1898 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



49 



been very liglit. My wife and daughter have 

 also been very much benefited, and, save the 

 setting of a broken arm for my little boy 

 Stephen, which cost me 820, my doctors' bills 

 have not exceeded $5.00. There are a great 

 many invalids here in this country, mostly 

 from the Eastern States, who have come for 

 the regaining of their health, and in many in- 

 stances they make a rich harvest for the doc- 

 tors. A few come too late, and are soon laid 

 to rest beneath the soil upon the sunin? slope 

 of the great Pacific, while many, like myself, 

 recuperate their wasted energies under the be- 

 nign influence of the salt-water breeze. A 

 large majority of our citizens have come from 

 east of the Rocky Mountains. In this locali- 

 ty, Illinois and Nebraska seem to be the best 

 represented. We not only have a delightful 

 climate, biit we have a country with a brilliant 

 future, and it only needs development to make 

 it cope with our more pretentious sister comi- 

 ties. Our natural resources of soil and water 

 are here, and, with capital judiciously utilized, 

 would make a veritable paradise. Fruits, both 

 citrus and deciduous, grow to great perfection, 

 and in quantities, in many instances, beyond 

 belief. This is also a great grain-growing 

 country, chief among which are wheat, barley, 

 and oats, as the capacious storage warehouses 

 of San Diego and Escondido at present bear 

 testimony. There are also many localities 

 that grow corn, though corn is not king, as in 

 Iowa and Illinois. 



Last, but by no means the least, are the 

 wonderful resources of San Diego Co. as a 

 honey-producing country. When 1 first came 

 to California, in January, 18U5, I had the plea- 

 sure of attending the '25th aniver.sary of the 

 organization of the Chamber of Commerce of 

 San Diego Co., and one of its organizers 

 (name forgotten ), in his speech, pictured very 

 glowingly its birth and growth, and in a sta- 

 tistical review of the county's products that 

 had been put upon the markets I remember 

 that of honey was so fabulous that it was be- 

 wildering and be}ond our comprehension ; 

 and the financial returns were more to the 

 county than any other one product at that 

 time. 



Well, since my debut as a citizen I now be- 

 gin to feel endowed with authority to speak, 

 and will give you my first year's experience as 

 a bee-keeper in the Golden State. 



I bought 20 colonies of bees in February, 

 1897, and moved thein a distance of nine miles. 

 I had on hand ten colonies I bought the year 

 before. I transferred them all out of their orig- 

 inal hives into ten-frame Simplicity, and had 

 most of the combs to cut out of the frames, 

 and transfer into the regular standard Langs- 

 troth frames. This put them back fully two 

 weeks, and nu' neighbor bee-keepers were hav- 

 ing swarms and extracting quite a while before 

 my bees were showing any signs of increase ; 

 but I never experienced such rapid growth in 

 colonies ; and with what rapidity they drew 

 their full sheets of foundation, with which 

 they were furnished, into comb ! and then the 

 fun commenced. One colony was robbed 

 when first transferred, and I had to requeen 

 three others, making 29 colonies in working 



trim the conmiencement of the season. I was 

 not prepared with sufficient surplus arrange- 

 ments to keep down swarming b}^ increase of 

 storage capacity, and I had to let them increase 

 largely by natural swarming. For three weeks 

 I was so busy I hardly found time to eat. I 

 increased my stocks to 52 colonies, and many 

 of the hives had two and three swarms. I 

 just put on surplus arrangements to suit, and 

 returned a great many second swarms to the 

 parent colony. As to honey, I secured 46 

 cases of 120 lbs. each, making 5520 lbs., being 

 nearly 190 lbs. per colony, spring count, and 

 100 lbs. of beeswax. This is official, and is 

 not bad for a tenderfoot novice. This is by 

 no means startling to the resident Californian; 

 and were I to tell you of the wonderful yields 

 of honey as told to me by reputable citizens 

 you would class me among the chronic Califor- 

 nia prevaricators. 



Escondido, Cal., Oct. 16. 



THE WASP'S XEST IN THE HIVE. 



BY B. F. BARR. 



I send you a picture of a wasp's nest that 

 was built in a vSimplicit}' hive on the first 

 sections above the brood-nest, last June. I 

 was very much surprised when I saw it. The 

 corners of my hives all have a piece of tin 

 nailed around them to keep them from spring- 

 ing open, and the covers also; and I make all 



w^mmmiA^imm^ 



the brood-frames fit tight. There was no place 

 that I could see where the wasp got in, except 

 at the entrance. I don't like top ventilation. 

 I never saw a wasp around my hives when I 

 had bees in them. The bees daubed it all 

 over with propolis. You can see where the 

 propolis is dropping out of the end of it. It 

 was filled full. 



Flagler, la., Dec. 20. 



[This is indeed quite a curiosity. I have 

 seen wasps flying around the entrances of 

 hives, but I have rever seen one that was slick 

 enough to glide in without getting caught. I 



