272 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ern (^'.ilifornia; but I h&yeheard that there 

 was some of it in Los Angeles Co. ; and I 

 am ol' the opinion that it will be found (if 

 found at all) on low, wet lands, or near 

 win« vats. T often hear the remark, that 

 the two great draw-backs to successful bee- 

 fulnire, in the "States," we do not have to 

 coiiiend with here — foul brood, and winter- 

 ing. 



As for the moth, occasionally, we find a 

 worm in the hive, but not often; and I 

 believe, with Mr. Longstroth, that astrong 

 colony, with a prolific queen, need never 

 fear the ravages of the moth ; but a queen- 

 ess one is almost sure to fall a prey to 



em here or elsewhere. 



Again, he says: *'In regard to the 

 (juality of California honey, it seems to 

 be the opinion of every person who has 

 tasted it, with whom I have talked, that 

 it cannot compare with our white clover, 

 except in looks, 'NoSrice' to the contrary 

 notwithstanding. But its looks sells it." 

 There is quite a difl'erence in the quality 

 of honey in ditierent localities in South- 

 ern California. In the neighborhood of 

 Santa Barbara — where we lived five years, 

 and had some experience with bees — the 

 early honey, gathered largely from alfil- 

 larilla (filarei — commonly called) is very 

 fine; but the late honey gathered from the 

 " tar-weed," mostly, is dark in color, and 

 strong in flavor. The eastern part of this 

 county, where there is abundance of 

 white sage and sumac, produces as fine 

 honey as the world ever saw. The early 

 honey is equal to that gathered in Santa 

 Barbara Co., from nearly the same plants ; 

 and the later, gathered from the white 

 sage, I would venture to place beside any 

 white clover honey to be found by any 

 bees in any State in the Union. It is clear 

 as water, thick, and of a flavor to tempt — 

 mortals. Apiarists, who have kept bees 

 east of the Rocky Mountains, and in Cal- 

 ifornia, give the palm to the white sage 

 honey, above the white clover. The hon- 

 ey gathered from the sumac— not the 

 eastern sumac — I (hink, is not quite so 

 light-colored, tho' it is hard to determine, 

 as it commences to flower before the white 

 sage is gone. The white sage harvest 

 commenced about tlie third week in May, 

 and closed about the middle of July. 

 The sumac commenced to flower the 

 middle of June, and closed about the 

 third week in July. I have conversed 

 with those who have been in Los Angeles 

 and San Diego counties, and they say that 

 the white sage grows in great abundance 

 inmost of the mountain regions; so, I 

 cannot but believe that the bee-keepers 

 there get just as good honey as we do. I 

 saw a statement in the Bee-Keepers'' Mag- 

 azine, several month ago, that a large 

 shipment of honey had been made from 

 California; but it was of inferior quality, 

 and would probably remain long on the 

 market. I understand that thiit lioney 



was gathered in the neighborhood of Sac- 

 ramento — how near I know not — on "tule" 

 lands. 



Now, it may be, that those persons who 

 passed judgment on California honey, 

 "tasted" of this honey; if so, according 

 to all I hear, the taste of it must be in 

 tlieir mouths yet. I do not want to see 

 California honey condemned on acccvunt 

 of it, either. I am satisfied they never 

 tasted white sage honey, or they would 

 never say, " its looks sells it." I am sorry 

 to see in G. F. M's. communication, in the 

 August number, that most bee-keepers in 

 this locality are losing money. Such is 

 not the case here; and I do not "think the 

 whole business overdrawn." A person 

 cannot go into the bee-business in a com- 

 paratively new country, like this, and live 

 in the city, where his family can have all 

 the advantages of society, and make 

 money. If he wants his bees to gather 

 the best honey, he must go where it is, if it 

 takes him to the foot of a mountain, or 

 up a canyon. If he is able to keep his 

 family in town, well and good ; if not, let 

 them share the hardships and depriva- 

 tions, and get rich, (and I believe they 

 will, if they stick to the business here) 

 then move to the city and to society. Land 

 in this or Santa Barbara counties, does not 

 have to be irrigated to produce a crop, 

 but if icell farmed produces splendidly. 



We started in this year with 80 colonies 

 of bees in the Langstroth hive; have 

 have taken off 850 boxes of honej^ aver- 

 aging 5% to 6 lbs. each ; shall probably 

 take ofl" fifty more. Have not got through 

 extracting from the lower part of the 

 hive, but have averaged over 331bs to the 

 hive as far as extracted. Have increased 

 to 89 colonies. That will make about 13^ 

 tons of extracted honey, and over 2^4^ tons 

 box honey. If this is a failure, I hope I 

 may never make a worse one. 



This has been a very poor season, not 

 having any rain since Jan. 6th, to amount 

 to a shower. We had a frost in April that 

 did considerable damage to the bee pas- 

 ture, and a dry, hot wind the 9th and 10th 

 of May that dried up the flowers to such 

 an extent as to nearly stop the gathering 

 of honey, and the bees tore down all their 

 queen cells. I have already made this 

 letter too long to be acceptable, I fear, so 

 will close. E. G. K. 



Ventura Co., Cal., Aug. 9th, 1875. 



For the American Bee Journal. 

 Why is It ? 



All our National Bee Conventions, are 

 held in the dead of winter. If some Gov- 

 ermental power were to compel us to 

 gather uj) our satchels, pull on our over- 

 coats and overshoes, wrap up in our fura 

 and push out on a trip of five hundred or 

 a thousand miles through frost and snow, 



