February, 1909. 



where the snow lies deep during win- 

 ter, was present; he had the distinc- 

 tion of owning bees 300 or more miles 

 away from the place of meeting. 



Two notable personages of Monterey 

 were present. The one who attracted 

 the most attention was Mr. Sem Ling, 

 a worthy, though probably a very dis- 

 tant, cousin of Ah Sin. But Sem Ling's 

 mission in the world is not of the kind 

 that chimes in with those of the as- 

 tute and very acute poker-playing Ah 

 Sin, for our friend Sem Ling is a 

 keeper of bees and a producer of gar- 

 den-truck. So of Sem Ling and liis 

 manner of work I shall discourse fur- 

 ther in time. So also of Mr. K. M. 

 Henneken, the foul-brood inspector of 

 Monterey County, who was a picturesque 

 character, and spoke right out in meet- 

 ing frequently. His discourse on Bee- 

 Disease in his county revealed the fact 

 that the way of a foul-brood doctor — 

 at least in his part of the State — is 

 not altogether strewn with roses. More 

 than once he had to "hike" o'er the 

 sands of Monterey at the glistening 

 sight of a big double-barreled shot- 

 gun. And this will be a tale I shall 

 unfold in some future issue of the 

 American Bee Journal. 



What would probably have been two 

 very interesting papers were unfortu- 

 nately omitted, owing to Mr. M. C. 

 Richter's detention at Santa Barbara, 

 whither he had gone to spend the holi- 

 days with relatives. On the whole, the 

 several sessions were good; much was 

 gained by those present. 



Mr. Townsend, who was chosen presi- 

 dent of the temporary organization of 

 the Central Coast Counties Bee-Keep- 

 ers' Society, is one of the alert apiarists 

 of the State; he has a fine apiary at 

 Soledad. and he says that his yields of 

 honey far exceed those he obtained 

 when he was in the lower counties of 

 the State. W. H. H. Lawrence of Sa- 

 linas, has been 5 years at the business, 

 and withal he is well toward 65 years 

 of age, he manages his 300 colonies as 

 well as any old veteran, and he is well 

 up in all modern methods; he is so 

 much of a genius that he has intro- 

 duced several labor-saving appliances 

 of his own invention. 



Another bright apiarist is C. W. Ker- 

 lin, who lives in the city, but has a 

 large apiary well out in the hills. 



Edward Smith of Hollister, San Ben- 

 ito County, and John Whitam, of King 

 City, understand their business and are 

 conducting successful apiaries. The 

 latter had the distinction of being the 

 only Californian present at the last 

 meeting of the National Convention in 

 Detroit. 



Mr. B. Schnuchel has been fighting 

 against odds at Peach Tree, to build up 

 an apiary. His enemy is foul brood, 

 and work as hard and intelligently as 

 he can, he has not been able to in- 

 crease the number of his colonies be- 

 yond 5o. He is going to fight the 

 enemy to the last ditch, and he hopes 

 to win out; and he deserves to, for 

 he is alert and progressive. It seems 

 that the disease mentioned is much to 

 be dreaded in Monterey County. Of 

 this more later. 



Mr. Benton is an admirable institute 



American ~Bae Journal 



conductor, and his several talks on bees 

 and bee-keeping were well received. 



After tlic adjournment of the insti- 

 tute, a temporary organization of the 

 bee-keepers in the Central Coast Coun- 

 ties was effected. The matter of per- 

 manent organization was passed, for the 

 reason that the attendance was not en- 

 tirely representative ; it was hoped that 

 a larger gathering should be on hand 

 when permanent officers were elected. 

 The officers chosen are as follows : 



Vernon Townsend, president; K. F. 

 henneken, secretary; Edward Smith, 

 J. Whitam, W. E. Stewart, P. Keating 

 and W. A. Pryal, vice-presidents. 



The Apiary Beautiful. 



It is seldom we see a real pretty 

 apiary ; too often the bees are assigned 

 to "any old place," as they are easily 

 imposed upon when it comes to assign- 

 ing them to living quarters. They will 

 work well and diligently in any old 

 barrel, box or hive, so long as it has 

 no ill-smelling odors within and it ap- 

 pears suitable to them when hived. But 

 to place a colony, whether in modern or 

 antique hive, in an unsightly and other- 

 wise disagreeable place, is an unpardon- 

 able oversight ; it is a wrong to the bees, 

 and to the good taste and character of 

 the apiarist. 



This fault is more noticeable in this 

 country than it is in some of the Euro- 

 pean countries. In looking at the pic- 

 tures of apiaries in British and Irish 

 bee books and journals one 'is struck 

 with the beauty of not only the sur- 

 roundings but often at the hives and 

 their arrangement as well. In all my 

 travels up and down California I have 

 not seen as many picturesque apiaries as 

 I have fingers on one hand. Oftentimes 

 an apiary of home-made and rather an- 

 tiquated pattern hives will make a more 

 pleasurable sight, as far as beauty is 

 concerned, than will a like apiary of trim 

 hives set up in apple-pie order. As an 

 illustration of this, see the picture of a 

 portion of an apiary on a certain hill- 

 side in Santa Clara county. While there 

 is much room for improvement as to 



A Pretty Littli-: Api.^ry. 



arrangement of the hives, etc., still, the 

 apiarist will ^et just as much honey, it 

 is true. And so in the case of the most 

 inartistic apiary that ever was, unless 

 some of the colonies are placed where 

 the hives are too much shaded or too 

 much exposed to cold winds. 



-An apiary located among pretty trees 

 and tropical plants, as in the half-tone 

 showing a banana in the center and an 

 Australian acacia in the background, is 

 a thing of beauty — and, perhaps, a joy 

 forever for the bees and the artistic 

 apiarist. It is possible for large apiaries 

 to be so arranged in California, and the 

 cost of securing the young plants would 

 be nominal; just think of the after-pleas- 

 ure of possessing such a sylvan retreat; 

 it would be an ambrosial bower — a place 

 fit for the gods and the bees. 



But I must leave the subject for, as I 

 stated on a former occasion, I'm not a 

 poet and must not take such poetical 

 flights. 



A Portion of a Natitral Apiary in Santa Clara Co.. Cal, 



