GLEANINGS FN BEE CULTURE 



July 1 



THE HONEY- PRODUCING FLORA OF SOUTHERN 

 CALIFORNIA; ORANGE-BLOSSOM HONEY. 



I have carefully studied the honey flora of 

 Southern California for the last five years, 

 and I find ;the orange-bloom yields very lit- 

 tle surplus in the cool regions near the 

 coast; but up here at Redlands the weather 

 is very warm, and but little fog; and four 

 years out of the five orange has yielded a 

 fair crop, so I have been able to select and 

 ship one or more carloads of pure orange- 

 blossom honey each year except 1904, all 

 from apiaries close to this city; but even 

 here the weather is sometimes so cool that 

 tons of this nectar is lost because it is too 

 cool for bees to get it. 



I have seen the nectar so abundant as to 

 daub the clothing of pruners and pickers, 

 and even the backs of horses while cultivat- 

 ing. If the bloom came six weeks later, 

 during good weather, the crop would be 

 heavy. It usually comes on the last of 

 March or first of April. My bees are now 

 (April 2) on it; and as they are in excellent 

 condition as compared with 1905 I expect to 

 secure a good crop if the weather permits, 

 and will try some special experiments later. 



This honey was stored in April, 1905, and 

 was obtained entirely from orange- bloom 

 excepticg a possibility of a very httle, per- 

 haps 5 per cent, being carried up from 

 brood-combs of honey previously stored. I 

 usually sell a carload of strictly pure orange 

 honey at one- half or 1 cert above the price 

 of last year's honey; but in the general 

 market it is worth no more, as some dealers 

 prefer the sage on account of its not candy- 

 ing. Orange is like clover. It sometimes 

 yields heavily, and sometimes fails to yield 

 any thing, even in nice weather. I have 

 thousands of acres of orange- trees in range 

 of both of my apiaries, just a-humming 

 now. F. McNay. 



Redlands, Cal. 



SIMMINS ON FOUL BROOD. 



I have wondered if Mr. Simmins, of Eng- 

 land, had foul brood at all, page 22. His 

 idea will not work here if the germs are 

 present in the honey, of which I am satisfied 

 they are, from my own experience; also 

 what he says, he "put foul- broody combs into 

 a healthy colony and they cleaned them up 

 and did not give the disease to the colony ' ' 

 would almost make me say he never had it 

 at all. I am satisfied (and I speak from ex- 

 perience) there is no way on earth to get 

 rid of it save by the McEvoy method or some 

 similar way. H. Piper. 



Palaveras, Texas. 



[If you will refer to page 807, last issue, 

 footnote to J. E. Chambers, you will under- 

 stand, perhaps, why your experience differs 

 from that of Mr. Simmins.— Ed.] 



GETTING BROOD FROM TWO QUEENS. 



Referring to the plan of getting brood from 

 two queens in one hive, page 354, I will say 

 that, by following the Alexander method, I 

 have lost not less than 75 per cent of the 

 queens. About eight years ago I tried the 

 plan of using wire cloth for the first two or 

 three days, and then removing it, putting on 

 the queen- excluder. Since doing this I have 

 not lost a queen; for by the time I remove 

 the wire cloth both colonies have the same 

 scent. J. K. Wilson. 



Lancaster, 0., March 30. 



[Your plan is similar to that described on 

 page 827 of last issue, except that you use 

 wire cloth instead of burlap. Your trouble 

 will be explained, perhaps, by reference to 

 p. e59, May 15th issue.— Ed.] 



is bee-tree hunting PROFITABLE? THE 

 scent of bees an IMPORTANT FACTOR. 



I notice in Gleanings for March 1 Mr. 

 Ralph P. Fisher takes exceptions to my 

 views regarding the profit of bee- hunting. 

 I have helped to find four trees in half a 

 day. There wasn't 25 lbs. of honey in the 

 bunch. I have found two which had 100 lbs. 

 each, but that kind is very rare. We usual- 

 ly hunt them here in the fall. I have trans- 

 ferred several from trees. I never had any 

 of them amount to any thing. Perhaps 

 friend Fisher transfers them in the spring, 

 which would work all right. If we left 

 them until spring here, the chances would 

 be some hunter would steal them. Bee 

 trees with us are generally in hard places to 

 get at. It isn't an easy task to carry a 

 swarm of bees through the brush and over 

 the stones for one or two miles. Friend 

 Fisher is in luck if he can sell his bees so 

 handy for $5. 00 per hive. 



I have a friend who spends lots of time 

 hunting bees. If he worked for 15 cts. per 

 hour he could buy more honey than he gets 

 from bee- trees. Perhaps an expert could 

 make it pay, though I am still very certain 

 safe advice for the average person is, don't 

 do it for profit; but for a day's outing and a 

 visit with nature and nature's God it is all 

 right. 



To those who do not believe that the bee's 

 sense of smell is an important factor, I 

 would like to relate the following experi- 

 ence: Last May I had a second swarm that 

 came out and clustered in two places— one 

 cluster on a limb, and the other in a pile of 

 brush. I opened the hive and found a dozen 

 or more queen- cells, some of them hatched. 

 While I was holding the combs in my hands 

 I smashed the young queens, as many as 

 ten or twelve, then wiped my fingers on my 

 overalls and went after the bees in the 

 brush pile. I found a young queen there, 

 and in less than three minutes I had a good 

 sized swarm of bees on my jeans. What 



