24 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Jan. 1 



tence is the most unfair; for most of us 

 know that, regardless of the good condition 

 of many well-kept apiaries during the en- 

 tire season, no surplus was secured. I will 

 admit that, if every one knew the true con- 

 dition in our sage ranges, and the over- 

 stocked condition of the foot-hills on the 

 outskirts of our orange-groves, we would 

 be in no danger of overstocking. 



The misapprehension of many people 

 owning bees (not bee-keepers) as to the dis- 

 tance locations should be apart, has much 

 to do with overstocking. My apiary was 

 at one time in as fine a location as could be 

 found; but now, however, I am surrounded 

 by an aggregate of 1200 colonies, any of 

 which can overlap my range on one side or 

 the other, and nearly half on both sides to 

 a certain extent. 



Here let me give you the report of our lo- 

 cal weather observer on the annual amount 

 of rainfall for 15 years beginning with 1895. 

 Ten inches of rain is about as small an 

 amount as can be figured on to produce a 

 yield from the sage; and that must fall late 

 in the season. For example, we had 10.22 

 inches this season — only about two inches 

 of which fell after .Tan. 1, the result being 

 that, while the sage bloomed more or less 

 profusely, there was not sufficient moisture 

 to produce nectar. In 1895 there was a fall 

 of 7.51 inches; 1896, 12.85; 1897, 5.50; 1898, 

 4.82; 1899, 6.89; 1900, 12.21; 1901, 7.00; 1902, 

 12.75; 1903, 15.81; 1904, 8.59; 1905, 22.12; 

 1906, 16.22; 1907, 20.76; 1908, 14.56; 1909, 

 14.47; 1910, 10.22. 



I have the records before me back to 

 1880— those from 1880 to 1895 being 4 inches 

 less per annum than the average from 1895 

 to 1910. In 1882 the fall was only 2.94 inch- 

 es. Think of going twelve months with 

 less than three inches of rainfall, and three 

 years with less than 15 inches, as was the 

 case from 1880 to 1888. 



Bee-keeping here is conducted, to a great 

 extent, in as haphazard a style as farming 

 was in the middle West 80 years ago, when, 

 we are told, the farmer moved the barn in- 

 stead of the manure. We have bee-keepers 

 who know their business' and know it well; 

 then we have a class who give their bees lit- 

 tle personal attention, know little of the 

 business, and seem to care less, for they 

 rent their holdings for a share, during the 

 honey season, many renters simply know- 

 ing how to extract, and they usually do 

 close work on that, after which the bees are 

 left to shift until another season. Imagine 

 the condition of some such apiaries, the 

 danger of foul brood, and the general run- 

 down and unkept condition. 



I could not point you to a single bee-keep- 

 er who depends on his bees entirely for his 

 support, though some have been in the bus- 

 iness for twenty years. 



If the East can send us up-to-date bee- 

 keepers with capital to buy out these half- 

 kept apiaries, and help improve conditions, 

 we will give them the glad hand; but as for 

 new locations, they are few and far between 

 — at least, desirable ones; and what we have 



are being encroached upon each year by the 

 barley-fields. More than one who thought 

 himself secure a few years ago now finds he 

 is surrounded by great grain-fields, and will 

 soon have to pull up stakes for new pasture, 

 and eventually only the most rugged of the 

 foot-hills will be left for the support of our 

 industry. 

 Redlands, Cal. 



A HISTORY OF A CASE OF PROPOLIS POI- 

 SONING. 



BY C. H. HOWARD. 



This summer I worked among my bees 

 without a veil, and with my shirt-sleeves 

 rolled above my elbows. The beginning of 

 October the inside part of my arms between 

 the elbow and wrist became very much in- 

 flamed, and itched, smarted, and burned 

 all at the same time. Oct. 11 I tried a bis- 

 muth formic-iodide preparation, supposing 

 the trouble came from some poisonous 

 plant. I was surprised, as I can handle poi- 

 ton ivy without any ill effect. My arms 

 kept about the same, sometimes a little bet- 

 ter, and then not so well, till Oct. 31, on 

 which day I scraped the burr-comb and pro- 

 polis from some sixty frames. That night 

 my arms got very much worse, and for six- 

 ty hours they were yery bad. I slept very 

 little for two nights. I showed my arms to 

 a doctor, and he said I had got them poi- 

 soned, and gave me stuff to put on. 



Oct. 10 I wrote to Washington, D. C, for 

 Farmers' Bulletin No. 86, "Thirty Poison- 

 ous Plants of the United States." None 

 describe my case, but ivy is the nearest. 



Mr. C. P. Waldron, of Boulder, told me, 

 some time ago, that he had to give up his 

 apiary of over 100 colonies, as working over 

 them brought on vomiting. Mr. J. E. 

 AValcher says he has been poisoned, and he 

 supposes it is from the propolis; and Mr. 

 Eggleston, who helps Mr. Collins with his 

 900 colonies, says his hands become poison- 

 ed soon after he begins work with the bees 

 in the spring, and it continues till some 

 time after he gets through with the work in 

 the fall. Many people have told me of get- 

 ting poisoned from propolis; but I never 

 believed it until I myself had trouble. 



I have kept bees on and off more than fif- 

 ty years, and I never had such an experi- 

 ence as this year. I had several cases of 

 poisoning after cleaning off the propolis 

 from a few hives. Then on Nov. 29 I did 

 considerable scraping, and my arms were 

 very bad for two days, and did not get well 

 till the 6th or 7th of December. Yesterday, 

 Dec. 9, I thought they were right for an ex- 

 periment, so I put a little propolis on my 

 left arm, about three inches above the 

 wrist. This was at 12:50 p. M., and I felt 

 nothing of it for several hours. At 7 p. m. 

 the spot was much inflamed, and at 11 p. M. 

 it was very bad. This morning my wrist 

 and five to six inches above it was scarlet, 

 and all the symptoms were as I described , 



Boulder, C'o1., Dec. 10. 



