590 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



September, 192C 



FROM NORTH, EAST, WEST AND SOUTH 



In Southern California.—^ ^,^^ ^} ^^' 



erable hon- 

 ey has been sold, and buyers say that there 

 lias been enough honey offered for sale to 

 make it unnecessary to go out to look for 

 any. The price has been going from 6i/^ to 

 7c for the light amber to 8, 9 and 10c for 

 the white sage and orange. The market 

 seems steady, with prospects of getting 

 stronger as the more anxious ones get their 

 honey disposed of. 



The affairs of tlie Beekeepers' Exchange 

 have been turned over to M. H. Wells, as- 

 signee. Mr. Wells represents the First Na- 

 tional Bank, that institution having financed 

 the Excliange. All of the members liave re- 

 ceived their statements and with few ex- 

 ceptions are willing to pay back the money 

 they were advanced in excess of the amount 

 the honey sold for. 



Some beekeepers are moving to the beans; 

 but, after a season like the present, when 

 every beekeeper has made a crop, the de- 

 sire to move for the chance of more honey 

 is not nearly so general as in those years 

 when the crop is short or in many cases a 

 failure. 



Crops seem to have varied from a can or 

 60 pounds per colony to two cases or 240 

 pounds (for a very few of the best bee- 

 keepers). Here, again, the cost of produc- 

 tion will be a factor almost impossible to 

 determine accurately. Some of us must 

 produce a crop almost entirely with hired 

 help. This ranges down to one man and 

 his wife, who liave produced over 50 

 tons of honey witliout a day's assistance, 

 at the same time doing considerable work 

 on their fruit ranch. This woman did all 

 of the work in the extracting-house and, so 

 far as we know, holds the world's record 

 for uncapping aiid extracting a crop of 

 honey by herself. She used an eight-frame 

 Cowan extractor and engine. The honey 

 was all brought to a central extracting- 

 liouso. We may tell more fully of some of 

 the manipulations and work of the man 

 later. His methods and short cuts coiiie 

 from close observation and the ability to 

 apply the things he has learned. His aver 

 age per colony will run over 2()0 pouinls, 

 spring count. 



With an abundance of bloom, such as is 

 seldom seen throughout southern California, 

 the yield of honey from the wild buckwheat 

 was as near a failure as one could well ima- 

 gine. How to account for this is not easy 

 to conjecture. Tt seems to be just one of 

 the freaks of nature that will happen. Other 

 flora seemed to furnish nectar in abundance; 

 especially was this true of the black sage. 

 During our long experience in southern Cali- 

 fornia, we recall only one season when this 

 ])lant produced as abundantly and as long 

 as this year. One beekeeper said that the 

 frost cut all of the first bloom that year the 

 same as it did this year. His idea was 



that the frost might have something to do 

 with the great flow of nectar. 



Corona, Calif. L. L. Andrews. 



* * * 



In Northern California.— ^^""^ ^i] 



parts of 

 our section the spring flow was very late 

 in starting. This was to be expected owing 

 to the cold winter and spring. The flow was 

 of short duration, however, and very few 

 districts reported any appreciable surplus. 

 The cold spring Avas not propitious for plant 

 growth, and the natural honey flora was in- 

 capable of furnishing its usual surplus of 

 nectar. Sage was particularly disappoint- 

 ing, while fryit bloom, mustard, wild rad- 

 ish and likewise others yielded nectar very 

 sparingly. The summer flow from our main- 

 stay, alfalfa, is now on, and is being util- 

 ized by a majority of beekeepers. The fall 

 flow is i^roblematical. Normally, good spring 

 rains insure a fair fall flow from the plains; 

 but, during the past spring, which it will be 

 remembered was very backward, we had 

 extraordinarily late rains in the valleys. "Un- 

 doubtedly the fall plants will be late in 

 blooming, and, if good bee weather does not 

 extend well into October, the blooming pe- 

 riods of the late flora may also be curtailed. 

 Usually but not always, when a season starts 

 out abnormally like this one, it finishes very 

 much after the same fashion. 



During good years when we are kept busy 

 most of the time extracting honey, we are 

 very apt to neglect the bees to a certain 

 extent; that is, some of us do not pay enough 

 attention to requeening, nor do we attend 

 to several other little things that are quite 

 necessary. Apparently these matters are 

 overlooked or lost sight of to a certain ex- 

 tent. When lean years come we have ample 

 time to requeen all colonies, which, by the 

 way, is our first duty. We ought also to 

 level up all colonies, do a little painting ami 

 mending, weed out some of the older combs, 

 and, another important thing, make as much 

 increase as we possibly can. Tt is a very 

 good plan to cut down increase, double up 

 the weak and produce honey in good years 

 and. to go the limit on "increase" during 

 the bad seasons. Orange and sage producers 

 could be benefited immenselv by following 

 this plan, since they have a source of hoiiev 

 which not only is always salable but in ad- 

 ditioTi is under their control, owing to the 

 restricted areas in which the plants are 

 grown. 



T repret to announce that C. D. Stuart of 

 Chifo has resigned as secretary of the Cali- 

 fornia, State Beekeepers' Association. Tt 

 will be remembered that Mr. Stuart, who is 

 also a certified public accountant, has of- 

 fered to assist his fellow beekeepers in keep- 

 ing better beekeepin<j books. Tt is a jjen 

 erons offer, and this important ])hase of our 

 work needs someone like Mr. Stuart to 

 arouse our interest. How many of us, aside 



