May 9, 1907 



American l^ee Journal 



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i^cellanepu 



Workiug Under Dilliculties— that's 



what we have been doing in order to get this 

 number of the Ameriein Bee Journal out on 

 tinae. It is a rather serious matter to move a 

 printing oflice, and be able to find everything 

 again very soon. But in a week or two more 

 we will have everything in " apple-pie order," 

 and running as smoothly as ever. Please re- 

 member we are never so much interrupted 

 that we can't take care of all renewals and 

 new subscriptions for the old American Bee 

 Journal that may be sent to us. 



Honey Conditions in Southern Cali- 

 fornia.— We have received the following 

 from Mr. John Stewart, of Southern Califor- 

 nia, dated April 28, 190? : 



American Bee Journal — 



The enclosed from the Los Angeles Times 

 for April 26, is true of the conditions of the 

 honey-production in the fog-belt near the 

 coast in Southern California; but more in- 

 land, in the orange-producing districts, the 

 conditions have been better for a fair honey 

 crop this year. The swarming season is on. 

 John Stewart. 



From the clipping sent we condense the 

 following: 



Bees are dying every day this spring, while 

 there are flowers in abundance. In some 

 places the beemen have to feed their bees 

 daily on sugar to keep them alive, while in 

 the hills and orange groves there are millions 

 of blossoms. 



This strange condition is laid to the cool, 

 cloudy weather which is a great hardship on 

 the busy bee, and which has prevented the 

 development of the honey-producing element 

 in the Bowers. A continuation of such 

 weather as has prevailed the past week will 

 cut down the honey-supply materially. A 

 week of sunshine will be the means of saving 

 many valuable colonies of bees throughout 

 Southern California. 



Such is the summary of conditions as in- 

 dicated by reports received by H. J. .Mercer, 

 Secretary of the California National Honey- 

 Producers' Association. Mr. Mercer believes 

 that unless there is a decided change in 

 weather conditions within a few days, the 

 crop will fall far behind that of last year, and 

 that also was a great disappointment to bee- 

 kccpcrs- 



Reports come from various sections that 

 the bees start out to gather honey, load them- 

 selves down, and then are overcome by the 

 cool and damp weather, and fall along the 

 way to die of exhaustion. This is a condition 

 reported from various bee-ranches in widely 

 scattered localities. 



Then the bees will not go out on the cold 

 and foggy mornings, and, as a result, there is 

 a consumption of the honey already stored in 

 the hives. In some cases colonies have eaten 

 themselves out of honey-supply, and actually 

 have starved before their condition was dis- 

 covered, and all this has occurred within a 

 very few days. 



Yesterday a shipment of 1000 pounds of 

 white granulated sugar was sent up to Charles 

 Ebert, in the canyon above Azusa, to feed his 

 bees that are on the point of starving. Other 

 bee-keepers have been feeding for the past ^ 



weeks— the very period when the bees ought 

 to be laying in large amounts of honey. 



Such reports come from La Canada, Provi- 

 dencia and Chatsworth. Emerson brothers, 

 near Fullerton, who have 1200 colonies of 

 bees, report that the bees are dying of ex- 

 haustion these cool days, and that they have 

 consumed their supplies in many cases. 



Similar reports come from T. O. Andrews, 

 at Corona, who has 400 colonies, and from J. 

 W. George, at Ferris, Riverside county, who 

 has gone into bee-keeping on an extensive 

 scale. A like discouraging report comes from 

 M. H. Mendleson, of Piru, who has begun to 

 feed his bees to keep them from starving on a 

 ranch which has been famous for its fruit- 

 trees, and which have been simply aglow with 

 blossoms. 



The beeranch of L. E. Mercer, in the Cas- 

 talc Canyon, is said to be the largest in the 

 United States. He has close to '2000 colonies 

 in this canyon, and has them scattered about 

 in 6 locations. The season started in with 

 brightest prospects for a record-breaking year 

 for honey-producers, says this veteran bee- 

 man. There was a wealth of blossoms, 

 brought about by the extensive wet season, 

 but this has not availed. A few weeks ago 

 Mr. Mercer estimated that he would have 

 fully 100 tons of honey from this season's 

 work. Now he has scaled this down to a 

 crop of 50 tons, and unless there is a change 

 very soon in weather conditions, he thinks 

 this will still be reduced. 



The bee and honey business has reached an 

 extent in Southern California that is little 

 realized. The report of last year made by the 

 Los Angeles County Statistician, gives the 

 number of colonies of bees as 40,000, and their 

 value as |i200,000; and the amount of bees- 

 wax marketed as 9000 pounds, with a value of 

 820)50. 



E. A. Fischer, Inspector of Apiaries for Los 

 Angeles county, said yesterday that he is con- 

 vinced there has been an increase of fully 10,- 

 000 colonies of bees in this county since the 

 report was made. He has been waging a con- 

 stant war against the spread of " foul brood," 

 and believes that with the co-operation of the 

 honey-producers the pest will be kept down to 

 the minimum. 



The first honey to come into the Los Ange- 

 les markets is from the orange-growing sec- 

 tions, stretching from Pasadena to San Ber- 

 nardino and Redlands. This orange-blossom 

 honey is generally of fine quality, but it has 

 the objection of granulating quickly. The 

 first arrivals of this honey are now due; but 

 honey merchants in Los Angeles said yester- 

 day that there is no prospect of shipments 

 here for at least 3 weeks. 



A factor showing the extent of the honey 

 industry is the record of sales by one firm in 

 this city which makes a business of supply- 

 ing bee-keepers. This shows that there were 

 sent out from the place last year more than 

 50,000 o-gallon cans for the storage of honey. 

 Anticipating a shortage of crop, H. J. 

 Mercer has been storing honey for the past 

 2 years, and since last July he has sold to Los 

 Angeles merchants alone honey amounting to 

 $35,000. This surplus honey is now well 

 cleaned out, and with the partial failure of 

 the present season's crop, there is certain to 

 be a soaring of honey-prices that will make 

 the sweet substance taste like money. 



The National pure-food law, which has 

 affected the marketing of so many products, 

 has also had its effect on the honey-market, 

 and has put the producers of pure ex 



traded honey in their proper position, where 

 they do not have to compete with adulterated 

 honeys. 



The merchants now require wholesalers of 

 extracted honey to give them a written guar- 

 antee of its purity, as a matter of protection 

 to the merchants, and this is gladly done by 

 the concerns which have heretofore had to 

 compete with the " dope." 



Surely, the foregoing is not a very encour- 

 aging report for the bee-keepers of Southern 

 California. It is hoped, hov^ever, that for 

 their sakes, if not for the sakes of the bee- 

 keepers of the rest of the country, honey con- 

 ditions may yet take a turn for the better, so 

 that there may be at least a fair crop of honey 

 harvested by the bee keepers in the region 

 mentioned by the clipping from the Los An- 

 geles Times. 



But evidently honey is to be honey this 

 year, as a good share of the North has had a 

 cold, bacKward spring, which, in all prob- 

 ability, will prevent the bees from being 

 ready for the honey crop even if it is in the 

 flowers later on. 



Ode (Owed) to the Weather Man 



Weather is cold. Bees don't get out more 

 than 2 days in the week, Vesterday it 

 snowed. 



I don't know how the others feel 



About this horrid weather; 

 I wonder if 'twould help to squeal 



If we all squealed together. 



The pussy willows blossomed fine. 



The clover started growing; 

 But soon the sun forgot to shine — 



'Most all the time it's snowing. 



The weather man who did these things — 



Who brought this useless freeze — 

 Just ought to i)ef-fllled up with stings — 

 I'd like to furnish bees. 



Bellevue, Mich., May 1. C. H. Benson. 



Rev. Robt. B. McCain, of Oswego, HI., 

 called on us in our new quarters at 118 W. 

 Jackson Blvd. last Friday. He reports cold 

 weather in his locality, but expects a good 

 honey season just the same. We had quite a 

 snow-storm in Chicago the day he was here — 

 May 3. 



Getting New Subscribers for the 



Bee Journal is something that almost any 

 reader can do if he makes a sincere attempt. 

 No one knows better than does he its value 

 to every would-be successful bee-keeper. And 

 we offer valuable premiums, to those of our 

 present readers whose subscriptions are paid 

 in advance, for the work of going out and 

 getting new subscriptions. Your neighbor 

 bee-keepers perhaps have never heard of the 

 American Bee Journal, although it is now in 

 its 47th year. Why not try to get them to 

 subscribe? You may be surprised how readily 

 they will do so upon your invitation. 



The San Antonio Convention Pic- 

 ture is a good one. It shows over 100 of 

 those in attendance. We are mailing them, 

 unmounted, for only 60 cents. They can be 

 mounted by a local photographer for only 10 

 or 15 cents more. We will mail one of these 

 pictures with the American Bee Journal one 

 year— both for only ?1.40. Send all orders to 

 the Bee Journal oflice. 



