AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



397 



some bee-keeper in Southern California. 

 When properly packed, they will travel 

 with safety either way. I would not 

 advise any one to get bees by the pound 

 from the East. The same advice holds 

 as to shipping in the opposite direction. 



2. The cost of the bees would be the 

 same as Eastern prices ; the expressage 

 would necessarily be high — too high, in 

 fact, to warrant any one in getting them 

 in that way. I don't think they could 

 be brought in pound lots safely from the 

 East through the mails. 



3. It depends just where in the sugar- 

 pine belt the bees are located, whether 

 they will find sufiScient honey to make it 

 profitable to keep them as a business. 

 Mr. John Muir, the celebrated scientist, 

 is authority for the statement that all 

 the region around Mt. Shasta is a grand 

 bee-garden. There are places below the 

 snow-line where flowers that are rich in 

 honey, bloom without fail every year ; 

 these spots deserve to be tried as loca- 

 tions for apiaries. I have never heard 

 of any one starting an apiary in this 

 region. Any of the wild and grand 

 gorges through the mountains in the 

 Shasta country, where there is a plenti- 

 ful growth of honey-secreting plants, 

 will be found to be a bee paradise. In 

 fact, it is my firm belief that inside of 

 ten years the major portion of our honey 

 will come from the great mountain 

 ranges of the State, instead of from the 

 lower portion of the State, as at present. 



The mountain honey of this State as 

 far as I can learn, is denser than that 

 obtained elsewhere in California. In 

 nearly all cases it is not as clear as the 

 beautiful sage honey of the lower coun- 

 ties ; yet the difference is not so great 

 as to make one much cheaper than the 

 other. 



4. The altitude will not make any 

 great difference to the bees. They can- 

 not be kept in just the same manner as 

 they would be in the warm valleys. If 

 near the snow-line, the apiarist would 

 be obliged to practice those methods ia 

 vogue in cold climates, to-wit: winter- 

 ing, etc. There is such a thing, even in 

 the glorious climate of California, of 

 chasing the snow up the mountain side 

 with one's bees, as is done in some of 

 the mountainous countries of Europe. 

 This may be yet done in many of the 

 mountain districts of this State ; and 

 when it is so practiced, such a thing as 

 a dry year among California bee-keepers 

 will be a thing of the past. 



W. A. Pryal. 



Read our great offer on page 389. 



Separators and the JV umber of 

 Unfinisliecl Combs. 



(ta«ry 864.— A writer In the Bee Journal, 

 has made the statement that the use of sep- 

 arators la a super lessens the number of un- 

 finished combs. I would like the opinions of 

 different bee-keepers on this subject, and 

 would ask all that say that separators do cause 

 the bees to finish what they commence, 

 rather than commence more than they finish, 

 to tell WHY it is true, according to their views. 

 What Is your opinion ?— Ind. 



I don't produce comb honey, so I have 

 no experience. — A. B. Mason. 



I see no reason why it should be true. 

 I have not noticed it in my work. — A. J. 

 Cook. 



I produce very little comb honey, but 

 I always use separators to keep each 

 comb true. — E. France. 



I prefer separators, but I don't know 

 that the statement in the above query is 

 correct. — H. D. Cutting. 



I have always produced nice, straight 

 section honey without separators, so my 

 views would not be worth anything. — 

 — Mrs. Jennie Atchley. 



I don't know. If there is any such 

 difference, it might be because bees are 

 more averse to commence in a place if 

 it is partitioned off. — C. C. Miller. 



My opinion is, bees are a little slower 

 about starting, where there are separa- 

 tors; and, this being the case, they are 

 more apt to finish what they do start. — 

 Jas. a. Stone. 



Separators, with me, are a necessity. 

 Neat, finished combs are impossible, 

 practically, without their use. The bees 

 will build straight across the super with- 

 out them. — Will M. Barnum. 



I have had but one season's experience 

 without separators, and do not want 

 another, either. Some combs are made 

 too thick, and of course such are not 

 finished as quickly. — P. H. Elwood. 



With the open-side sections it is true 

 that not so many unfinished combs re- 

 sult. It is because the bees follow the 

 separators and complete only one or two 

 rows of sections at a time, except when 

 the flow of nectar is extra good, when 



