May 18, 1899. 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



307 



While I admire large queens. I must say that the best, 

 most prolific and profitable queens I ever had were medium 

 in size. On the other hand, the meanest queens I ever saw 

 were very large, and were reared from cells taken from a 

 colony that had cast a swarm. I do believe, and have 

 always claimed, that the best queens we have are reared by 

 artificial methods. I certainly have found this correct in 

 my own experience. 



Some one has said that any one can rear queens. That 

 is correct. But every one who rears queens cannot produce 

 3.11 ^ood queens. I know I cannot, and I have been trying- 

 it for 37 years. Nor do I believe every one who rears queens 

 can become expert at the business, any more than all can 

 become expert at any kind of business. There are but few 

 people of the many in anj- kind of business who can be- 

 come expert at it. I know that the person who rears queen- 

 bees must use his brains a good deal if he produces a good 

 queen by any method known to bee-keepers. Many have 

 found this out, and have retired from the business. 



There is no part of the bee-business that does not re- 

 quire tact, brains and long experience in order to become an 

 expert and to be successful. A bee-keeper may be located 

 in a land of honej', but he never can get that honey stored 

 by bees unless! he kno%vs how to do it. One must use his 

 wits and his muscle, and then a mark can be made in this 

 world. I suppose we are on this earth for some good pur- 

 pose, and the only way to do to advertise our existence is to 

 put a little kick and push into business, then if there is not 

 much money in it there may be a little fame, and that may 

 help out some day. Essex Co., Mass. 



The Honey Season in California — Other Items. 



BY PROF. A. J. COOK. 



AS is well known, California has two markt peculiarities 

 as a honey-producing State. First, the immense crops 

 of honey in certain years ; and, second, the numerous 

 years when no hone}- is produced at all, or at least little 

 more than enough to keep the bees. Since I came to the 

 State, in 1894, each alternate year has been visited with a 

 drouth, and no honey was produced at all. The other years 

 have not only produced lioney, but the crops have been 

 enormous. The fact that drouth is surely followed with a 

 dearth of nectar-secretion is so well vniderstood that if we 

 get verj' much below the average rainfall the bee-keepers 

 themselves are entirelv despondent, and count on no crop 

 at all. 



The present season bids fair to bring two seasons of no 

 honey-production in .succession. It has generally been 

 thought here in this region that IS inches of rain — which is 

 about our- average — was necessarj- for a crop of honey. 

 Anything below that would result in a diminisht crop, and, 

 if very much below, no crop at all. Last year the flow of 

 rain was just about one-half the average, and except for a 

 short time in early spring, very little honey was stored. 

 The rainfall the present season — unless we get little more — 

 is hardly up to that of last. Yet I think we cannot judge 

 correctly of the present year from our experience of a year 

 ago. The present season all the rains that have come have 

 been when most needed, and have come in such gentle mood 

 that every drop has been utilized. It is certain that the 

 grain crop this year about here will be much better than 

 that of last year. It is possible that nectar-secretion will 

 also be different. 



The first ^-ear I came to California — 1894 — we had a 

 small rainfall, which was well distributed thru the season. 

 I taught the botan)' that year, and was a close student of 

 the flora. There was a well-markt and continuous succes- 

 sion of flowers from the early spring-beauty, as I should 

 call it — Gilia dianthorides — to the host of composite flowers 

 which appeared from July on. From my study since I judge 

 the succession that year was well-nigh typical. The three 

 following years, one of drouth and t%TO of good rain supply, 

 showed a succession of flowers much the same as that of 

 1894. 



Last year, 1898, the early spring was exceedingly dry. 

 The flowers came verj' early and in scant numbers. I de- 

 spaired having enough for class use ; but in earlj- April, as 

 my work commenced, a copious rain came with it, and I 

 found that the earU- flowers came again, and so with a little 

 more trouble to visit the canyons we had no difficulty in 

 finding all the flowers we needed for our class use ; indeed, 

 the range in number quite equaled that of anj' previous 

 year. 



This jear we have a season much different from any of 



the previous ones. The flowers seem to be buncht, the early 

 ones coming late, and the late ones coming forth early. The 

 beautiful Gilia, already mentioned, and the shooting-stars, 

 are fully a month later than in any of the previous j'ears, 

 while the black sage is in full bloom for weeks before its 

 usual time. These show that this season is quite different 

 from any that we have had before. Is it possible, then, to 

 correctly judge of what the season may bring forth in the 

 way of growth, vigor, and may we not add,nectar-secretion ? 



While I fear that the bee-keepers will be disappointed 

 again this year in not securing a crop in this region, I am 

 not at all sure that such will be the case. I find the bees 

 now bus3' on the black sage and the just-opening white 

 sage, as well as on many other flowers, and so far as I can 

 judge the)' seem to be getting not a little honey. A week 

 ago I met on the streets of Los Angeles our friend Mr. J. 

 H. Martin, and found him quite hopeful of the honey crop 

 the present season. I think that most bee-keepers would 

 not sympathize with him in this feeling. 



Several of the largest apiarists of Ventura County have 

 moved their bees to the region of the alfalfa fields in the 

 San Joaquin valley. Thej' expect, and not without reason, 

 not only to get enough honey to sustain the bees, but also 

 hope for some surplus besides. It seems more than likely 

 that this is a very wise course, and yet, if we should have a 

 partial crop here it might pay better to keep the bees at 

 home, as the expense of moving is by no means a trifle. 



NATURE AND SOURCE OF HONEY-DEW. 



I have been very much interested to read the various 

 comments upon my article in a late number of the American 

 Bee Journal regarding the nature and source of honey-dew. 

 There seems to be not a little testimony that honey-dew may 

 come at times as a secretion from the plant. Yet there 

 seems to be almost as much that it rains down a product 

 from the heavens. This latter seems so improbable that I 

 think almost any student of nature would hesitate to give it 

 credence, except as he had most crucial and repeated proof. 



I should be very glad to receive samples illustrating 

 honey-secretion from plants. One writer in the last Bee 

 Journal is very certain that bees do not gather honey-dew 

 secreted by insects. There is no doubt at all in this matter. 

 I have known bees to gather large quantities of honey both 

 from plant-lice and scale insects. The former was of excel- 

 lent quality, and would rank first-class both as to color and 

 flavor in any market. 



Honey-dew from the large plant-louse in Michigan, and 

 from the coxcomb-elm plant-louse, both furnish material 

 for excellent honey. I have repeatedly found the nectar so 

 abundant in the last case that I have been able to take it 

 first hand directly from the insect, without waiting for the 

 bees, and with others pronounced it of most excellent qual- 

 it)-. On the other hand, the honey secured from the honey- 

 dew secreted by scale insects is very dark in color, rank in 

 flavor, and even possesses an odor that makes it quite unfit 

 for table use. As many will rememl^er, barrels of this kind 

 of honey were secured in Michigan for more than one sea- 

 son during the very dry years of the 80"s. I myself pro- 

 duced one 3-ear more than a barrel of such honey. I took 

 samples to a confectioner, who made a very tine quality of 

 honey-cookies, and he took it at a fair price, finding that it 

 was as good for this purpose as any other honey. 



If Mr. Cowan should tell me that he had personally seen 

 honev-dew that he knew was secreted by plants, I should 

 certainly feel convinced that I was wrong. But if he takes 

 his evidence second-hand, I should hesitate before accept- 

 ing it — I should at least wish to know that his informants 

 were as accurate and scientific as I know him to be. 



HERMAPHRODITE liEES. 



I have just received one of those interesting bees, of 

 which I have received several in years past. This bee has 

 the head of a drone and the thorax and abdomen of a 

 worker-bee. The eyes meet above, while the posterior legs 

 show well-markt hone3--baskets. The sting shows plainly 

 at the tip of the body. Such cases are not verj- rare, and 

 while the bees appear to be hermaphrodites, they are not 

 really so. Dissection proves that the abdomen really de- 

 termines the sex of the bee. In this case the bee is really a 

 worker, but has a drone head. The antennae and jaws are 

 more like those of the drone than of the ordinarj' worker. 



CYCLOPEAN BEES. 



I have another bee that is still more remarkable than 

 are even the so-called hermaphrodites just referred to above. 

 This bee has only one eye, which is a huge crescent, the 



