284 



U L E A N i N G S IN B IS E C tl L t U R E 



Mav, lO-JO 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Northern California. 



T li <_■ C H 1 i - 

 foniia Hon- 

 ey Producers' Co-operative Exchange held 

 its second annual meeting in Los Angeles 

 on March 29, thus bringing to a close the 

 first year of its existence. There was a full 

 membership present, and much important 

 business was discussed and enacted. The 

 men chosen as directors for the coming year 

 appear to have given general satisfaction 

 thruout the State. Northern California was 

 represented by Willis Lynch of Salida and 

 W. A. Tricky of Bishop. Mr. Lynch was 

 again elected president of the Exchange, 

 and Chas. C. Orr of Ojai is once more our 

 secretary. There is no gainsaying the fact 

 that our Exchange is not only a going in- 

 stitution, but is also a very potent factor in 

 the United States honey market today. The 

 year 1919 has been the only year in the his- 

 tory of our industry in which the beekeepers 

 of the State have got the better of the 

 speculative honey-buyer. The policy of the 

 board of directors for the coming season is 

 to curtail expenses as much as possible and 

 to market as much honey as possible outside 

 of wholesale channels. It might also be 

 mentioned that the Exchange at the present 

 time does not think it advisable to join, a 

 federated organization of honey -producers ' 

 associations for the purpose of marketing 

 honey collectively. 



California beekeepers, please take notice. 

 Here comes Tarlton Rayment from North 

 Gii^psland, Australia, and tells us in the 

 Australasian Beekeeper for February that 

 he once produced from a yard of nearly 200 

 eight-frame colonies five and one-half cases 

 (660 pounds) of honey per colony, and he 

 adds, * ' We cannot believe that any other 

 pattern of hive could have excelled the 

 yield." (Mr. Bixby will be pleased to hear 

 that bees in eight-frame hives are still able 

 to hold their own.) Old timers will proba- 

 bly have to go back to the year 1884 in 

 order to recall an average production per 

 colony amounting to 660 pounds, and the 

 writer very much doubts if this record has 

 ever been equaled in California. Mr. Whit- 

 acre of Pirn, Ventura County, once told the 

 writer that he got an average of 428 pounds 

 per colony from about 150 colonies in 1884.- 

 In the San Joaquin Valley there is a case 

 on record of an average of 378 pounds per 

 colony, and in another instance, 800 colonies, 

 spring count and located in several yards, 

 produced an average of 3l;i pounds per colo- 

 ny. M. C. Richter. 



Modesto, Calif. 



* * * 



In Southern California f^^'^ ,,^ 



nnds south- 

 ern California beekeepers who have their 

 bees near the orange groves, at their very 

 busiest. It has taken constant attention to 

 keep colonies from swarming. For some 

 time before the regular fiow started, just 



ci/ougli Jiectai' was Ijrouglit in to stimulate 

 biood-rearing and encourage the building of 

 swarm cells. To have a colony swarm just 

 at this time very materially impairs its use- 

 fulness for some time or until the orange 

 flow is well past. For the past three days 

 the orange fiow has been all that one could 

 ask for. Strong colonies with a good sup- 

 ply of bees of a honey-gathering age have 

 filled the supers very rapidly. The nectar 

 is very thin, which is a good sign, and with 

 favorable weather conditions this good fiow 

 should continue for several weeks. 



Brighter and brighter grow the prospects. 

 Remarkable rains for the tinre of the year 

 fell during the latter part of February and 

 all thru March. With mild spring weather, 

 we shoultl get good results for our labor. It 

 is to be regretted that so many apiaries 

 are below normal in strength and will be 

 late in being ready for the gathering of 

 surplus honey. The cool nights are the 

 great drawback at present; and the days 

 being not very warm, nectar secretion is 

 not so good as it should be. The black sage 

 has been blooming rather unevenly — in some 

 sections quite abundantly. However, but 

 little honey has been stored from this 

 source. Of course, with plenty of moisture, 

 new shoots will continue to grow and new 

 blossoms continue to appear. But, generally 

 speaking, a plant secretes honey best about 

 the time of full bloom, and the blossoms 

 coming later are not of so much importance. 

 The white sage is making a fine growth, but 

 June is the month when it should be at its 

 best. The purple sage also is looking well, 

 but the results from it will come later on. 

 I may sometime attempt to give the reailer 

 a clearer conception of the various sages 

 that help to make a reputation for the Cali- 

 fornia sage honey. 



As the season advances, it becomes more 

 and more apparent that the loss from dis- 

 ease, starvation, etc., among bees in south- 

 ern California is much greater than at first 

 supposed. The loss during the last three 

 years has been stupendous, some county in- 

 spectors reporting nearly 40 per cent loss. 

 It is a common thing to have some of the 

 large producers of extracted honey say, ' * I 

 have to keep buying bees to keep my num- 

 ber good." I find it necessary to make 

 artificial increase to keep the numbers any- 

 where near normal from year to year. When 

 we have good honey seasons, it is easy to 

 draw a nucleus from a strong colony during 

 swarming time and have it build up to a 

 strong colony in time to store considerable 

 surplus honey. But for several years it has 

 been necessary to supply most of these nu- 

 clei with stores, either b}^ giving them 

 combs of honey or by feeding sugar syrup. 

 Either method is expensive at present prices. 



The California State Beekeepers ' Co- 

 operative Exchange met in annual session 

 in Los Angeles on March 29. Two delegates 



