506 



(:;leaniis;gs in bee culture. 



June 15. 



one engages in apiculture. Persons of Sjjanish 

 descent seem to find it more congenial to mount 

 a horse, and, with a pair of big spnrs, prod him, 

 than it is to go into an apiary and have the bees 

 prod them. 



I do not know what the honey resources of 

 the Central and South American States are; 

 but be they ever so great, unless Americans or 

 Europeans go there to develop them, we are not 

 liable to be drowned in honey from that source. 

 But should those countries produce a large sur- 

 plus of honey, London, not New York, would be 

 its destination; for when any of the countries of 

 the world have a surplus of any thing for sale, 

 England takes the bulk of it, whether it be or- 

 anges or wheat, cattle or cotton, sealskins or 

 jewels, gasoline or canned kangaroos. It is ei- 

 ther " mighty are Englishmen," or " great is free 

 trade," for the whole world seems to be delving 

 and sweating to supply free-trade Englishmen 

 with the necessaries and luxuries of life. 



If the Vermont State Bee-keepers' Association 

 know what is good for them, instead of sending 

 in protests to Congress about the duty on honey 

 being reduced for fear that Canada may send 

 into their markets a pound or so now and then, 

 they will petition that honorable body to place 

 tinplate and lumber on the free list, as the ex- 

 cessive duties on those articles under the Mc- 

 Kinley bill make our honey-cases cost altogether 

 too much; and if, to avoid that tax, we engage 

 largely in the production of comb honey in those 

 years when we have bountiful crops here, Ver- 

 monters may find their markets flooded with as 

 fine honey as they can produce, and at only 8 or 

 10 cents a section. 



Rambler informs us (page 372) that one bee- 

 keeper inVentura Co., Cal.. produced more honey 

 last season than the whole State of Vermont. 

 It may be some consolation to the Vermonters 

 to know that Mr. W. T. Ricbardson (the person 

 spoken of) is himself a Vermonter; at any rate, 

 if I am mistaken in this I am sure his better 

 half is. They are both from New England. By 

 the way, Mr. Richardson has, I think, during 

 the past ten years, produced more honey than 

 any other bee-keeper in the world, during that 

 space of time. 



This talk of mine, of California engaging very 

 largely in the production of comb honey, is not 

 altogether idle chatter; for selling extracted 

 honey at 4}4 cents per lb., and giving away with 

 each 117 lbs., not a cheap chromo, but a box and 

 two tins which together cost us, the past sea- 

 son, 90 cents, has created such dissatisfaction 

 among bee-keepers that their growls can be 

 heard rumbling through the hills from San Die- 

 go to Tehachipi. For my part, the thought 

 that I am being taxed for the benefit of persons, 

 some of whom may already have a thousand 

 dollars where I have ten cents, is more annoy- 

 ing than the bites of fleas, and it has already 

 started my buzz-saw to humming as it cuts out 

 the supers necessary for the production of comb 



honey. These " protected " lumbermen, tinplate 

 manufacturers, and others of their ilk, are the 

 modern representatives of the knights of old. 

 The knights, for assistance in war, were privi- 

 leged by the king to roam the country, stealing 

 oxen and maidens, and, incidentally, killing 

 people. The knights of to-day, in payment for 

 supplying the funds by which the politicians- 

 hope to keep themselves in office, are privileged 

 by them to fatten off the people by taxing them. 



LITTLE RAIN, AND CALIFOKNIA PROSPECTS 

 POOR. 



Not since 1877 have we had a winter with so 

 little rain as the one just past. In consequence, 

 the hay and rain crops are complete failures, 

 while on a square mile there is not grass enough 

 to maintain one animal throughout the season. 

 Horses, cattle, and sheep are being driven from 

 the country by the thousand to the counties 

 north of us, where a eood svstem of irrieation 

 permits of large fields of alfalfa being grown. 



It is reported that, out of one band of horses 

 turned into one alfalfa-field one evening, 80 died 

 the first night. To reach the alfalfa-fields they 

 had traveled for several davs with but little to 

 fill the aching void in their bellies but pure air 

 and mountain scenerv. The alfalfa tasted so 

 good after this diet, that the 80 aforesaid ate too 

 much. Animals passing through these parts 

 now, and depending for their sustenance upon 

 the roadside grasses, will have a harder time 

 than the "Industrial Army" in its late passage 

 through Iowa. 



Bees, of course, are not booming. My honey- 

 tanks are used now as receptacles for water, and 

 my extractor rides around on a sled, supplying 

 liquids to the roots of my fruit-trees. In truth, 

 our honey prospects are now resolved into the 

 following mathematical problem : If in 1893, 

 with 9 inches of rain, we got no honey and lost 

 more than half of our bees, what proportion of 

 our bees shall we lose in 1894, when we have had 

 but .5 inches of rain? The loss will certainly be 

 very great where feeding is not resorted to, and 

 many bee-keepers assert positively that they 

 will not feed — the bees may all die first. As a 

 neighbor puts it, " I have waited three years for 

 a CI op of honey, and now I'll be blowed if I feed 

 it back." 



Newhall, Cal. 



BEES REMOVING EGGS. 



LAYING WOJiKERS. AND HOW THEY ACCOUNT 

 FOR TIIK PRE.SKNCE OF EGGS IN THE AB- 

 SENCE OF A liEGULAR QUEEN IN 

 QUK EN-CELLS. 



By WiUieAtchh'ij. 



I see Rambler asks where the egg came from 

 that he found in a super. This question I saw 

 on page 415, May 15. Well. Mr. Rambler, I am 

 prepared to tell you that, in my opinion, the 

 bees never carried that egg there. A few sum- 

 mers ago this same question was up; and aa 



