 



I do not know of a queen being 

 reared by any special process, or a 

 queen bought here last season, »r, 

 for several seasons, for that matter; 

 and, when I go to their apiaries I 

 know better than ask to sample their 

 honey, and if I desire their very best 

 friendship I should not enquire about 

 literature but take it as granted that 

 they are beyond the need of papers 

 or books. Seven years ago I knew 

 eleven bee-keepers in one locality, 

 four of whom owned over 200 colo- 

 nies each. I know them as well today 



willows and picked them up for the 

 "going after." But they were nearly 

 all of the eight-frame size (in fact 

 there were one or two outfits of six- 

 frame size) and some of the farmers 

 become suspicious that an eight-frame 

 hive was too small and contracted 

 for any purpose. 



One scientific and experienced bee- 

 keeper with 150 colonies, or two with 

 60 to 75 colonies each might have se- 

 cured several fair crops in that loca- 

 tion and kept the inhabitants there- 

 about educated and supplied so when 

 a bountiful harvest came there would 



In a California Canon. 



and amongst the whole eleven there 

 is not a single colony of bees. They 

 dropped bees and went into any bus- 

 iness which offered a chance to earn 

 a living. 



During the three or four years they 

 bought about 1,200 hives and their 

 bees consumed 150 tons of honey to 

 live on and their owners did not get 

 five tons to sell. Some of the rem- 

 nants of apiaries were hauled down 

 on the river, in the brush, where they 

 were abandoned, to starve and when 

 the farmers wanted hives to put 

 swarms in they went down in the 



have remained considerable of a de- 

 mand for honey. But it was a fitful 

 harvest for the supply dealer. When 

 at last they were obliged to neglect 

 the bees they were allowed to sit 

 out on narrow tracts or city lots and 

 cluster upon the neighboring hydrants 

 and wind-mill tanks and bother stock 

 until they became a neighborhood 

 nuisance and lawsuits were frequently 

 threatened. 



One bee-keeper came to hire me to 

 divide his colonies. When I looked 

 into the hives they would scarcely 

 make decent sized nuclei. When I 



