1911 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



275 



cases (720 to 4200 pounds) . What inference 

 could one draw from such replies but that 

 some of their bees were in better condition 

 than others, knowing their ranges were prac- 

 tically the same? Some years a few miles 

 makes a vast difference, but this year con- 

 ditions were very similar throughout the 

 county. 



Mr. Chadwick also says he could not point 

 to a single bee-keeper who depends on his 

 bees entirely for support, and I ojiine he 

 never will until they drop other vocations, 

 stop scattering their forces, and attend 

 strictly to their bees. If work is pressing, 

 and any thing has to be neglected, it's al- 

 ways the bees. I could point to several 

 who depend entirely on their bees for su])- 

 l)ort, among them the writer. I do not 

 even raise the feed for my horses. By work- 

 ing overtime I might get the seed planted, 

 but the harvest would come just at the time 

 my bees need attention the most. Modesty 

 would suggest that I say nothing of my 

 own success, but I know of others who are 

 making a good living, and some of them 

 with whom I have had dealings, I notice, 

 carry a check-book. Those people to whom 

 Mr. ( 'hadwick refers, who keep a few bees, 

 must surely make something or they would 

 not bother with them; and if they can make 

 something from a few without much atten- 

 tion, they would make correspondingly 

 more with a large number and good care. 

 One would not expect a farmer to make a 

 living from ten acres of land; but if he had 

 ten times ten he might do well. Editor 

 Hutchinson sounded the keynote when, in 

 answer to the question, what to keep in 

 connection with bees, answered, "More 

 bees." 



The desire of some to locate too near the 

 coast is a mistake. I know of no one who 

 is not l)ack from the coast more than fifteen 

 miles who is making a success with bees. 

 It is much more pleasant and convenient to 

 live near the coast; but if one is going to 

 succeed in bee-keeping or any other busi- 

 ness he must adjust himself to conditions. 

 "If the mountains will not come to us we 

 must go to the mountains." There is no 

 danger of my being crowded with barley or 

 any other kind of grain-fields, for the coun- 

 try is so rough there is but very little land 

 that could be cultivated. We have no sages 

 in this section but the white. Eriogonum 

 is the sheet anchor of the bee industry here; 

 and, to my liking, there is no better-flavor- 

 ed honey, although it is a decided amber. 

 There is too much difference in the price of 

 light and amber honey. Tar weed honey is 

 quite light, but I would never taste honey 

 if I could get nothing but tarweed. 



By the tone of your comments to my ar- 

 ticle, Mr. Editor, page 71S, Nov. 15, 1910, 

 you, with others from whom I have heard, 

 seem to think I am standing in my own 

 light by encouraging bee-keepers to come 

 here. It is not to get more bee-keepers but 

 to get better ones. However, if it brings 

 more I .shall still feel it my duty to do all I 

 can for them, for I was treated very shabbi- 



ly when I came here, and I have not forgot- 

 ten it. Coming here for the express purpose 

 of keeping bees I naturally called on some 

 of the bee-keepers who were quite friendly 

 until they learned I was looking for a loca- 

 tion, when they shut up like clams. I had 

 bought 40 colonies of bees, and I wanted a 

 place to put them, for they had to be mov- 

 ed. I tried three different men who owned 

 a lot of rocks and brush which they called 

 ranches, but there was "nothing doing." 

 There were no bees within nine or ten miles, 

 and not three acres on the three quarter-sec- 

 tions that could be cultivated — not a thing 

 the bees could injure, and absolutely worth- 

 less except /o?' bees. I am not quite fatalist 

 enough to believe that alt things are for the 

 best; but in this instance it proved to be; 

 for after I got my bearings so that I knew 

 east from west, and learned what plants 

 produce nectar, I went to the county records 

 and found three much better and more ac- 

 cessible locations than I tried to get at first. 

 After reading the foregoing, if there were 

 any who considered me a fit subject for the 

 insane-asylum, I think they will change 

 their verdict. 



HIVES ON BENCHES MUCH EASIER TO MA- 

 NIPULATE. 



In looking at photographs of apiaries in 

 which the hives stand on the ground I often 

 wonder why those who are old enough to 

 begin to realize that they have backs do not 

 have their hives on benches. There is no 

 harder position for me than to work half 

 bent over for a long time. Benches that 

 are 14 or 15 inches high bring the super at 

 just the right height so one can work stand- 

 ing straight. The only reason that I can 

 see for having them on the ground is that 

 they think it saves bees that miss the alight- 

 ing-board; but does it? Are there not many 

 more bees caught by toads, lizards, skunks, 

 etc., than would get lost by missing the 

 alighting-board? If not too busy I always 

 watch a bee if I see one miss; but I can not 

 call to mind an instance when she did not 

 take wing and enter the hive after resting a 

 short time; and if the alighting-board ex- 

 tends four or five inches beyond the hive, 

 but very few will miss it. Then, too, when 

 the grass gets four or five inches high it's a 

 nuisance, and much time is required to 

 mow and pull grass and weeds, which is 

 quite an item when one has many bees; but 

 when they are on benches the grass does 

 not bother until it is 17 inches high, and 

 one mowing will usually be sufficient, espe- 

 cially in this country, where the dry season 

 commences in May. The bottom-boards 

 will last as long as the rest of the hive when 

 on benches. Ants can be kept from hives 

 in countries, where they are troublesome, 

 by daubing the bench legs with axle-grease 

 occasionally. I have seen alighting-boards 

 ruined by skunks scratching on them to 

 get the bees out so they could catch them. 

 Benches, as I make them, are cheap, strong, 

 and easily put up, 



Jamul, Cak 



