100- 



Dec. 6, 1906 



American Ttee Journal] 



Conducted by Emma M. Wilson, Marengo, 111. 



Bees In the Cellar 



Our bees are all snug in the cellar. 

 We put them in Nov. 19. It was a 

 question what to do, as they had not 

 had a flight for about 10 days. But the 

 chances were that they might not have 

 an opportunity to fly for some time, 

 and certainly there has been no chance 

 so far (Nov. 23), as the weather has 

 been very bad all week. It commenced 

 to rain and sleet just as the last bees 

 were brought in, and we have had rain, 

 sleet, and snow — everything in the 

 way of weather but sunshine — ever 

 since. 



It gives one a comfortable feeling, 

 when storms are howling without, to 

 know that the bees are warm and shel-' 

 tered within. 



It is a sort of luck and chance game, 

 this putting- bees into the cellar. If it 

 is warm and bright, so they can have 

 a flight in a few days, then we are 

 sorry they are put in ; on the other 

 hand, every day they stay out, if they 

 are not to have a good flight, is a posi- 

 tive injury. 



When the weather-man gets so he 

 can tell us for weeks in advance what 

 kind of weather to expect, won't it be 

 a blessing for beekeepers ? 



Bee-Keeping in California 



Without saying where it found it, 

 The Rural Californian copies a very 

 interesting article written by Elizabeth 

 Andrews, who says : 



Where Bee-Reeping is an Independent 

 Industry. 



Looking down toward the ocean and up the 

 valley you can see over 30 towns and cities, 

 including Riverside, San Bernardino, Red- 

 lands, Pomona, Los ADgele6, Pasadena and 

 Chino, with its hundreds of acres of sugar- 

 beets and the Chino sugar factory. 



On this little plateau, some 9 years ago, my 

 father built a little home. He bought a few 

 bees and located in this then barren spot. We 

 had come from Ashland in Southern Oregon, 

 among the beautiful Sisque mountains, and I 

 must say that at flrst it all seemed bleak and 

 dry and lonesome to us. But we planted out 

 an orchard of apricot, apple and prune trees, 

 and kept them watered from a little spring in 

 the mountain-side, which was first run into a 

 reservoir. The place soon took on a green 

 look. It seemed more cheery and homelike, 

 and we grew to love the pure air and deep 

 gorges and barren mountains. 



As time went on my father increased the 

 number of colonies of bees, and In the spring 

 of the first year we began to extract honey. 

 This, at first, was very amusing to us, and we 

 were all eager to help in any way. I gen- 



erally got the chance to turn the crank to the 

 extractor. It was interesting to see the men 

 bring in the large frames of honey, and after 

 cutting off the caps from the honey-cells with 

 a sharp knife, put them in the wire-holders in 

 the extractor and turn the crank. The rich 

 honey would fly out of the cells and run 

 down the sides of the tank. When the honey 

 was all out of the frames they would take 

 them back to the hives, and the busy little 

 bees would soon be hard at work refilling 

 them. When the honey season is on they 

 often have them full again in a few days. 



The bees gather most of their honey from 

 the wild black and white sages, sumac, gold- 

 enrod and sunflowers. In a wet season these 

 flowers grow in profusion on the hills and 

 along the river banks. In the valleys the 

 orange and alfalfa blossoms are full of fine 

 white honey, and in their season are a splen- 

 did bee-pasture. After our first year's expe- 

 rience we decided to separate the bees and 

 put part of them down in the valley where 

 they could pasture on these lowland blossoms. 

 We found it a very profitable plan to move 

 them from place to place as the blossoms war- 

 ranted, as there is little or no honey in the 

 mountains after the summer heat is on, and 

 it is then that the alfalfa is at its best. When 

 we move the bees we wait until they are all 

 in at night. Then we go about and tack little 

 screens over the entrance of each hive. Then 

 we put them on the wagons and haul them 

 wherever we want to leave them. They are 

 unloaded and left with the screens on until 

 they get used to their locality, generally 

 about 2 days. 



During the honey-flow, which begins about 

 the first of April and lasts until about the 

 first of September, it keeps about 3 men busy 

 taking care of 600 colonies. The rest of the 

 year one man can do all that is necessary, and 

 ne has only to see that the bees have enough 

 to last them through the winter and are in 

 good condition to begin work again in the 

 spring. Some jears they have to be fed a lit- 

 t.e during the "winter, but this is only after 

 an extremely dry season. When it is neces- 

 sary to feed them we sometimes use honey 

 that is not marketable, or a coarse sugar dis- 

 solved in water. 



In a good season 600 colonies will produce 

 about 30 tons of honey. This is generally 

 readily sold on the market from 4 1 .,' to 6 cents 

 per pound, according to the market and the 

 grade of the honey. Comb honey is gen- 

 erally sold at about twice what the extracted 

 brings, or from 9 to 12 cents, but as the 

 combs have to be built each time, and the re- 

 moved sections replaced, it makes it no more 

 profitable, and as the comb honey is used for 

 table use only, it is not quite so readily sold. 

 In swarming seasons we put empty hives 

 about near the apiary, and a great many 

 swarms enter these instead of going away to 

 the hills. In this way we get a good many 

 without any one being there to look after 

 them. When we find a swarm on a tree we 

 cut the limb and shake them into a hive. 

 They are generally very quiet, and we often 

 hive them without wearing a veil. 



In many places in the mountains the bees 

 are in caves in the rocks. During the first 

 years of our experience we dug out many of 

 these caves, sometimes hiving the bees and 



sometimes killing them, but invariably get- 

 ting a large quantity of honey and wax. This 

 wax is6ent to the factory to be made into 

 comb foundation, or sold on the market. It 

 always commands a good price. From these 

 wild bees a great many people have gotten 

 their start, but the dry seasons and wild ani- 

 mals have destroyed them until there are but 

 few left in the mountains of Southern Cali- 

 fornia. 



In the past 9 years we have increased our 

 first start of about 60 colonies to over 600, be- 

 sides what we have lost. It is a business that 

 can be run successfully by some one who has 

 other work in the winter -months, and withal 

 it is a very interesting and educational occu- 

 pation. With a little study one can learn to 

 handle them so that they do not get irritated 

 and so get but a few stings. After working 

 with them for a time the 6tings are not nearly 

 so painful, and swell but very little. They 

 seem to get used to people, too, as we go back 

 and forth through the apiary when going to 

 the spring or pasture. 



The bee-business can be started with little 

 money, and if a man is at all enterprising he 

 can soon increase it. As the work among 

 the bees is light a great many women in 

 Southern California do as we have done, and 

 help a great deal in the management of them. 

 We get an abundance of fresh mountain air 

 and recreation from this outdoor life, and 

 find it a very pleasant diversion from our 

 household duties. Elizabeth Andrews. 



Corona, Calif. 



Bees and Poultry 



Quite a controversy has taken place 

 in Gleanings regarding the relative 

 merits of beekeeping and poultry- 

 keeping. Referring to this, there ap- 

 pears in tkat paper the following com- 

 municatj^Krom one of the sisters : 



Poult 



re you 

 jultry 



iees Again— Bees Liked 

 ^Tbtter. 



■ heel so many articles 

 on I'jullry vs. bees, I feel like adding my 

 experience to that already given. lean not 

 unite rally with Mr. Mciilade, neither can I 

 see the rosy '.aide of ofcickeB-rwsiug with Mr. 

 Pearson. I was born on a farm, »nd I began 

 to help with the 1 1 

 Later 1 took 



ness at our home. - J :nbutoi 



and brooders ; also I stock 



part of the time Li^Tt'Brahirtas. and 4^^^. 

 ward the White WyaneT<H^kj>c 

 successful in hatching the oMrks, and it mink 

 I usually raised 95 percent of those hat. 

 My hens laid well, and we hacf^^B^^^^H 

 for broilers. I loved my chicV|H 

 cared for them faithfully. Tne ^^B 

 penses and something more, but I^^Bot 

 sure that I was paid for my labor. 



When Mr. McGlade said he worked hard 

 enough to build 1? miles of railroad, and 

 spent all his money on feed, oyster-shells, 

 lice exterminators, etc , I laughed, and said 

 he was very nearly right. 



Now, my experience with bees has been of 

 very short duration, so that I feel I know 

 nothing about the financial 6ide of the busi- 

 ness; but this much 1 can 6ay— that, where- 

 as you have to work hard over your bees for 

 6 months, you must attend to your chickens 

 every day in the year; and the more inclement 

 the weather just so much more attention 

 your chickens require. The work for bees 

 i6 clean and pleasant. Perhaps I need not say 

 how I regard the work for chickens. 



In conclusion, I must say that I keep boIJi 

 bees and chickens, and I expect to continue 

 to do so, as I am very fond of the products 

 of each. But if I should choose only the 

 work that is agreeable to me, I would take 

 bees, every time, and I believe I can make 

 them pay quite as well as chickens, if not 

 better. Susan E. Williams. 



Moorestown, N. J., March 26. 



