THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



G5 



much by the pound us that gathered by 

 the uon-swarniers. 



4. Tlic care and troublo of an ajnary 

 of swarnuTs, is four times that of an 

 apiary of non-swarnicM-s. 



5. Au ai)iary of non-swarniers, is more 

 durable than swarniors, nou-sw armors 

 often remaining ellicicnt, thirty years and 

 more, and svvarmcrs rarely enduring cue 

 fourth of that time. 



G. Swarmers reach periods of destruc- 

 tion, and Avaste in from live to ten years 

 of almost the whole apiary, while uon- 

 swarmers may be efficient for a whole 

 generation. 



7. Non-swarmers give from one-fourtli 

 to three-fourths of tlie product of the field 

 iu surplus; the swarmcr gives but from 

 one-thirtieth to ouc-fourth of the pro- 

 duct. 



I have here presented a few statements 

 that I believe to be a fair comparison of 

 the operation of bees in the two classes of 

 hives, swarmers aud nou-swarmers. If 

 any of my friends have doubts of the 

 correctness of either of the statemeuts 

 made, aud wish for my reasons for adopt- 

 ing these views, I can give my reasons, or 

 some of the reasons that have led me to 

 adopt them. 



I am aware that longer seasons for 

 gathering honey at the south, and the 

 shorter winter season for consumption of 

 gathered stoies may eflect this question. 

 But how, or how much, I am poorly pre- 

 pared to judge. Jasper Hazen. 



Woodstock, Yt. 



■ »- I 1^ — <>-» 



Report from the Pacific Slope. 



I accidentally got hold of the Novem- 

 ber number of the American Bee Jour- 

 nal, and became quite interested in its 

 perusal. Although I am bul a novice in 

 bee-keeping, yet I keep my eyes open, to 

 see what others are doing in that line. I 

 suppose that San Deigo county is as good 

 a honey producing country as there is on 

 the American continent, if not in the 

 world, aud that I am iu the center of the 

 best portion of the county. I notice in 

 au article copied from the S. D. Wo7'ld, 

 that the honey crop of this county for 

 1878, was 119,000 lbs., I know also, that 

 the crop for 1874 was 475,000 lbs., au in- 

 crease of 350,000 lbs. I know also that 

 since that honey was produced, there has 

 been a large importation of bees into the 

 county from the northern part of-this 

 state. On the loth day of March 1874, 

 Mr. John "Watson got tlie first load of 

 bees here out of the 103 stands he started 

 with from Sacramento. By the time he 

 got them all here and straightened out 



ready for work, tlicy were reduced by 

 being smothered, to 75 colonies, lie sold 

 six and a half tons of honey in comb from 

 them, and lias now KiO swarms. He sold 

 his honey at 30 cts. per lb. 



One month earlier than that, or in Feb. 

 1874, Dr. jNlarsliall started with 53 swarms 

 of Italian bees, (Mr. Ws were the black.) 

 lie increased to '^03, and sold over $1200 

 worth of honey at from 14@lCicts. per ft 

 here at home, and probably has from one 

 to one and a half tons of honey now in 

 the tops of his Harbison hives, as he was 

 unable to procure section boxes for them 

 to store it in. 



Last spring Messrs Trask & Thompson, 

 started with 19 swarms which they had 

 got from the woods. They sold over 

 $1,000 worth of honey, and a short time 

 ago sold their apiary, numbering 110 

 colonies, and their bee-ranch for $2,000 

 more, to a Mr. Hicks from Chicago. 



j\lr. Crannell living three miles from me 

 had, last spring, 40 swarms of black bees. 

 He sold six tons of strained honey and 

 has now 150 swarms of black bees. At 

 his place, at the mouth of the San Bernar- 

 do river he had one swarm of Italian bees. 

 From that one hive he saved 24 colonies. 

 How many got away he knows not, but 

 several of his neighbors got swarms of 

 Italian bees that were astraj', and as there 

 were no others nearer than 10 or 12 miles, 

 they think they must have come from his. 



C. Paine, at Paway, had last spring 

 three swarms in King hives; from the 

 three he got 24 swarms, total 27. 



I had one in the same kind of hive, my 

 one increased to nine, others have done 

 equally well. 



Now with the same ratio of increase of 

 the honey product of 1874 over 1873, 

 1875 ought to produce 1,421,000 lbs; 

 but the probabilities are that it will exceed 

 that by nearly one million lbs. Why? 

 Because large numbers of people who 

 only had a few colonies last year and sold 

 no honey, are gathering up all they can 

 get from the woods and rocks, and are 

 going to make it a business to produce 

 honey for market. 



Two planing mills have been kept con- 

 stantly running for months at their ut- 

 most capacity, cutting out Harbison and 

 and Langstroth hive stuff; lumber for 

 thousands of hives has been hauled out 

 into the country without being cut. to be 

 made up at home, and large quantities have 

 been cut and shipoed down from Sacra- 

 mento and San Francisco. 



Some of the statements made above 

 may seem marvelous to your readers, but 

 that they are all facts can be proven be- 

 yond cavil, by affidavits from all of the 



