1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



89 



strength to shake, making and re- 

 pairing cages, making candy for long 

 distance shipments, repairing the tin 

 cans used for liquid feed, making the 

 liquid feed and a great deal more as 

 well. A large number of nuclei and 

 colonies are also shipped. This is a 

 part of the work of the package men, 

 not the queen men. 



Many packages have gone as far as 

 the upper country in British Colum 

 bia and have arrived in good condi- 

 tion. Orders for packages are mostly 

 for the two-pound size, as the one- 

 pound package is found to be insuf- 

 ficient in bees. Tons of bees are ex- 

 pressed every year, and many thou- 

 sand queens sold. 



In San Jose during the latter part 

 of June the flow practically ceases 

 and the queen-rearing outfit is moved 

 to the San Joaquin Valley, where 

 there is an abundance of honeydew. 

 This is very valuable for makmg m- 

 crease, as the bees gather consider- 

 able honeydew. The drawing of 

 comb progresses rapidly and the bees 

 in the baby nuclei require little help 

 from the stock hives. During this 

 flow (which lasts from July until 

 winter rains wash the sweet secre- 

 tion from the willows) a great num- 

 ber of queens are reared. Queens 

 reared during this flow are much 

 larger and finer than those reared at 

 any other time of the year. Thou- 

 sands of queens are sent to honey 

 producers at this time of the year, 

 since they find fall the best time to 

 requeen, as the queens will be young 

 and energetic in the spring. 



The moving of the queen-rearmg 

 yard to the San Joaquin Valley makes 

 it possible to continue rearing queens, 

 as heretofore it has been necessary 

 to discontinue operations when the 

 flow ceased at home. The remark- 

 able feature about the moving of the 

 yard was that everything was in full 

 operation, grafting having been done 

 the day the bees were loaded and 

 layers caged the day they were un- 

 loaded. The bees were loaded after 

 sundown and unloaded before day- 

 light at their destination, 80 miles 

 distant, and operations were re- 

 sumed as soon as the bees had set- 

 tled down. Queens were in all stages 

 of development, and no time was lost 

 by moving. 



A METEOR IN BEEKEEPING 



(Adapted from the Swiss Bulletin 

 D'Apiculture.) 



June 15, 1918. 



My Dear Friend : I have become a 

 beekeeper, like yourself. That will 

 interest you, because it was after my 

 visit at your apiary that I took up 

 the idea to have bees also. I am an 

 enthusiast, although my apiary is 

 just a beginning (4 hives), but in 

 such fine condition that all I had to 

 do after buying them was to put on 

 supers. I spend all my spare time 

 there. It is just fun to smoke them, 

 take up the supers and examine them. 

 Every week there is some gain. I am 



going to have a big crop of honey. It 

 is delightful. 



July 2o — 1 believe I am getting the 

 bee lever. My bees have all tilled 

 their supers and 1 put on several 

 more, i am sorry 1 bought only 4 

 colonies, according to your advice, li 

 I had had a little more backbone, i 

 should have bought 4U instead ot 4. 

 and I'd be in clover, literally. Lots 

 ot clover honey, as it is. 



August 20. My Dear Friend: Bee- 

 keeping IS a gold mine, i leel as it 1 

 were a Dee niysell and had wiags. l 

 could Hy. Just think, 1 have har- 

 vested qUU pounds ot honey and had 

 3 swarms besides. It 1 had only 

 bougnt 4tJ colonies, it would make a 

 small lortune. 1 am going to make a 

 big success of beekeeping. its a 

 regular gold mine, especially ii a man 

 understands it as i do. they talk ot 

 bad seasons, but there are tlowers 

 every year, aren't there.' Ihe only 

 thing to do IS to learn how to man- 

 age tliem. I'm making lots ot plans. 

 iou read about that man who had 

 IZ queens laying, all at one time, in a 

 hive. 1 believe i can beat that and 

 have hives as large as a small house. 

 Ihen well get the honey I Just let 

 me show you, if you're from Mis- 

 souri 1 It's getting late in the season, 

 but next year, well be in the wind. 

 Just wait a bit. 



May, 1919^Here we are again. I 

 have 25 colonies. I bought 18 and 

 they cost me a heap of money, but 

 it pays. I'll have 50 by fall and some 

 3,000 pounds of honey. I believe I 

 ought to more than double them, if I 

 manage it right, and I am sure I 

 know how. 



July, 1919 — Can you tell me why it 

 is that some colonies don't prosper, 

 while others are doing well? I tried 

 to put several queens in 3 hives, and 

 now instead of having more bees, 

 they are queenless. It's befuddling. 

 It's raining too hard when they 



ought to be piling in the sweets. 

 There is a little honey, but not much. 

 The bigger the hives, the less bees. 

 These Dadant hives ain't got any bees 

 in them — just a handful! They're a 

 humbug. And the bees are cross I 

 Never knew them to be so mean. 



November 15 — My bees don't have 

 honey enough to winter. 'What shall 

 I do? Sugar is too high to feed. 

 Could I winter them on corn syrup? 

 I'm going to try it. Those fellows 

 who say that corn syrup isn't good 

 for bees, likely never tried it. 



March, 1920— Have lost half my 

 bees in winter. I am getting dis- 

 gusted. The bee business ain't what 

 it's cracked up to be. 



October, 1920 — For sale immedi- 

 ately, 10 colonies, short of stores, 

 and 40 empty hives, with about half 

 the frames full of combs. 



STAR THISTLE 



I wish to call attention to a weed 

 that is even more important as a 

 honey source throughout the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin Valleys than 

 alfalfa. It is called "Star thistle." In 

 its early growth it resembles the dan- 

 delion and has no stickers. Its growth 

 is very slow, and about the middle of 

 May it tops out and has many 

 branches. On every branch form the 

 buds of many flowers. The buds and 

 flowers are the only part of the plant 

 which have the stickers. The buds 

 are entirely covered with long jag- 

 gers, and when they open out the jag- 

 gers turn out in every direction, form- 

 ing a star from which the plant gets 

 its name. The bloom is a deep yellow. 

 It is spoken of as a pest throughout 

 the State, as neither cattle nor sheep 

 will eal it. Every vacant lot, pasture 

 and the river bottoms are- a yellow 

 mat from the 10th of June until the 

 heavy frosts come in the fall. 



G. L. Ensign. 



California. 



Group at the Wing apiary. 



Left to right: W. A. Rafael. Harry R. Warren, J. E. Wing, 

 Alice Salisbury. 



