386 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



June, 1922 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Southern California.- 



.Tlie season 

 is conserva- 

 tively estimated at from two weeks to one 

 month late. Perhaps one month is very 

 nearly right. The sages began yielding a 

 little nectar about April 20, and the oranges 

 at about the same time. But the flow was 

 so slight until about May 1 that only the 

 very strong colonies were able to get even 

 enough nectar to live on. The lighter colo- 

 nies had to be fed. About May 1 both the 

 black sage and the oranges began yielding 

 quite freely until now (May 5) considerable 

 surplus is being stored. Where the locations 

 are favorably situated on warm south hill- 

 sides, the black sage seems to be yielding 

 more plentifully than the average orange. 



Occasionally in a season like the present 

 the orange trees bloom much earlier on the 

 south side pf the tree than on the north 

 side. This always presages a much longer 

 blooming period. A very warm north wind 

 for a few days brought the bloom out quite 

 rapidly, but again the weather changed and 

 cold cloudy days prevailed for about 10 

 days. So much cold weather made the colo- 

 nies very backward about going into the 

 supers and caused the uneasiness that often 

 brings on the desire to draw queen-cells and 

 to swarm. Practically all of the old honey 

 Avas consumed, and many beekeepers fed 

 sugar to keep up the morale of the colony. 



One is surprised, when traveling around, 

 at the number of beekeepers that have 

 "sprung up" within the past three or four 

 years, who have from 50 to 150 colonies. 

 Just what effect this will have on the future 

 of the industry is hard to conjecture. Self- 

 ish is he who wants a good thing all to him- 

 self; but if a business is overdone in a cer- 

 tain locality in any line so that even the 

 man long established there cannot make a 

 living, all are injured, no one benefited and 

 the business often almost ruined. 



If the beekeeper would keep posted and 

 know what he should get for his honey, 

 when a buyer came along, he could say: 

 "My honey is worth so much. If you want it, 

 all right; if not, all right." When no at- 

 tention is paid to markets and when bee 

 journals at one dollar per year are too ex- 

 pensive, so long will the beekeeper lose 

 enough on his honey sales each year to keep 

 in the role of paying the other fellow's of- 

 fice rent and for the other fellow's good 

 times — instead of spending the money for 

 his own home comforts. 



Co-operation and the exchange ideas are 

 all right, but there seems to be a lack 

 of ability among beekeepers to grasp prop- 

 erly the fundamentals necessary to carry 

 the honey sales business to the success it 

 rightly deserves. When the organization 

 gets beyond a certain number of members 

 or a given locality, it gets unwieldly and 



beyond tlie control of the average man en- 

 gaged in the production of honey. 



Ill other words, the producers of honey, 

 generally speaking, have not the business 

 ability to manage Satisfactorily the mar- 

 keting of a million dollars worth of honey. 

 The unfortunate ending to three years of 

 effort in the California Honey Producers' 

 Co-operative Exchange proves that the han- 

 dling of large crops of any kind calls for 

 men long educated or skilled in marketing. 



The Exchange was organized at a time 

 of extremely high prices on honey, and the 

 reconstruction period immediately after the 

 war tried many a business and has proven 

 disastrous to our Exchange. In many cases 

 more money was advanced to the producer 

 than the honey sold for. Consequently, it 

 will be necessary for Mr. Beekeeper to 

 make good by returning the over-advance 

 which he received. 



This, of course, makes an unfortunate 

 condition, as most men spend all they get 

 and will have to provide some way of rais- 

 ing the money. A few are dissatisfied and 

 at present refuse to pay, but the great ma- 

 jority are fair-minded and will meet what 

 they consider a just obligation. Notwith- 

 standing all of the discouragements, be- 

 tween 30 and 50 per cent were willing to 

 join the reorganized Exchange. Just what 

 the outcome will eventually be, the writer 

 is at present unable to state. Suffice it to 

 say, the beekeepers have learned many valu- 

 able lessons during the past few years and 

 will in the future be much better able to 

 judge tlie prices they should rightfully re- 

 ceive for their products. L. L. Andrews. 



Corona, Calif. 



« * * 



In Northern California. ^'"^ f ""^l 



parts of 

 our section have come reports that the past 

 winter and spring Avere the coldest ever ex- 

 perienced. Heavy frosts throughout April 

 were frequent, and winter and spring losses 

 were heavier than usual. In a few restricted 

 localities they were as high as 50 per cent 

 to 70 per cent. Contributory factors to- 

 wards this high death rate were lack of a 

 sufficient amount of young bees reared last 

 fall, lack of sufficient stores and insufficient 

 protection. In the past too little attention 

 has been paid to the above important con- 

 siderations. Usually most of our localities 

 have a fair fall flow and, in the past, nature 

 has taken care of the winter's supply of 

 young bees. Last summer, however, we ex- 

 perienced a severe hot spell, and, as a result, 

 the fall plants secreted but little nectar. 

 Thus, many colonies were compelled to enter 

 into an unusual winter and spring, lacking 

 their usual quota of fall-bred bees. Many 

 colonies passed away from the above cause, 

 and others from a shortage of stores. Shel- 

 tered or protected colonies fared better than 



