MARCH 15, 1914 



Beekeeping in California 



p. C. Chadwiok, Redlaiids, Cal. 



Mr. Crane, p. 794, Nov. 15, following' 

 vonr reasoning', bees in a twelve-frame colo- 

 ny might build up faster than those in a ten 

 by having a greater amount of stores than 

 those in the ten-frame hive. There is no 

 question that ample stores have much to do 

 with rapid increase in the spring, far more 

 than is generally supposed; but I had in 

 mind equal conditions in this line when I 

 made my original comment in the July 1st 

 issue. 



Some of our California beekeepers seem 

 to think it is a waste of time for them to 

 read of wintering bees. In reality it is one 

 of the problems we have much to learn of — 

 not of the extreme cold, but to know really 

 how to handle the problems that arise from 

 season to season that we should be able to 

 meet intelligently and promptly. Tn the 

 East I was able to tell very closely when the 

 winter was over ; but here the bees may be 

 ahead of the season, or the season ahead of 

 the bees. The latter is the most important 

 we have to watch; for if the season is much 

 in advance of the bees it means a loss of 

 valuable time. 



* * » 



It began to rain Feb. 17, after three 

 weeks of practically cloudless skies. More 

 fell on the 18th ; still more on the 19th, 20th, 

 and 21st, by which time California began 

 to resemble a " drowned rat," and flood 

 conditions became grave indeed. Redlands 

 received no mail from Los Angeles for three 

 days; but the Los Angeles daily papers were 

 able to reach us by auto truck. Such a 

 storm is rarely experienced in this section, 

 as the rainfall was little less than phenom- 

 enal, ranging from four to as high as 15 

 inches in various localites. The gi'ound is 

 soaked to a great depth, vegetation is at 

 its best, and anybody coming in on our 

 overland trains would be very likely to form 

 a false conception of the beauty of our 

 foothills by the way they look now. I have 

 never seen a finer growth on the button sage 

 at this time of the year than at present; 

 but for all of our good prospects we may 

 not be able to harvest the crop that many 

 anticipate. The spring is unusually early, 

 but may be late yet if the winter should 

 be like "that of 1905. Both March and April 

 may yet be cold and backward, as was the 

 case that year after a warm January and 

 February. In case warm and open weath- 

 er should continue, the season will arrive 

 before the bees are ready for the harvest. 



However, the condition of the soil and the 

 great amount of water stored therein will 

 doubtless prolong the blooming season of 

 oui' honey-plants to sucii an extent that 

 there is almost sui-e to be a good harvest. 



AN OPPORTUNITY AND A PREDICAMENT. 



There are some opportunities ahead of 

 us that I wish to point out at tliis time, even 

 thougli we are likely to pass them in our 

 eagerness to take toll as heavy as possible 

 from a good season. There is an oppor- 

 tunity ahead to eradicate almost entirely 

 black brood (European foul brood) by tak- 

 ing advantage of a heavy honey-flow to 

 retard the progress of the disease while 

 we are getting our colonies requeened witii 

 good vigorous Italian stock. If every bee- 

 keeper in the southern part of the State 

 would make it a point to Italianize, our 

 trouble by another season would be so lim- 

 ited that there would be no grave fears in 

 any quarter. The chances are, however, 

 that many will not do so, and the disease 

 will linger among the careless for years to 

 come. Those who do requeen with good 

 resistant stock will be paid for their trouble, 

 and at the same time will lessen the chances 

 of the disease becoming malignant. 



A predicament that we shall see to our 

 sorrow, if the prospective good season does 

 arrive, is that of a big supply of honey on 

 hand among a disorganized force of bee- 

 keepers while the buyers are organized to 

 make the best of the disorganization. That 

 is business on their part, for they can see 

 ahead. It is foolishness on our part, and 

 we shall realize it when our fine sage honey 

 drops to a figure much below what we even 

 let ourselves dream of now. We can not 

 blame the buyer. He is " on to his job." 

 The entire trouble is that we have failed to 

 form a mutual agreement by which we may 

 hold the market of sage honey in our hands. 

 The buyers could then go to our represen- 

 tative for his honey at a figure fair to both 

 the buyer and the producer. But we are 

 willing to let the other fellow make the 

 market, and buy at a price fixed by himself; 

 so if we get " stung " we shall know who is 

 to blame for the pain. We meet together 

 once a year, and resolve to resolve to re- 

 solve. We appoint committees to resolve 

 further, and at the end of another year we 

 are ready to begin anew the same old proc- 

 ess. I wonder if we shall ever wake up. 

 Perhaps about half of us will at a time, 

 while the other half is sleeping. 



