314 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T T R E 



Mav, i;)2^ 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Northern California, u s " a 1 1 y 



there is a 

 considerable amount of honey stored during 

 ^\|)ril. Ill fact the flow from orange and 

 sage ordinarily is under way during this 

 month. The most notewortliy feature of 

 this season's work is the backwardness of 

 plant life. Sage, orange and practically all 

 other plant life will bloom about one month 

 later than usual. The cold and wet weather 

 is responsible for the lateness of the season. 

 Consequently it is very necessary to supply 

 the bees with plenty of stores. It may not 

 be of uncommon occurrence during the first 

 and second weeks of May to find strong colo- 

 nies on the point of starvation. This sea- 

 son, especially, there must be plenty of 

 stores all through the breeding season. It 

 would prove very disastrous to neglect this 

 phase of the spring work, as a three or four 

 days' wet spell might occur just before the 

 main flow starts. At this time there is 

 much brood to feed, and, witli bees unable 

 to fly, several pounds of honey a day are 

 consumed. We have seen immense colonies 

 honeyless, with not a vestige of unsealed 

 brood in the combs. Don't gamble with 

 nature too much. Supply the bees with a 

 reserve, and remember the three cardinal 

 points during spring work — protection, 

 stores and ample space for brood expansion. 



This looks like a very good season and 

 owing to its extreme lateness there ought to 

 be some mighty fine bee weather with ex- 

 ceptionally high daily intakes of nectar from 

 sage and orange, both of which will come 

 into bloom and secrete nectar at about the 

 same time. There is one important thing 

 to provide for during a big lioney flow. For 

 spring, the important consideration was an 

 ample reserve of Demuth feeders. Strange 

 as it may seem, there should be provided the 

 same kind of a reserve for the honey flow 

 except, of course, that the feeders should not 

 be full. In other words an abundance of 

 empty comb is what is necessary to take 

 care of the large amount of thin nectar that 

 may be gathered. 



The California State Beekeepers' Associa- 

 tion is certainly up and doing. We should 

 all do our part to help in their campaign to 

 secure 2,000 members within the next six 

 months. This association is going to be of 

 great benefit to us. It must be strong in 

 membership in order to do the most for us 

 that it can. It is really up to ourselves as 

 producers to bring this about. Active mem- 

 bers are the ones that count; such members 

 interest their neighboring beekeepers in 

 their organization, and when Ave keep up 

 our enthusiasm we achieve results. 



Big Sur, Calif. M. C. Eichter. 



In Southern California. 



.The season 

 seems to be 

 slow and backward. The orange trees are 



showing a slight swelling of the buds, and 

 it now looks as thougli it might be well to- 

 ward the last of April before much bloom 

 will appear. I find from my records that it 

 is often the 12th or 15th of April, and some- 

 times later, before the bees begin getting 

 honey from the orange blossoms. We are 

 apt to forget and think a season exception- 

 ally late, when perhaps it is not much dif 

 ferent from the average. When it does turn 

 warm, trees and plants will grow and blos- 

 som very fast, and it is well to have plenty 

 of supplies on hand to care for a busy season. 



The sages are making a good growth, and 

 the wild buckwheat looks thrifty. But it 

 is too early to tell much of the blossoming 

 qualities of the plants, as the long, slender 

 stems that support the blossoms shoot out 

 very quickly and usually show little or no 

 growth before the early part of May. Other 

 plants are also showing up well. The al- 

 filaria has been blooming for some weeks, 

 but the cool weather has prevented the bees 

 from doing as well as they might, consider- 

 ing the amount of bloom there has been. The 

 willows in some sections have given remark- 

 able results, and in locations where there 

 have been plenty of willows and the bees 

 have had suffieient stores, they have built up 

 well. Where there was no early pollen, the 

 bees did not build up; and some colonies 

 with as much as 50 pounds of honey are 

 very weak and have very little brood. How- 

 ever, generally speaking, it looks as thongli 

 nothing but a verv hot period of weatlier 

 can keep the honey crop from being satis 

 factory to the beekeepers. 



On a cloudy, cool day I observed 26 bees 

 per minute entering the hive of the average 

 colony. Upon opening the hive I learned 

 that those colonies averaged four and five 

 frames of brood, while those with a less 

 number of bees flying in had only from one 

 to three frames of brood. A little observa- 

 tion along these lines might enable one to 

 secure a fairly accurate idea of the condi- 

 tion of the apiary. By examining only a 

 few hives, and then observing the others 

 from the outside, one might avoid the neces- 

 sity of disturbing the bees by opening the 

 hives during unfavorable weather. 



The weather has been too cold and cloudy 

 for the rapid building up of colonies. 

 Around the orange sections it looks as 

 though not over 50 per cent would be in 

 prime condition for the orange flow. 



Considerable disease — especially Euro- 

 pean foul brood — is showing up in many 

 apiaries. There is nothing quite like a good 

 honey flow to help eradicate these condi- 

 tions. The winter loss has been quite heavy 

 in many cases; but, as old Adam Grimm once 

 said, "I save all of the eombs and I show 

 you how quickly I fill all of those hives 

 again when the lioiiey flow comes." 



Corona, Calif. " L. L. Andrews. 



