.Taniarv. 1920 



G I, K A N T X n S T X B K K U I. T U U K 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Southern California.— ;^; '' ^' '''l- 



tiuns liavo beeai very eliangcable here tlie 

 jiast inoiith. We have had several good 

 rains in the valleys with snow in the nionii- 

 tains. The wind blowing across this snow 

 caused quite cool weather for sonic weeks. 

 Frost in some parts damaged the tender 

 vegetables and flowers. It is raining today 

 (Deo. 5), and about one inch of rain has 

 fallen during the past 36 hours. The al- 

 filaria has started to grow in some places. 

 In favorable seasons this plant will furnish 

 considerable nectar for the colonies to build 

 up on. With mild weather the sages should 

 show some new growth by the first of Febru- 

 ary. Some beekeejiers liave comj)lained of 

 the sheep men l)urning large areas, thereby 

 dt>sti'oying good sage ranges but making the 

 grass grow better for sheep pasturage. 



My sister. Elizabeth Andrews, has lately 

 returned from France where she did Red 

 Cross work as a member of the Stanford 

 I'niversity Unit. When she enlisted for 

 work overseas, she expected to do recon- 

 struction work along the lines of architec- 

 ture and beekeeping. The need for Red 

 Cross workers was so urgent that upon the 

 arrival of the unit in Paris, the entire time 

 (over a year) was spent in ''searcher'' and 

 emViarkation work among the soldier boys. 

 After seeing the way they live over there, 

 she thinks that it would be a joke for an 

 American to plan a house for a Frenchman. 

 As for Vieekeeping, she did not see many 

 bees, but tliose she did see were near Nice, 

 in cement hives with tile roofs. She did not 

 see the inside of any of these hives, but 

 thought if any ])eople in this day and age 

 were content with those conditions why dis- 

 turb them in their l)rief hour of hajipiness. 

 Many an American is sadder and wiser after 

 a trip over there and very well satisfied 

 with things at home, thank you. 



Bees are arriving as thick as tourists in 

 southern California. Arrivals are as fol- 

 lows: At Riverside, one carload of bees, 

 containing 805 colonies, from Idaho; one 

 carload of bees, containing 810 colonies, 

 from Utah; one carload of bees, containing 

 450 colonies, from Idaho; at Ontario — one 

 carload of bees from T'tah. This sounds 

 like a market report, doesn't it? And this 

 is only the beginning, as many more car- 

 loa<ls are to follow. These bees are brought 

 here for the winter, in order to get the bene- 

 fit of our orange honey flow and to make 

 what increase they can. Then they are re- 

 turned to the North for the summer flow. 

 The climatic con<litions, combined with the 

 arly flow here ( Ajiril and May ) an<l the 

 later flow in the Northern States (.June, 

 July, and August), make this system pos 

 sible. 



For those beokee]>ers desiring feed, some 

 relief has been found. The lieekeepers of 

 Riverside and San Bernardino Counties 



;iie getting 50 sacks of sugar per week. 

 While this will relieve the situation some- 

 what and will help to save many colonies, 

 there is no doubt that if the beekeepers 

 could have secured the needed sugar during 

 October and November, many more bees 

 would have been saved. 



A little honey is coming in from a few 

 favored localities in southern California, but 

 the effect this will have upon the colonies 

 is yet to be seen. In places some of the 

 orange groves have been short of water 

 duiing the summer. In the fall they were 

 given a good irrigation, followed a week or 

 so later by a good soaking from the heavens. 

 These abnormal conditions seemed to bring 

 on tjuite a quantity of out-of -season bloom, 

 as it is called. One or two varieties of eu- 

 calyptus are also furnishing some bloom and 

 nectar. 



To say that the Short Course, given in 

 Riverside Dec. 1-6, has been a success would 

 be putting it mildly. Much enthusiasm was 

 manifested from the beginning and the at- 

 tendance was good during the whole course. 

 From 100 to 150 was probably an average 

 attendance. To have a week 's course and 

 have the privilege of hearing such men as 

 Dr. Phillips, Demuth, and Sturtevant is 

 certainly an inspiration. And Bixby — why 

 we all like Bixby — and his talks were fine, 

 just good California home-grown stuff. Mrs. 

 Richardson, the woman beekeeper, gave us 

 some good points. But when she speaks of 

 using tobacco cans filled with cement to 

 keep the hive covers from blowing off — well, 

 all I can say is, I'll have to take off my 

 hat to the fellow who uses enough tobacco to 

 furnish cans for one of our 700-colony api- 

 aries out here in California. 



January is a good time to take stock, as 

 it were. With the beekeepers of southern 

 California it has been a very irregular sea- 

 son — ])erhaps unsatisfactory to the great 

 majority and wholly satisfactory to very 

 few. The year started with more new bee- 

 keepers, with more people wanting to invest 

 in bees for the first time or to learn the 

 business than ever before. This w'as due to 

 the high prices received during the year 

 191S, together with the idea still held by so 

 many ])eople that it is easy money, because 

 the bees do all of the work, leaving little for 

 the beekeeper to do but to look in the 

 hives occasionally, sell the crop of honey, 

 and get the uioney. The season started with 

 what the old-timers call a short rainfall. 

 Perhaps normal weather prevailed during 

 the year; at least no unusual climatic con- 

 ditions existed, that I remember. Many api 

 arios were moved to the oranges, which 

 yielde<l a iisual crop and saved the day for 

 many of us. With this one exception, I 

 think the yield from all of our many vari- 

 eties of honey flora was a disap])ointnient 

 and in many cases a failure. Almost all 

 of the sages yielded no surplus. The black 



