Publisht Weekly at US Michigan St. 



George W. York, Editor. 



$1.00 a Year— Sample Copy Free. 



38th Year. 



CHICAGO, ILL., APRIL 28, 1898. 



No. 17. 



Bee-Culture in the State of California. 



BY PROF. A. .1. COOK. 



Despite the numerous "off" seasons, too frequent to 

 please bee-keepers, California takes first rank as a honey- 

 producing State. Her product in favorable seasons, of from 

 100 to 200 pounds of honey per colony, and that In apiaries 

 with from 200 to 600 colonies, is surely a record that few 

 localities in any section of the world can equal. Yet if we 

 can judge the future by the past, not more than one-third of 

 the seasons can be counted on to give a full crop. Yet, as the 

 bee-keeper can know far in advance, at the very dawn of the 

 season, that the failure is to come, he is better off, as " fore- 

 warned is fore-armed," in that he can seek other employment, 

 and can avoid expense which would otherwise be incurred, 

 and would be put by as so much useless capital. 



As I have before hinted, the cause of the great honey-flow 

 here in good seasons is the long blooming period of the most 

 valuable honey-plants. The sages — source of our white honey 

 — are in bloom for weeks, and the wild buckwheat, the chief 

 source of our amber honey, hangs out its profusion of flowers 

 for months. 



The best honey section is undoubtedly Southern California, 

 with its seven counties, of Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los An- 

 geles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego. The 

 southern central counties — Fresno, Kings, Kern and Tulare — 

 are favored in that they are in a great alfalfa region, which is 

 irrigated and so independent of drouth. These regions have 

 produced large crops, even in the very dry seasons, like that 

 of 1894. East of this, over the mountains, is Inyo county, 

 which, like San Luis Obispo on the west, afford some excel- 

 lent bee-ranges. 



Northern California is not so favorable for honey-produc- 

 tion, altho they have more rain. They have not the sages, or 

 other honey-plants, to take their place. There are large 

 alfalfa areas, and possibly much more honey might be pro- 

 duced in the great northern sections of our State. 



In the great California honey-region — I refer to Southern 

 California — Santa Barbara county is the least important. The 

 bush and watered canyons with rich acres of sage are not 

 common, and there are not many bee-keepers in that section. 



Ventura county is the great bean-region, and also pos- 

 sesses some canyons with a fine growth of white or ball sage. 

 The famous Sespe region is in Ventura county. Some of our 

 most successful bee-keepers, like Mclntyre, Richardson, 

 Touchton and Mendleson, live in this county. The records 

 from some of these apiaries have been startling. With abun- 

 dant rain the honey-product from sections In Ventura is enor- 

 mous. In dry seasons the bean blossoms add materially to 

 the honey-yield If bee-keepers will avail themselves of this 

 opportunity. 



Los Angeles county ranks among the first, tho the range 

 of the honey-producing flora is not so extensive as of some of 



the other counties. Prom the Newhall Tunnel north, and 

 skirting the famous Antelope valley, is one of the best bee- 

 regions of the world. In the seasons of copious rains, the 

 honey-product in these ranges is exceeding large. There are 

 also fine producing tracts all along to the south of the moun- 

 tains from Glendale and La Canada to the eastern boundary 

 of the coucty. Apiaries situated near the canyons have the 

 advantage of the early bloom of the valley, and the later nec- 

 tar-flow of the canjons. 



The two counties east of Los Angeles county — San Ber- 

 nardino and Riverside — are both justly famous for their bee- 

 keeping ranges. There are no better honey-regions than are 

 found in some of the canyons of these great counties. Even 

 in this dry season, the bee-keepers confidently expect some 

 honey, in some of the sections of this favored section. The 

 same may be said of limited areas of Los Angeles county. 



Orange county, to the south of Los Angeles, tho not large, 

 has some fine apiaries, and the bee-keepers of this county ex- 

 pect a small crop even in this season of excessive drouth. 



The San Bernardino apiarian tracts are like the great 

 county — of exceeding extent. About Fallbrook, Escondido, 



A Perpendicular-Dish Seetion-Cleaner. — See page 2oH. 



and farther south, are canyons rich with honeyed bloom. 

 Many carloads of the finest honey were produced last year. 

 This county has one disadvantage, in that the rainfall Is less 

 than farther north, tho the honey-product of the county has 

 not been behind other regions. If we take the seasons together. 

 The fact that honey-plants, like white sage, may bloom 



