IS!! I 



77/ A' . 1 MEEIt •- 1 N BEE- KEEPER. 



overflows its banks and spreads over 

 the adjoining country, carrying sand 



and debris over the tilled and pasture 

 lands, reaching the sea by two or three 

 channels often several miles apart. 



From December to April, the rainy 

 Beason, this land is very damp and es- 

 pecially suited for the growth of wil- 

 lows so that there are lines of willows 

 around every farm and held, and a 

 wide solid belt on both sides of the 

 channels. The whole breadth of 

 country would soon grow up to a 

 dense willow forest were it not for the 

 plow and axe. 



Nearly all locations in Southern 

 California are very unsuited for the 

 production of apples because it is so 

 dry that they become a juiceless 

 and leathery growth. In these damp 

 lands more apples than all other fruits 

 are raised. 



In such a location I have moved 

 160 colonies of bees. The willows 

 have been blooming now for about 

 ten days, and 1 have seen the bees as 

 busy on them as on basswood, clover 

 or sage. Apple bloom is the best 

 honey yielder of any of the fruits. 

 It blooms about the 15th of March. 

 I expect willows will last until apple 

 bloom. 



I left twenty to forty pounds of 

 mountain honey in the brood-nests 

 for winter and since the bees are 

 making new honey, I am extracting 

 the old honey as fast as possible. 

 What the outcome will be 1 will be 

 able to say later. The bees are in 

 reach of a good quantity of oranges 

 also. 



Downey, Cal., Jan. 10, 1894. 



How to manage Bees is the name of 

 a book of 200 pages which we will 

 send postpaid for ouly 25 cents. 





CARE OF BEES IN SPRING. 

 Mr. Editor: — With your consent I 

 will make a few timely remarks on the 

 above to the readers of The Ameri- 

 can Bee -Keeper. These remarks 

 are intended for the beginner, those 

 that need more instruction through 

 the Bee-Journals, and who are usu- 

 ally overlooked. I don't expect the 

 more advanced bee keepers to gain 

 anything by this, but the beginner 

 should be allowed a portion of a bee- 

 journal. Many beginners have read 

 about being ready for the honey har- 

 vest when it comes, they will fold 

 their sections, fasten in their starters, 

 have hives all ready etc., which is all 

 very good, and should be done, but 

 the principal thing "the bees" get 

 no attention. In preparing bees for 

 winter they should be supplied with 

 plenty of honey, and be well packed 

 for the cold winter, when if kept per- 

 factly dry they will usually come out 

 all right. Yet there are exceptions 

 to this. We all know that two colo- 

 nies placed side by side, as rear alike 

 in the fall of the year as they could be 

 made, yet in the early spring will 

 show a marked difference, one being 

 as strong as ever, with plenty of honey, 

 the other being weak and out of honey. 

 This shows that if we do not want to 

 lose any of our bees they will need 

 looking after before spring and honey 

 has really come. We usually have a 

 fnw nice warm days in February and 

 March when bees on their summer 



