60 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



ers, from one who has had pretty good 

 facilities for "learning the ropes," 

 though I do not profess " to know it all," 

 yet. 



The first thing an apiarist does after 

 his arrival here, is usually to hunt up a 

 " ranch," or location, on which to estab- 

 lish his apiary. This is usually located 

 on government land, after many weeks' 

 search, and may then turn out not to be a 

 good one. The main point is to get 

 within the granite or bee range— a strip 

 of mountainous country 8 or 10 miles 

 wide, extending from Lower California 

 up into Los Angeles county, over 100 

 miles long. 



To select a location here intelligently, 

 one needs to be somewhat of a botanist. 

 or at least to know by sight all the dif- 

 ferent kinds of honey-plants, their order 

 of blooming, and the relative quantities 

 of each required. Of course one cannot 

 find everything just as he would order it; 

 but take as near a perfect pasture as he 

 can find. In the early days of bee-keep- 

 ing as a business in San Diego county, 

 the ranches were established on the 

 Sweetwater, a " California stream," 

 which runs out east from just south of 

 the town of San Diego, among the moun- 

 tains. It is only within the past two 

 years, or since the great excitement be- 

 gan, that other localities were sought for 

 further north. At this writing nearly 

 every location, good, bad or indifferent, 

 has been settled on as far as Temecula, 

 75 miles north of San Diego, to which 

 point all the products of the apiary have 

 to be carried in wagons, and all supplies 

 brought out, making it very expensive to 

 carry on the business. The roads gener- 

 ally are good, but as all the mountain 

 ranges tend from the seashore toward 

 the southeast, it is easily seen that there 

 are some heavy grades. All or nearly all 

 the teams we meet in traveling are four 

 or six-horse — two to draw the wagon, and 

 the balance the load. 



There are few " old settlers " except 

 " greasers," or Indians and Mexicans. 

 The former are half-civilized, dress like 

 whites, live in adobe huts, and either herd 

 their own flocks of cattle, sheep or horses, 

 or else are herders for the Mexican stock 

 men. Since the great rush and settle- 

 ment in Los Angeles county, which lies 

 next north of this, the larger portion 

 of the sheep men have had to search 

 other and less populated sections for their 

 flocks. 



Many thousands of sheep were driven 

 into this county, where they are now 

 overstocked, many herds decreasing in 

 numbers from insufficient food or water. 

 The price, too, this fall for the wool — 9 

 cents or 10 cents — has disgusted many 

 with the business. 



Cattle and horses will not feed after 

 sheep. 



The stock men dislike to see new set- 

 tlers come in, as the laws here require 

 herding of stock or suits for damages. 

 The " bee men," too, dislike to see stock 

 around them, particularly sheep ; for 

 although they eat but sparingly of the 

 white sage and other honey-producing 

 plants, they break down the brittle stems, 

 and soon wear out a fine field. 



California is famed for its freedom 

 from insect pests injurious to fruit. 

 While that may be true, it nevertheless is 

 quite true that a worm was found in 

 nearly every white sage flower last 

 spring, which will account for the rarity 

 of pure white sage honey in market this 

 year. This worm, with the April frost 

 and extreme dryness of the season, cut off 

 the crop of honey to an average of not 

 over 25 lbs. per hive, and an increase of 

 not over 25 per cent. Indeed, I know of 

 one apiary of 250 stocks which gave but 

 two swarms this whole year, and when 1 

 was there last — at the end of the busy 

 season — the owners had taken but 99 ca- 

 ses of honey. One other apiary of 150 

 stands came out equally bad. and both 

 did remarkably well last year. One api- 

 ary of 500 hives did not give a single 

 pound of surplus. I have heard of but 

 half a dozen or less in this whole county 

 who have made enough to pay exyenses, 

 counting the time and attention required 

 as anything. One gentleman had 150 

 stands, hired an experienced apiarist at 

 $45 per month and board. In return he 

 got seven cases, or 400 lbs. of box-honey, 

 and an increase by dividing of some 10 

 or twelve stands. There are many long 

 faces among the bee men, and many a 

 poor fellow would like to sell out and 

 quit. I sincerely believe that for a man 

 who understands the business, and whose 

 heart is in the work, bee-keeping here 

 will pay in the long run; still, I think 

 some changes in the prevailing methods 

 of gathering and marketing the products 

 are necessarj^. 



It seems that there has never been any 

 effort made to save the large surplus of 

 honey from the mauzinita and blue sage, 

 which bloom in January and April, be- 

 cause they do not produce quite so white 

 a honey as the white sage, and yet many 

 a hive at these times becomes too full of 

 stores for the good of the colony. 



At the time (May 20th to July 20th) 

 when the white sage is in bloom, the 

 sumac and grease-wood also yield fully 

 as well. The color of the sumac honey 

 is several shades darker than either of 

 the others, so that it is rare to find sec- 

 tions filled exclusively of either sort. 



Possibly the extractor will be reverted 

 to, at least to give it a fair trial to know 

 whether or not it will pay. 



Those who are engaged in bee-keeping 

 rarely do anything else, consequently 

 each one has to watch carefully for the 



