AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



85 



fornia's chances for a good honey crop 

 are good. 



The rains have been general all over 

 the State. While here we have had in 

 the neighborhood of 14 inches, half.that 

 amount has fallen in some of our big 

 valleys, and yet In other portions of the 

 State, mainly in the mountains, possibly 

 more than twice as much has fallen, as 

 we, down here near the bay of San 

 Francisco, have had. 



With plenty of rain early in the win- 

 ter, and copious rains in the spring, the 

 big bee-gardens of California yield nec- 

 tar quite profusely. 



My bees never "wintered" in finer 

 condition. I have not lost a single col- 

 ony of the 60 I have in frame hives. I 

 had three August swarms in old fruit- 

 boxes, two of which are no7i est, and the 

 other is being built up in a double hive. 



MAKING COMB FOB BEESWAX. 



If I were running a large apiary here- 

 abouts, I would not try to have over 100 

 decent hives; all others I would put in 

 old boxes and work them for the wax I 

 could get from them. The reason of 

 this is that this locality is overstocked, 

 and yet there is enough honey to allow a 

 large number of colonies to build comb. 



Late swarms could build the hive 

 nearly full of comb, and if they were 

 not able to go through the winter with- 

 out becoming a prey to robbers, or with- 

 out requiring more food than they were 

 worth, they could be allowed to demon- 

 strate "the survival or the fittest." This 

 may not be good doctrine, but it will go 

 for this section. Of course I would act 

 differently if I were in a good honey re- 

 gion, for it would be to my interest to 

 have as many colonies as possible. 



If all the swarms that go to the woods, 

 rocks, or into the ground every year in 

 this State, were "hived" in old fruit- 

 boxes (and wagon loads of them can be 

 had for the hauling), and run for wax, 

 just think what an enormous lot of wax 

 we would produce annually ! and that 

 in addition to what we obtain in the 

 usual way. This could be done, and it 

 would be perfectly right, too, for is it 

 not better to keep the bees rather than 

 have them go to the hills and help over- 

 stock good bee-ranges ? This subject 

 alone is material enough for an article. 



We usually have some severe frosts by 

 Dec. 28th or 29th, but they have passed 

 us, and it is probable we will have an 

 open winter, as I have intimated. So 

 far tomato plants have just been frost 

 bitten enough to cause them to die, 

 though the fruit yet remains good on the 



open ground. Calla lilies, heliotropes and 

 bedding plants have not been affected 

 by what cold we have had, and which 

 was about the middle of the past month. 

 The blue-gum (eucalyptus globulus) is 

 coming into bloom, and will give the 

 bees plenty of nectar. 



I find that raspberries are blooming 

 very early this year — nearly every plant 

 in our two patches (3 acres) is in bloom, 

 and to-day I noticed the bees were mak- 

 ing merry upon the blossoms. How 

 would the reader like to eat raspberries 

 right off the bushes at Christmas and 

 New Years? Well, that is what we 

 have been doing. The only trouble is, 

 the berries have not that tine flavor they 

 have a mouth or two later, and all 

 through the spring and summer. 



I find that this is the best time to go 

 through the hives and clip the queens' 

 wings that have not been previously 

 "barbarized." It is easy to find them' 

 now. 



To-day I find that some of my hives 

 have three and four combs well filled 

 with brood ; the young bees are coming 

 out of some of them. I do not remem- 

 ber them doing so well before. 



North Temescal, Calif., Jan. 2, 1893. 



^ I ^ 



But Little Adulterated Honey 

 marketed. 



Written for the American Bee JoumcH 

 BY J. M. JACOBS. 



To speak plainly, I think there is but 

 very little adulterated honey on the 

 market. I have made one or two trips 

 every fall in Northern Iowa, Dakota 

 and Minnesota for the last nine years ; 

 have sold from 20,000 to 40,000 

 pounds of honey each year, and never 

 have I been able to supply all of my 

 customers ; and with three exceptions 

 never have I found any adulterated 

 honey, and the adulterated honey I 

 found was so inferior that I could not 

 see how any one could be deceived. Pure 

 extracted honey will granulate, and in 

 its granulating will settle to the bottom 

 of the can or jar, and that will expose 

 the fraud. 



I went into a merchant's store to sell 

 some honey. He looked at my samples 

 and pronounced all honey-dealers as 

 frauds. I asked him his reasons, and 

 he said, "Come here, and look at this 

 stuff I have just received from some of 

 your honest bee-keepers !" I was shown 

 five cans of very fine granulated white 

 clover honey. I called for a dish, took 



