816 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



IVotes from the '' Oak JLeaf Api- 

 aries" in California. 



Written for the American Bee Journal 

 BY S. L. WATKINS. 



We have had a great abundance of 

 late spring rains, and these, in the 

 southern part of the State, are the fore- 

 runners of a heavy secretion of nectar. 

 Bee-lieeping during these late spring 

 rains is a time for vi'atchfulness, and 

 bees must be watched very carefully, as 

 they may starve. It is not the winter- 

 ing of bees that is difBcult in this climate, 

 but in bringing them safely through the 

 spring months, during the rainy spells. 

 As they are all breeding very heavily at 

 this season of the year, they consume 

 honey with great rapidity, and a colony 

 running short, will starve in a few 

 hours. Almost every spring I have oc- 

 casion to feed part of my bees for a few 

 days, and sometimes all of them. But 

 it pays well, for the honey that they 

 consume at this time of the year is 

 simply a drop in the bucket compared to 

 what they gather later on. 



In a late letter from my friend, G. W. 

 Cover, of Downieville, Sierra county, 

 Calif., he furnishes the following inter- 

 esting items : 



" There are probably as many honey- 

 plants in this section as any place in the 

 State ; the madrona does not grow here, 

 it is too high for it. The mountain ash 

 grows in abundance, and I have ob- 

 served the bees working on it ; it is 

 usually in the heads of canyons. Among 

 the late honey-plants that flourish here, 

 may be mentioned the spignard, horse- 

 mint, one-eyed daisy, golden-rod, and 

 several varieties of asters. The Oregon 

 grass flourishes here, and is a very good 

 honey-yielder ; it is a very early plant ; 

 the wild morning-glory yields quite a lot 

 of honey ; swamp hellebore is an excel- 

 lent late honey-plant ; black hellebore is 

 a very beautiful plant, and a honey- 

 yielder. The bees are working on maple, 

 wild plum, and many other shrubs and 

 various wild flowers. There will be no 

 swarming here for sometime yet. 



" In your letter you speak of the non- 

 swarming plan ; we are not bothered 

 with much swarming here. If you go 

 high enough up in the mountains, bees 

 will not swarm enough to build up an 

 apiary. 



" The Carniolans are the best bees for 

 this section. 



"Yes, I think that the bee-business is 

 looking up ; the new converts will find 

 that it will take care and work to make 



money at the bee-business. I expect the 

 Sierras will be a grand bee-ranch some 

 day. 



"I have not tried the fixed frames ; I 

 have just made a hive to try them this 

 year. I shall run for comb honey alto- 

 gether this season. I took the premium 

 on honey last season, at the Sierra and 

 Plumas Fair, and ran against the cele- 

 brated Reno honey. G. W. Cover." 



As friend Cover mentions, it would in- 

 deed be hard to find any section of coun- 

 try in the world, where there is such a 

 diversity of nectar-secreting plants ; the 

 beautiful and exquisite manzanitas are 

 wonderful nectar secreters, and did they 

 bloom in July instead of in early spring, 

 the yield from this source would be im- 

 mense; as it is, they bloom during the 

 rainy season, and bees have only a par- 

 tial show in gathering honey from this 

 source. 



The Sierra bee-pastures are of un- 

 rivalled and wondrous beauty during 

 their blooming season ; on all sides every 

 hue and color imaginable is presented, 

 while the air is spiced with the pungent 

 odor of myriads of blooming plants and 

 trees ; at these locations can be seen 

 vast stretches of lupines of various col- 

 ors, larkspurs, callinsia, mountain mint, 

 paradise plant, falocio, violets, several 

 species of wild clover, roses, and several 

 species of clanathus ; the clanathus in 

 certain seasons are great nectar-yielders; 

 the Sierra Mountain lilies can hardly be 

 termed nectar-secreting plants, still I 

 think that they furnish an abundance of 

 pollen ; these wild lilies are of such 

 wondrous and surpassing beauty that a 

 slight description will not come amiss. 



The Sierra white lily possesses very 

 large flowers of a dazzling snowy white- 

 ness, which are spiced with a delicous 

 fragrance. The Sierra red lily is also 

 large in size, with a glowing caffery red 

 blossom, which is extremely beautiful. 

 The Sierra snow-plant is also worthy of 

 mention. In its flowering season it 

 throws up a spike of deep, brilliant red 

 flowers, which are so intense in color as 

 to almost glisten and sparkle in the 

 light ; this plant is undoudtedly the 

 most beautiful in the floral kingdom. It 

 has been my experience that almost all 

 plants possessing a fragrance, are great 

 nectar-yielders. 



I have found that by giving bees at 

 least two frames of combs to build out in 

 the upper story of a hive, and by ex- 

 tracting frequently, swarming can be 

 kept down to a great extent. As I am 

 now working for honey instead of in- 

 crease of bees, so far I have been very 



